Karin Wagner

Productivity, Machinery and Skills: Clothing Manufacture in Britain and Germany

This study compares samples of matched plants in Britain and Germany engaged in the manufacture of womens outerwear; it follows earlier matched plant studies, also published in the National Institute Economic Review, which examined matched plants in metalworking and furniture manufacture in these two countries. German clothing manufacturers specialise in high-fashion items produced in great variety of which a high proportion is exported at high unit prices; the typical British manufacturer concentrates on more standardised items produced in long runs and is consequently more vulnerable to competition from lower-cost producers in developing countries. The study examines the contribution of machinery, new technology and skills to differ ences in clothing productivity in the two countries. A final section discusses future trends in the industry in the light of the 1992 proposals for a Single European Market.

Productivity and Vocational Skills in Services in Britain and Germany: Hotels

Following previous comparisons by the National Institute of matched samples of manufacturing plants in Britain and Germany, this study applies similar methods to a branch of the services sector namely, the hotel industry. The objectives were to obtain measures of average productivity-differences between the countries in hotel- work, and to examine to what extent differences in equipment and training are important contributory factors. The paper discusses implications for schooling and training policies.

Knowledge Transfer and Innovation in Germany and Britain: ‘Intermediate Institution’ Models of Knowledge Transfer under Strain?

This article investigates the links between knowledge transfer activities and innovation performance in Germany and Britain through a detailed comparison of matched samples of electronics production and research establishments in the two countries. In contrast to mature industries such as mechanical engineering, German performance in electronics is not found to be greatly enhanced by the role played by intermediate research institutes in “bridging the gap” between the academic science base and business enterprises.

Market Segmentation Strategies and Service Sector Productivity

Conventional explanations for lagging U.S. service sector productivity focus on the difficulties of measuring service output, a lack of sufficient competition in service industries, and poor management skills. Drawing on data collected in 95 service establishments in the banking and hotel industries in the U.S., UK, and Germany, this article suggests an alternative explanation. U.S. service companies may effectively be achieving low levels of labor productivity by design. The U.S. service establishments in this study are productivity leaders in low value-added market segments but productivity laggards in higher value-added market segments. They have consciously chosen to adjust the labor intensity of service delivery to the business potential of different customer segments. Varying the design of service processes by customer segment has lowered measured productivity levels but may be supporting higher levels of business performance.

Productivity, Machinery and Skills

This is the third in a series of comparisons of matched manufacturing plants in Britain and Germany to cast light on productivity differences between the countries, and on the contribution to productivity differences of machinery and skill-training. The two previous comparisons were based on matched plants in metalworking and woodworking (kitchen furniture). In brief, the comparisons pointed to the over-riding role of greater skill-training in Germany in leading to a higher quality of product, to the selection and proper utilisation of more advanced machinery, to fewer breakdowns in production, and to higher productivity. Though woodworking requires less precision — and might seem to require less technical skill — than metalworking, the differences mentioned were equally clear in both samples. The conclusion drawn was not simply that efficient production even of technically unsophisticated products, in today’s world of international competition, benefits from technically advanced machinery operated by a workforce with a higher level of skills — but, more particularly, that those higher skills were a pre-condition for the successful selection of appropriate machinery and its efficient utilisation (see Daly, Hitchens and Wagner, 1985; and Steedman and Wagner, 1987).

Transforming the German metalworking industry: moves toward numerical flexibility

The success of Germany’s “diversified quality production” model has been challenged by changes in the global marketplace in the 1990s. German manufacturers have responded by searching for new ways to enhance the numerical flexibility of their labour force. This article focuses on the adoption of three forms of numerical flexibility ‐ annual hour contracts, temporary work and outsourcing ‐ in the German pump industry.

Innovation Systems and Industrial Performance Germany in International Perspective

How do national-institutional structures affect the ability of enterprises to respond to increased competitive pressures in product markets and a speeding-up of product life-cycles? The papers in this special issue explore the workings of national, regional and sectoral innovation systems of which German enterprises, universities and other organizations form part. They suggest that while some high-tech market niches are well suited to German strengths in incremental innovation, the German institutional setting tends not to favour high-risk innovation strategies in newly emerging technologies