The first Skills in Focus event took place in Atlantic
Quay, Glasgow, on Friday 15 July 2011, hosted by Dr Janet Lowe
CBE, Chair of the Skills Committee. The Skills in
Focus series is intended to stimulate informed debate around
current and future skills issues.
The inaugural event was a double-header, with presentations from
Professors Johnny Sung and David Ashton - two
internationally-renowned experts in the field of business strategy,
productivity and skills utilisation.
The event attracted senior representatives from across the
skills landscape. The organisations represented included
AGCAS, the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, Chambers of
Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, Jobcentre Plus, SCDI,
Scottish Enterprise, SCQF, the Scottish Funding Council, the
Scottish Government, the Scottish Training Federation, Skills
Development Scotland, Universities Scotland and the UKCES. There
was also representation from Scottish colleges and university
academics. The diverse nature of the audience demonstrated
the importance of the topic and contributed to a wide-ranging
debate.
Session 1: Product Market Strategies and Skills
Utilisation
Professor Sung's presentation aimed to bring greater clarity
into the policy debate on the relationship between product market
strategies and skills utilisation.
A company's business strategy can be thought of as an
amalgam of its product market strategy and its
competitive strategy. The product market
strategy determines in which market it seeks to operate, on a
spectrum from mass production through to product
differentiation. The competitive strategy relates to
how skills are used within the company - ranging from completely
task-focused operations to completely people-focused
approaches. In general, mass production is associated with
task-focused approaches, whereas more differentiated forms of
production are associated with a people-focused approached to
skills utilisation. But, as Professor Sung highlighted using
Scottish case studies, this is not always the case.
Session 2: Productivity and Skills
Professor David Ashton went on to discuss the relationship
between productivity and skills. He said that it is widely
recognised that skills are an important driver of productivity
growth, but that there are other factors at play - competition,
innovation, entrepreneurship and capital investment.
For many companies, it is changes to their product market
strategy which will influence skills demand. Although the
introduction of new technology into firms can increase skills
demand, this is not always the case. In some companies,
technology can be introduced to make jobs more routine, deskilling
them in the process. Crucially, therefore, Professor Ashton
argues that it is the dynamic interaction of increases in skills
and technology that drives forward productivity. Moreover,
there is often a significant time-lag between a company's adoption
of new production techniques or investment in new technology and
the subsequent impact on productivity.
Professor Ashton concluded that there is a need for a more
differentiated model of the relationship between productivity and
skills in order to target policy interventions more effectively.
And that public policy interventions need to target not only
shopfloor workers, but also middle management and senior
management.
Finally, he reiterated that education and skills development are
important in both economic terms and social terms. Whatever
the returns to basic skills in terms of increased productivity and
wage growth, they are vital to enable people to participate in a
modern society.
More information
The presentations and full papers from the initial Skills in
Focus event are available on the Skills in Focus pages of this
website.