Chapter Four: Training for Self-Employment and for Competitiveness

4.1. INTRODUCTION

After considering the learning enterprise and the contribution of education to competitiveness and enterprise development, in this chapter we turn to the role that skills development plays in developing enterprises.

As part of this exploration, we shall examine the performance of three African public training systems in meeting the challenge of preparation for self-employment. We shall also consider the notion of the responsive vocational training provider and how this relates to the challenge of upgrading skills development for enterprises of all sizes. If training providers are themselves not capable of providing competitive training, then the prospects for their clients are likely to be limited. We shall also consider the performance of indigenous systems of skills development and the possibilities and desirability of interventions in these.

In making this exploration, the issue of context stands out very powerfully. Whilst education systems internationally have a considerable degree of homogeneity, training is far more diverse in its national forms. All three countries have significant and broadly comparable public sector training systems. However, their private training systems are more varied. Ghana is part of a West African tradition, both Anglophone and Francophone, where local systems of apprenticeship in SMEs are highly developed and are the principal route to skills development. In South Africa, either through industrial apprenticeships, learnerships or other forms of training, skills development has largely been concentrated in large and medium firms and there is little sign of a local apprenticeship system. Kenya occupies an intermediate position. Whilst the jua kali system is a major skills provider, this is not as formalised a model as is typical in West Africa. Moreover, the role of larger firms in skills development for jua kali appears to be more significant than in the Ghanaian case.

4.2. THE IMPORTANCE OF SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FOR LEARNING-LED COMPETITIVENESS

Forces in the wider international economy point to the need for a major restructuring of skills development provision. The International Labour Office's (ILO) World Employment Report 1998-9 (ILO 1998) lays out some of the central elements of the challenge. Globalisation and Post-Fordism lead to greater demand for higher skilled labour. Therefore, there is an increased need to invest in training. Training also needs to become more flexible as work organisation and technologies change and this brings a need for an improved cognitive content. Whilst education and training are not the whole solution, they can contribute significantly to an economy's employment generating capability. The end of the notion of a single career path over a lifetime and the need for frequent reskilling within skill areas both point to the importance of lifelong learning. Therefore, training must prepare individuals with the tools to be able to shift focus later on and must provide opportunities for retraining later in life. In a globalised economy, lack of skills is an important element of social exclusion.

Thus, there is an urgent need to direct training towards social inclusion as well as competitiveness (ILO 1998), although it is important to note that there is very limited evidence regarding success of training for social inclusion programmes (Bennell 1999).

Just as skills development is not strongly reflected in poverty eradication policy, so poverty eradication is not readily apparent in skills development policy. At present, the ILO is the only agency to put skills development at the core of its pro-poor agenda (Bennell 1999). It is important that its vision of training for employment, productivity and social inclusion be seen as an integral part of the overall social development vision. By focusing narrowly on basic education and health, as we have argued in previous chapters, there is a real danger that the pro-poor vision of the Copenhagen Summit and the international development targets will themselves be impoverished. It is important that social development should not be driven by narrow economic concerns. Nonetheless, a claim to be about poverty eradication that makes no attempt to address broader economic challenges and opportunities is a very hollow one indeed.

PROPOSITION 4.1.

Globalisation serves to heighten further the importance of skills development at the macro-economic level both for poverty eradication and sustainable growth. The absence of skills development from the international development targets, however, has the effect of marginalising training as an element of a comprehensive development strategy.

4.3. TRAINING FOR PRODUCTIVE SELF-EMPLOYMENT: THE ROLE OF PUBLIC TRAINING PROVIDERS

Although not a core element of international development strategies, training continues to be seen by many African governments as an important element of industrialisation strategies. Within training policy and provision, an increasingly important area of concentration is the encouragement of vocational training institutes (VTIs)¹ to shift their focus towards preparing students for self-employment. However, the extent to which this has happened and the number of students making successful transitions to self-employment are in need of examination. It seems that policies have typically been too poorly focused on exactly what they expect from VTIs and this has resulted in the lack of a sufficiently coherent vision at the institutional level. Moreover, the weaknesses of the VTI should lead us to be cautious about the ability of institutions to manage a successful transformation programme (Grierson and McKenzie 1996).

¹ VTI will be used in this chapter as the generic term for all non-advanced training provision. In both Ghana and Kenya, there are a number of different types of institutions which form sub-classes of the VTI category. Where reference is to a particular sub-class, it will be mentioned by name.

4.3.1. Kenya

There have been varying experiences of policies and programmes of training for self-employment in our three project countries. With support from UNDP and ILO, during the early 1990s Kenya developed a series of small business centres (SBCs) as part of an attempt to promote entrepreneurship amongst students in technical training institutes, institutes of science and technology and polytechnics. A central focus here was on assisting students to develop business plans and this was subsequently made part of the official curriculum. However, as Ferej (1996) makes clear, the shortness of the input, the poor staff preparation and the artificial nature of the exercise made success inevitably limited. Moreover, whilst the programme was declared a success at the evaluation stage, subsequent accounts from the institutions tell a radically different story (McGrath 1998b). Good staff have proved hard to retain; one leading training institution reporting five different SBC directors in two years. Also, there is widespread anecdotal evidence of business plans being treated the same way as many other academic exercises, with copying rife and submission of plans totally unconnected to students' areas of training common (McGrath 1997a). It appears that the programme has failed to become successfully sustainable after the ending of the donor-supported phase (McGrath 1998b).

Kenya was also the site of one of the national programmes for the ILO's skills development for self-reliance (SDSR) project. Here, there was an attempt to support existing training provision through rapid market appraisal; additional training arising out of this demand determination process; credit; and follow-up services. However, this too proved to be a highly donor-dependent project and was not sustainable (McGrath and King 1995).

Another innovative programme was the linkage between Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and the University of Illinois to establish an enterprise education programme. Whilst JKUAT seems to be producing a capable group of MSc graduates and a series of interesting dissertations, the broader impact of the programme is less apparent (Oketch 1995; McGrath 1997a).

In spite of these and other major interventions in the Kenyan training system, there is a continuing weakness of training policy whether directed at the larger, formal sector firm or at the needs of the jua kali sector. The system appears to be driven by projects rather than an overall vision. In the light of the Master Plan's claim to be for both education and training (Republic of Kenya 1998), the status of attempts to develop a national training strategy (McGrath 1997a) remains unclear. Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of the Master Plan as a blueprint for education reform, the use of training in its title is not sufficiently reflected in the concerns of the text.

It is not surprising, therefore, that in spite of the projects noted above and others, there is no conclusive evidence that Kenyan training institutions as a whole are adequate providers of training for self-employment. Indeed, the evidence found by Oketch's survey of providers is, on balance, negative about the success of graduates in accessing self-employment. However, it should be noted that the lack of tracer studies makes it difficult to judge success with any certainty (Oketch 1999).

The Kenyan reforms have tended to be project-driven rather than systematic. They have left unanswered important questions such as whether training for self-employment means more than introducing enterprise education or whether different technical skills than those needed in the formal sector are required.

Massive reorientation and insertion into sustainable self-employment of training institution students were never really likely. There are huge barriers to successful rapid transitions from formal training to sustainable self-employment. Whilst many training graduates are undoubtedly entering the jua kali sector, it is crucial to have detailed knowledge of whether this is entry into the more sustainable levels and niches that their training intended them for or into bare survivalist activities where little or none of their skills are utilised. This was illustrated by the account of one technical training institute principal. She agreed that her students did aspire in the main to self-employment. However, instead of graduating into the jua kali sector, as they anticipated, they found themselves limited to hawking activities, lacking as they did the capital, skills and experience to break into an already heavily populated sector (McGrath 1997a).

Attitudinal data regarding students in vocational training institutes also provides some interesting information. Kerre and Oketch's survey suggests that it is those in lowest status training institutions who reflect the greatest interest in being self-employed. This can be read as showing that they are being realistic about their future. This seems to agree with the general perception within the sector that Youth Polytechnic graduates are those most likely to persevere in jua kali activities (King 1999). However, it should also be noted that Kenyan data gathered for this project suggests that this group appear to be the least successful technical graduates in the jua kali sector in terms of their ability to access high value niches (Oketch 1999).

Crucially, this data on student attitudes and aspirations across public training providers reflected the same occupational aspirations as school students (see Chapter Three above). Male students favoured doctor, lawyer, teacher and accountant; female students preferred nurse, teacher, accountant and lawyer. This is quite striking given that these students are on vocational courses in other areas. The aspiration to further study is still strong in this group. 32% of the post-secondary² grouping wanted to obtain a further qualification (Kerre and Oketch 1999). This mismatch between aspirations and attempts to reorient training towards self-employment may well arise from students using some types of public training providers as a second chance route to further educational studies. Whatever its origin, the mismatch has been identified as a central obstacle to successful reorientation of these providers (Grierson and McKenzie 1996). They argue that it is vital that there be consistency between selection of students and the training provided to them. Otherwise, training cannot achieve optimal efficiency. This anticipates an issue to be considered later in this chapter: whether training for those already engaged in SME activities is a more efficient option than pre-service provision.

² The sample included youth polytechnic students who do not require a secondary certificate for admission. They are excluded from this sub-set even though some individuals may have completed secondary schooling.

In Ghana, too, there has been a slowness to develop clear policy guidelines. Although the National Coordinating Committee on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NACVET) was established in 1990 as an attempt to coordinate activities across diverse agencies, Ghana is only just developing a comprehensive national training policy at present. Again as in the Kenyan case, it has been donor-supported projects that have tended to be more significant than any policy statements.

The Canadian International Development Agency is strongly supporting Technical Training Institutes to have a secondary focus on informal sector skills upgrade. A large Department for International Development project has gone further and targeted lower status National Vocational Training Institutes and sought to move them much more towards self-employment (McGrath 1997b). This project has been favourably evaluated (Honny 1999) and its prospects seem good in the light of the evidence, from both Kenya and Ghana, about higher levels of self-employment aspiration among students in lower status institutions. Nonetheless, the worries about the quality of provision in such institutions suggest caution about the ultimate success of these students in achieving labour market success.

In the technical and vocational sector in Ghana, there is a distinction between aspirations of students at different types of institutions. At higher status technical training institutes, 22% of those sampled wanted self-employment and 17% expected it (Afenyadu 1998a). Honny (1999) reports that 36% of his sample of lower status National Vocational Training Institute students wanted self-employment.³ The trend towards lower levels of self-employment aspiration in higher level institutions, also found in Kenya, is contradicted by the case of Kumasi University of Science and Technology, where 25% of those sampled recorded a desire for self-employment (Afenyadu 1998a).

³ As with Kenya, Ghana has a hierarchy of public training providers where status and entry qualifications have traditionally been closely correlated. NVTIs rank lowest in entry requirements, followed by TTIs, polytechnics and, at university level, Kumasi University, a former "Institute of Science and Technology".

Apart from the lack of active promotion of self-employment, the low aspirations of technical training institute students for self-employment may be due to the fact that they genuinely do not perceive themselves as acquiring enough technological capability to venture into self-employment and international competition even after having shown appreciation for entrepreneurial skills being delivered to them. In other words, the issues are lack of technological confidence as much as lack of promotion of self-employment and international competitiveness (Afenyadu 1998a: 34).

However, these problems affect preparation for wage employment as much as self-employment. Moreover, the figures for aspirational levels are indicative of a readiness, even amongst students in higher status institutions, to look to SME activities. Afenyadu's analysis suggests that such a readiness can be improved by a targeted focus on making training more competitiveness oriented.

4.3.3. South Africa

South Africa has seen considerable attention to the issue of training policy, with a number of reports and policy papers over the last two decades (McGrath 1996). However, attention has been almost entirely directed towards wage employment in larger firms. In keeping with this, training providers have been even less successfully linked to self-employment than in Kenya or Ghana. Nonetheless, some technical colleges are beginning to address the issue of training for self-employment (McGrath 1998a and c), although this is not yet a major trend, and is weakened by an apparent hesitancy about self-employment from the Department of Education (McGrath 1998c - see below).

The Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency (established by the Department of Trade and Industry) has started the Technopreneur Project (McGrath 1998c). Now in approximately 20% of township colleges, this is targeted initially on training graduates and offers market needs analysis, targeted technical training, entrepreneurial training, credit, hive facilities, subcontracting, mentoring and follow-up once the hive has been left. Ntsika plan to expand this project to all 64 township technical colleges by 2001. However, given the challenges of transformation facing many of these institutions, this and other innovations will be difficult to implement.

Colleges have also begun other projects of their own. The "historically white" Pretoria College, for instance, has turned "interest classes" (e.g. upholstery and photography) into entrepreneurial preparation. This has been accompanied by a significant shift in clientele in terms of gender, class and ethnicity, although some of the traditional white, female, middle-class clientele are also seeing the entrepreneurial potential of such courses, particularly in the niche of interior design. In Pretoria's townships and satellites, the "historically black" Atteridgeville and Soshanguve Colleges have both established "multiskilling" units to cater for informal sector builders (McGrath 1998c). These centres seek to provide skills training across the range of areas needed in basic house construction through short modular programmes. How well technical colleges are able to respond to the Department of Labour's vision for SME incorporation into its learnership programme (see below) remains to be seen.

Part of the challenge facing South Africa's efforts to address training for self-employment is the division of responsibilities across departments. Whilst the Technopreneur Project is under Ntsika, the main responsibility for training is split between the Departments of Education and Labour. Moreover, the constitutional settlement has left technical colleges under the authority of the nine provincial education departments. Thus, demand side policy (but radically reduced provision) lies under the Department of Labour; supply side policy primarily under the national Department of Education and line management of provider institutions under provincial departments.

The Department of Education developed a policy for what it calls the Further Education and Training Band in 1998. In practice, the policy is largely one for technical colleges. The policy process, however, is problematic in terms of the promotion of training for self-employment. Both the National Committee for Further Education (NCFE) Report (Department of Education 1997c) and the subsequent Green Paper (Department of Education 1998) contain occasional references to the needs of small and micro enterprises (McGrath 1998c). The White Paper (Republic of South Africa 1998b), however, makes the inadequate treatment of the issue even worse by explicitly moving away from a detailed discussion of economic contexts and through critiquing the Green Paper for being "economistic". However, this critique is a fundamental misreading of the Green Paper (McGrath 1998a). By equating economism (a reduction of the rationales for education to a simple economic function) with an attempt to understand the economy, the White Paper threatens to undermine both a self-employment and an equity focus:

In spite of the stakeholder criticisms of the Green Paper, there is far too little analysis of the economic context. There is not one single mention of local economic development or of provincial attempts to niche themselves industrially. There is no sense of an industrial strategy, nor of what a national system of innovation means for the FET [further education and training] sector. (McGrath 1998a: 12)

Whilst the Department of Education has responsibility for developing policy for these key training providers, the Department of Labour has responsibility for training policy as it relates to labour market demand. The Department also has developed a new policy (Department of Labour 1997). Whilst primarily oriented towards medium and large firms, the policy does seek to engage with the needs of smaller firms (King 1997; Kraak 1997; McGrath 1998a). At the core of the new Skills Development Strategy is the introduction of learnerships, designed to meet the skill needs of all enterprises and of community development. These are designed to rejuvenate numbers in the largely collapsed formal apprenticeship; to enrich its content; and to extend it across all economic sectors.

Box 4.1. Learnerships One of the core elements of the Skills Development Strategy is a new system of learnerships. According to the Department of Labour, "Learnerships are primarily workplace learning programmes supported by structured institutional learning which result in a qualification." (Department of Labour/German Technical Cooperation 1999: 1). These will be wider ranging sectorally and by NQF level than under the older apprenticeship system. Moreover, learnerships are not just aimed at the employed but also pre- and un-employed. Crucially, the Strategy makes it clear that the learnership notion should apply across a variety of employment and self-employment sites, including the small and micro-enterprise sectors (SME). This has meant thinking how to deliver to small and micro-enterprises the crucially important work experience, embedded knowledge and competencies and other requirements of the learnerships. There are certain to be difficulties in arranging this; but what is clear about the South African proposals, even from the discussion in the Green Paper alone, is that in contrast to many other countries in Africa where there are effectively two training systems, the so-called traditional or informal apprenticeship and the so-called modern, the intention is clearly to have a single national system, if at all possible. There is thus the aim to develop learnerships in all the twelve learning fields - from Agriculture to Construction and to make them all fully in line with the requirements of the National Qualifications Framework. It is then necessary for the Green Paper to anticipate that there will need to be "special arrangements for target groups" if they are to be satisfactorily included in the national scheme. This means that those specially disadvantaged by South Africa's peculiar history, or by gender or location or disability can look to training participation by the state leveraging the forthcoming levy funds to ensure their participation in the new national system. The Green Paper is also unusual in giving attention to those who are expecting to become new entrepreneurs. Again, this is evidence of a desire to fashion, in the new learnership system, a scheme that is genuinely national. The aim is to avoid for South Africa the rigours of the German system where entrepreneurship may only follow full skill acquisition and to recognise that many tens of thousands will annually have to become self-employed because there is no other option. Seeking to accommodate to the national system their particular requirements and experiences of work may well prove difficult, but at least the intention is to make them candidates for learnerships and thus national qualifications. However, it is clear that there are challenges both in developing SME learnerships that are equivalent to those for larger firms but appropriate to SME needs, and in moving away from the dominant position of organised business and labour. There had been calls from the small enterprise policy community that all learnerships should include an entrepreneurship focus. However, in policy documents to date, there is simply an acknowledgment that entrepreneurship-oriented modules are likely to be an optional element. Nonetheless, given the appointment of a subcommittee within the learnership process to look specifically at smaller enterprises there may well be a shift towards a stronger self-employment focus within all learnership programmes. Sources: Department of Labour (1997); King (1997); Department of Labour/German Technical Cooperation (1999); McGrath (1999).

The challenge of getting the new system of further education and training established has been a difficult one. The Department of Education's White Paper (Republic of South Africa 1998b) makes clear the length of time that will be needed to establish the new system. As research on colleges makes clear, there have been a few pro-active attempts to engage with the NQF, but most institutions have adopted a "wait and see" policy (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998; McGrath 1998a and c). There are considerable institutional weaknesses at college, provincial and national levels that are also likely to act as blocks on implementation.

The training system too has taken longer than originally expected to develop new and innovative practices, although it is clear that important conceptual and practical advances have been made. Through constructing a powerful and holistic reading of the weaknesses of the inherited training system, the Department of Labour has given itself a massive task in the attempt fundamentally to overhaul the whole system. Naturally, this leads to some concern about the feasibility of delivery in the light of resource constraints.

Lacking local training systems such as in the Ghanaian and Kenyan cases, South Africa faces a particular challenge in developing the learnership programme. In Ghana, Kenya and countries such as Mali and Côte d'Ivoire (Carton 1999), interventions to strengthen training for self-employment have sought to build on existing systems and stakeholder activities. South Africa simply does not have anything like the same base upon which to build. The learnership is also a more ambitious approach than in many countries as it is explicitly for all sizes of enterprise and all degrees of formality. There are considerable merits in proposing that there should be no formal - informal dichotomy in training provision and that qualifications should promote portability across such divides. However, caution is required about the size of the challenge of constructing a training system that meets the needs of such diverse populations. In particular, attention will continue to need to be paid to the potential tension between a desire to offer coherent and theoretically grounded whole qualifications and a demand for short, targeted and practical stand-alone modules. A sub-committee on small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) began work in October 1999 to seek to provide a stronger and more sophisticated SMME focus to the Department of Labour's policy than is currently evident.

PROPOSITION 4.2.

At both the institutional and policy level, there has been an increasing focus in the project countries on training for self-employment. There are examples of innovative practice and improved outcomes in a number of institutions. However, overall there remains an insufficiently tight focus at the institutional level on determining demand for programmes, selecting appropriate students and delivering on suitable outcomes. This is exacerbated by a general policy weakness in analysis of the issues surrounding training for self-employment.

4.4. THE RESPONSIVE VTI

A major part of the weakness of VTIs in preparing students for competitive niches in self-employment or wage employment in successful SMEs is the inability of vocational training institutes (VTIs) to respond adequately to global and local economic changes. This is reflected both in their slowness to respond to the policy message that they should increasingly focus on self-employment and their inability to shift training provision so that it adequately prepares students to access viable employment in all sizes and types of firms. As Grierson and McKenzie argue,

VTIs cannot hope to impart market survival skills without market involvement. Successful vocational training for self-employment will need to find effective ways of involving local enterprises and industries from both the formal and informal sectors (Grierson and McKenzie 1996: 30-1).

4.4.1. South Africa

Even in South Africa, where this kind of debate is better developed, the challenge of moving beyond the traditional school leaver focus and towards a lifelong learning orientation remains poorly addressed, with more than 80% of students aged between 17 and 26 (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998).

Technical colleges in South Africa have also become more weakly linked to medium and large employers over recent years. There has been a reduction in numbers of sponsored students, reflecting a fall in apprenticeships, a reluctance on the part of employers to train and a perception that technical colleges, in any case, are not suitable places for the training of their employees (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998; McGrath 1998a). This links to three of the major problems facing the technical college system. First, it exacerbates problems with student finance and access. Second, it reduces the possibility for work placements and, hence, for employment post-qualification. Third, it reinforces a financing system that has encouraged student recruitment but has not sufficiently focused on successful completion of study or labour market insertion.

At the same time, these colleges, like the rest of the South African system, have struggled to identify potential linkages with the SME sector. It is clear that there are not the same opportunities here as in Ghana or Kenya, given the lack of either a strong informal training system in manufacturing or of powerful artisanal associations.

One of the greatest challenges for South African technical colleges lies in upgrading quality. Increased access and participation are required but these must be tied to better results and relevance. At present 59% of those enrolled pass (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998). In line with the NQF, there is a need to promote lifelong learning. However, there are few libraries and resource centres and these are often under-resourced. Guidance and job placement services are poor. Quality assurance mechanisms are rarely in place and are typically inadequate when present (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998). These issues affect the possibility of developing provision that can contribute to learning-led competitiveness, regardless of enterprise size.

Market responsiveness is another part of the technical college challenge. The reliance on private candidates will need to be addressed and the related weakness of work experience (McGrath 1998c). In particular, the problems of engineering will need to be solved. This mainstay of technical college provision has been judged to be the worst subject, in large part due to its divorce from practice (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998). Some technical colleges have good links with training centres in industry in order to get students access to more relevant machinery but many others have not (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998). How this is affected by any growth in a self-employment focus also needs to be considered in order that improved quality of provision should serve small as well as large enterprise needs.

Some concern with responsiveness can be seen in the trend of colleges to introduce new courses and facilities directly targeted at the RDP-linked expansion of house construction in townships and informal settlements (McGrath 1998c). Considerable possibilities also appear to be present for colleges in the growth of business linkages (Visser 1999b) and the development of spatial development initiatives and other industrial projects. These trends suggest clear market niches for specific training products. Moreover, these are niches that will allow colleges to reach non-traditional small enterprise clients. The challenge for colleges is to develop the ability to respond to such opportunities. Examples such as the Atteridgeville multiskilling centre above have grown out of corporate responsibility funding (McGrath 1998a). There is a challenge, noted in the Department of Labour's Skill Development Strategy (Department of Labour 1997), to ensure that state and levy funding of training also encourages greater training responsiveness. This will be a major determinant of the success of the new learnerships, which must reflect a heightened ability of training providers to deliver on training which is demanded by the market and which can enhance competitiveness and productivity.

The Department of Labour has identified the importance of labour market data. Without it, the notion of a responsive college seems fatally flawed. Currently, there is an absence of vital data within technical colleges and even weaker analysis. Crucially, "there is little systematic collection of information about student destinations" (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998: ix). In their survey of technical colleges in Gauteng Province, the National Business Initiative found that 15 out of 33 institutions failed to make any returns when asked about placements; and 12 reported less than 50% success (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998). It is encouraging to note that some technical colleges have begun to track students (McGrath 1998c; Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998). As the Department of Education is committed to tackling this issue, improvement is likely to take place but there is clearly a capacity problem at present. Part of the challenge here will be extending emerging linkages with industry to smaller enterprises.

Linkages to industry are problematic for some institutions. As noted above, the apartheid legacy of South Africa has led to some technical colleges existing far away from a local industry base and even further away from the likely destinations of their graduates. What to do with these institutions is a very thorny problem for provincial education departments (McGrath 1998a). Colleges typically have no history of working with SMEs, particularly black ones. This will be one of the greatest challenges ahead.

The more dynamic technical colleges also fear that their responsiveness is still being undermined by bureaucratic procedures, most notably over curricular reform, which have not yet radically changed. Technical colleges are being encouraged to be more responsive to industry of all sizes but the system makes this difficult (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998):

no more than a dozen new courses have been introduced in the last three years. There are examples of new partnerships being forged with employers to develop customised training, and some colleges have introduced programmes designed to encourage people to set up their own businesses, but such innovations are exceptional. (Fisher, Hall and Jaff 1998: x).

In Ghana, too, market responsiveness is poor and there is little evidence of a sufficient focus on demand determination mechanisms. Institutions' own development of tracer mechanisms is rare (Honny 1999).

However, Ghana is addressing institutional upgrading and capacity building. There has been the promotion of a number of institutions to polytechnic level, although serious doubts remain about the concomitant process of capacity building. There have also been a series of donor-supported programmes, aimed in part at institutional development in the various types of VTIs. Current Ghanaian policy includes the development of degree programmes aimed at the management of public training providers. This is linked to the importance in a more marketised environment of selling the courses of these institutions more actively but raises the issue of how this can be done in the context of severe resource constraints. As we shall see below, much of the drive towards greater responsiveness is linked into major interventions designed to connect the formal training system with the provision of the SME apprenticeship system.

4.4.3. Kenya

Central to the challenge facing training institutions in Kenya, as in the other two countries, are major concerns about the quality of training provision. Equipment is not being maintained and technologies are outdated (Republic of Kenya 1998). Staff are increasingly engaged in other activities and staff development at VTIs is very poor (Oketch 1999). Oketch sums up the problem thus:

Due to the overall reduction of public expenditure as a result of the structural adjustment programmes, most government assisted vocational training institutions are experiencing serious budgetary constraints. Accordingly, these institutions can neither afford nor maintain technology required in updating programmes. (Oketch 1999: 6)

Institutions are showing increased attempts at responsiveness to new conditions. All of the institutions surveyed by Oketch had mission statements and most emphasised "their desire to link their training directly to skills required by the labour market" (Oketch 1999: 12). Two-thirds of these are new missions identified in the 1990s to reflect changed contexts. Curricular change is occurring in several institutions and there is some introduction of evening classes, which are often more attractive to those already employed in the jua kali sector (Oketch 1999).

Increased cost recovery is in many ways the most problematic element of Kenyan training policy. In line with government policy, many institutions are pursuing quite an active strategy of cost recovery, either through fees or production units. However, the policy has failed to consider the possible negative impacts of these on equity in enrolments and local industry respectively (McGrath 1998b). There is evidence of a shift of institutional resources to business activities at the expense of training and it is argued that the increase in fees is impacting upon enrolments (Oketch 1999). The greater cost recovery does not seem to be leading to training becoming more competitive. Moreover, in so far as it undermines local jua kalis through subsidised production, it is actually negatively impacting upon the ability of entrepreneurs to maintain sustainable niches. The challenge is to see how cost recovery can be developed in ways that strengthen institutions and their linkages to their community and its enterprises. For instance, cost recovery through evening hire of equipment or staff advice to jua kalis could be further investigated as means of raising income, providing valuable services and increasing mutual understanding.

4.4.4. Cross-national issues

A number of important issues can be charted across the three project countries. There are signs of improvement but institutions are still not responsive enough and simply lack a culture in which training provision is driven by determination of actual demand or realistic projections of future skills requirements and equity considerations. In part, this relates to institutions' lack of data regarding the destination of students or requirements of enterprises, particularly smaller ones. It is also a product, though less so in South Africa than in much of the continent, of a historically major dependence on donors in the funding of elements of public training provision.

Better VTI links with enterprises are everywhere a policy imperative. Nonetheless, there are very powerful constraints on the ability of provider institutions to enter into closer relationships with enterprises of whatever size. At the heart of VTI - enterprise links conventionally has been the industrial placement. However, the weakness of large enterprises in Ghana and Kenya, and the frequent reluctance of such enterprises in South Africa to train, have been coupled with the rise of the private candidate to produce a situation in which the majority of VTI students are unable to acquire placements. The severity of the problem is shown by Tanzania data, which finds only 10% of public sector trainees obtaining placements (Bennell 1998).

At the same time, existing funding mechanisms for public training institutions mean that their financial viability is not sufficiently driven by concerns about placements and relationships with enterprises. It is difficult to criticise VTIs for behaving rationally in the face of the system that confronts them.

Levies are used in many countries, and have recently been revamped in South Africa. However, it is apparent internationally that levies have a mixed impact and run the risk of encouraging less rather than more training to actually take place (Bennell 1999). Thus, there is still much to be done to make public training providers adequate supporters of learning-led competitiveness in the medium and large enterprise sector.

The relationship between VTIs and the SME sector is even more problematic. Few VTIs have any sense of the needs and realities of such enterprises. Whilst some Kenyan VTIs have sought to explore the possibility of jua kali work placements, there is considerable reticence within the SME sector of being drawn into the bureaucratic ambit of formal relationships. There is also a concern about student insurance whilst on placement, an issue that also affects placements in larger firms. More positive moves are being made by some Kenyan VTIs to open their facilities to small artisans, for instance, through evening use of heavy equipment on VTI premises or doing finishing or other specialist work as sub-contractors to small scale producers (McGrath 1997a). If such links develop, then the gap of understanding between VTIs and producers can perhaps be bridged. Action research to support and evaluate such activities may well be valuable both in Kenya and in other countries. The World Bank projects in both Ghana and Kenya, which will be discussed later in this chapter, have sought to create a more formal link but with apparently varying success. South Africa remains far behind in this regard, although the learnerships (discussed above) are, in part, seeking to address this issue.

Curriculum reform is an important aspect of the drive towards the responsive VTI. Modularisation of training has been an important element of change in some countries. This is being pursued quite actively in Ghana and is at the core of the NQF approach in South Africa. However, caution is required regarding its epistemological and administrative suitability. There is a related concern with making training more competence- or outcome-based, although this has not yet broken the hold of time-constrained programmes.⁴ It is worth noting, however, that this is not discussed in the Kenyan Master Plan. Here too it is necessary to bear in mind the critique of such approaches in OECD countries, where many authors have questioned the ability of a competence-based approach to improve skills, particularly those perceived as necessary for competitiveness under conditions of globalisation (Barnett 1994; Hodkinson and Issitt 1995). Moreover, it is necessary to examine whether the balance of the argument is different in African contexts.

⁴ Part of the logic of a shift to a competency approach is that there is no set time in which a student should become competent. This compares with the traditional assumption that a student will take a course for a fixed amount of time, and either pass or fail.

There are signs that many VTIs are trying to change both the range and content of subjects they offer (Afenyadu 1998a; McGrath 1998a; Oketch 1999). In these attempts, they often feel thwarted by bureaucratic delays. The best balance between institutional autonomy and state oversight still needs to be established. The whole system needs to be driven by a concern to provide quality training related to actual or realistically projected market needs.

PROPOSITION 4.3.

Whilst public training providers are seeking in many cases to become more responsive to the needs of students, business and community, their institutional weaknesses in this regard are often exacerbated by funding mechanisms and bureaucratic regulations. It is important that VTIs be empowered to seek better linkages with enterprises of all sizes.

4.5. TRAINING FOR PRODUCTIVE SELF-EMPLOYMENT: THE ROLE OF INDIGENOUS APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEMS AND OPTIONS FOR INTERVENTION

The bulk of training internationally takes place in enterprises rather than in separate training institutions. In the majority of African countries, SMEs predominate and provide the bulk of skills development. In West Africa, this has become highly formalised into a local form of the apprenticeship system, which is based in SME realities (Fluitman 1989, 1992 and 1994). It is estimated that 90% of Ghanaian training is done in this system (Afenyadu 1999).

For more than a decade there has been a strong argument that the existing African apprenticeship system is the best available training provider (Fluitman 1989, 1992 and 1994; Abban and Quarshie 1996; Ferej 1996). However, it must be remembered that delivery is much more systemic in Ghana and West Africa than in East African countries such as Kenya. There is, as yet, a lack of evidence about any comparable model for South Africa. Moreover, the performance of this system, like any other, must be considered critically.

On the positive side, it is a major provider of skills for future productive activities. It is also far more grounded in sectoral realities than the VTI route. It is an invaluable source of crucial socialisation, work experience and network development: key factors in future enterprise success (McGrath and King 1995). However, there are concerns that the parlous state of the economy and of the SME sector in countries such as Chad and Nigeria can depress both the quality and outcomes of informal sector training (Muskin 1997; Adam 1999). Equally, it is thought to increase both masters' and trainees' desire to have training take place. For the former, training becomes a means of making a living in the face of low consumer demand. For the latter, inability to gain sustainable employment in either formal or informal activities reinforces the attractiveness of being apprenticed, with the hope that markets will soon improve. Where training persistently outstrips consumer demand for artisanal products, large numbers of apprentices are unable to survive as independent workers or gain employment (Abban and Quarshie 1996; Adam 1999; Honny 1999).

The strength of the indigenous systems of apprenticeship also needs to be considered in the light of this project's concern with learning-led competitiveness. It is important to question whether the system is capable of providing the new skills and knowledge that can help aspiring entrepreneurs to access new niches and design and market new products that are appropriate to local and global economic and technological trends.

Apprenticeship within SMEs in Ghana provides training for large numbers of youth in a variety of trades and demand for this form of training remains high. However, it has been argued that few masters have either qualifications in or a systematic approach to training (Abban and Quarshie 1996). Equally, it is suggested that, over time, a declining number of masters have had exposure to employment outside this sector. This is argued to mean that they and their apprentices are largely locked in to the existing skills and technologies and lack the scientific knowledge to allow key technological advances (Powell 1995a; Abban and Quarshie 1996). For instance, some of the more advanced metal fabrication industries in Ghana's small and micro enterprise sector still lack the basic science relating to heat treatment. Moreover, Ghana has been identified as one of those countries where large numbers are becoming unemployed after completing apprenticeship (Abban and Quarshie 1996; Honny 1999).

However, it is important to note that the emergent young Ghanaian entrepreneurs, identified by Afenyadu (1998b), appear to have moved from education to public training to informal apprenticeship to informal sector wage employment to straddling, and finally to self-employment. This pathway suggests the potential, at least in best case situations, of technological development in the sector coming through a group of apprentices with relatively strong prior basic education and training. It also highlights the complex relationship between different education and training systems and the importance of considering modalities that are complementary to basic education in preparing individuals for sustainable activities (see Chapter Three). In the Ghanaian case, it appears that high level information crucial to high value production in an area such as design does not have to be acquired through wage employment in more formal firms. Rather, through access to international magazines and contact with members of the large Ghanaian diaspora, it seems possible to acquire this knowledge as a micro entrepreneur. Whether globalisation is easing information flows to SMEs more generally remains uncertain.

In Kenya, McCormick (1999) argues that there is still a preponderance of observation and copying in jua kali training. This, she postulates, is adequate for the transmission only of the most basic skills. However, the evidence from King's research in the jua kali sector in Nairobi (King 1999 - presented in Chapter Two) suggests that the relationship with larger firms continues to be quite strong in Kenya. Both business linkages with larger (often East African Asian) firms and entrepreneurial careers that include wage employment in such firms can be expected to contribute to a more favourable pattern of skill development. This is particularly likely to be the case where the technological frontier of SMEs is moving forward significantly, as King postulates for Nairobi. Nonetheless, it is far from apparent from either Ghana or Kenya that their apprenticeship systems are up to all of the challenges of globalisation and learning-led competitiveness. Such concerns mirror those expressed about formal apprenticeship systems globally.

Over recent years, concerns about the scope of such systems have led to a number of attempts to develop an enhanced African apprenticeship system. From the late 1980s, the Nigerian Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) sought to enhance knowledge levels of apprentices through the provision of theory classes on Saturday mornings and to introduce a new group of apprentices, although with limited success (Adam 1996; King 1996). In Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya and Mali attempts are underway, with donor support, to develop short courses for both masters and trainers, and to lever changes in provider institutions to make them more self-employment focused (Afenyadu 1997a; McGrath 1998b; Carton 1999).

Ghana has seen a number of such interventions. The Intermediate Technology Training Units (ITTUs) aim to inject new skills based on appropriate technology into the training of apprentices and the repertoires of masters through attachments to centres offering training, advice and access to better equipment (Powell 1995b). This model has been extended to all Ghanaian provinces from its original location in Kumasi, although it remains an approach that will only ever reach small numbers.

In association with the Government and the World Bank, the Ghanaian National Association of Garages (GNAG) managed a project aimed at upgrading the skills of masters and apprentices in motor mechanics. GNAG took responsibility for improving apprentice training within its own system but also selected apprentices to undertake a 12 week upgrading course at the Kumasi Technical Institute. The masters' programme had a particular focus on promoting capacity for diversification into profitable new niches. This programme was divided into two parts: technical upgrading at Kumasi Technical Institute, followed by management and entrepreneurship training at the Management Development and Productivity Institute. However, evaluation points to serious mismatches between the programme design and the needs of masters and the failure of the project to address key constraints to successful self-employment for apprentices (Abban and Quarshie 1996).

Some of the concerns noted above with skills transmission within the SME sector have undoubtedly contributed to the emerging focus on intervention projects. When, as in Kenya, the project is worth several million dollars, it is clear that they are highly significant when compared to the financial resources of the SME sector. Their size and their powerful backers mean that it is vital to examine the performance of such projects given the likelihood of further international replication. However, evaluation is made problematic by the current lack of critical evaluation.

Amongst the large projects, the current World Bank projects in Ghana and Kenya are the most pertinent for this study. These have targeted both apprentices and their masters. This resonates with arguments (Grierson and McKenzie 1996; ILO 1998) that suggest that training policy would do better to address the needs of those already established in SME production and who require upgrading of specific skills. This could be addressed through an introduction, for example, to new technologies and new products and is, thus, related to the activities of a number of technology NGOs active in countries such as Kenya and Ghana. These large training projects also illustrate the importance of a targeted approach on key sectors or production chains.

The Ghanaian project, which is closely related to the World Bank's previous experience with GNAG, seeks to upgrade skill of both masters and apprentices through modular training in a series of important trades. This training is designed in conjunction with informal sector associations, provided by existing VTIs and purchased through training vouchers. The project's secondary aim is to upgrade and reorient VTIs and funds are set aside for institutional development, both through staff and equipment upgrading. The project seems to be having some initial success, although it lacks a thorough external evaluation to date (McGrath 1997b; Afenyadu 1997b).

Box 4.2. The Ghana - World Bank Vocational Skills for the Informal Sector Project This project has three aims: 1) to refocus public and private training on short competency-based modular training for the already employed; 2) to increase informal sector product quality and productivity; and 3) to improve data gathering and analysis of labour market trends. It also seeks to strengthen Informal Sector Assocations, VTIs and the coordination agency, NACVET. Training is provided in five fields: · Electrical installation; · Refrigeration and air conditioning; · Carpentry and joinery; · Blockmaking and concreting; and · Dressmaking and tailoring. Training lasts between 12 and 24 weeks with block release or day release as agreed by the VTI (either public or private) and the ISA after 24 months in the African apprenticeship system. Masters' training is designed to link with and strengthen that of apprentices. Masters identified technical, accounting, cost estimating and enterpreneurial skills as their core requirements. This training lasts four weeks. Tools are also made available to masters that would otherwise be difficult to acquire. ISAs are involved in curriculum development. VTI principals are also seen as important players and there is an infusion of management skills training into VTIs. There is a concern to have a broader influence of the nature of training provision. By including trade associations in the curriculum development process and by identifying the principal rather than the Ministry official as the key curricular actor, the project seeks to encourage greater flexibility within the training system. This makes the system more responsive and attractive.

Sources: Afenyadu (1997b) and McGrath (1997b). (£1=cedi 3 300 in 1997). The Kenyan project grows out of the same concerns. However, it has several divergences from the Ghanaian approach. In practice, the Ghanaian approach is concerned with strengthening existing providers, whether public or private. The Kenyan project, however, appears to have a stronger ideological drive to create new private provision. Less concern is evident, however, regarding systematic support to institutional development. It appears that there is an underlying assumption that the market will take care of this. The political tension around the Kenyan National Federation of Jua Kali Assocations at the time of the project's initial implementation led to a decision to bypass the umbrella body. Moreover, the lack of an equivalent of NACVET means that none of the three key institutional prongs of the Ghanaian approach are as secure in the Kenyan model.

It does not appear to have done very well thus far, in its first phase. A supervisory mission from the Bank judged its progress to be "unsatisfactory" viewed against the agreed benchmarks. In terms of meeting targets, it would appear that against the target of 12 000 vouchers set for 1998, only 4 000 were actually issued, although there has been a considerable amount of subsequent catch up.

There are a number of other potential or actual problems. It is not clear how would-be trainees will know enough about the quality of provision. In a situation of asymmetry of knowledge, a high risk, one-off transaction and a lack of real choice, market failures seem inevitable. Given the high costs relative to likely returns of establishing private training in rural areas or for expensive technical subjects, these areas are likely to be under supplied by new private providers. There are also questions about the adequacy of quality assurance mechanisms, given the weak institutional framework noted above. With the large influx of funds in a short period of time, it is necessary to ask what happens to the sector when the project ends (McGrath 1997a). Here it is important to be mindful of the dangers of interventions in a largely self-reliant sector (Fluitman 1992 and 1994).

Ghana and Kenya, in their different ways, have a developed tradition of African apprenticeship. However, this is not uniformly the case across Africa. Where such traditions are not in place, there may be attractions in trying to develop a short, focused programme that can prepare individuals for self-employment. However, we do not have a clear picture of how far pathways can be compressed without rendering them ineffective. At the heart of the difficulty here is the crucial role that these pathways play in socialising trainees into craft and geographic communities and the processes whereby trainees gain access to networks that will allow them to operate in business for themselves (Carton 1999). It is far from clear that these can be successfully synthesised.

This is part of the need for caution about interventions in the largely autonomous system of training that has emerged from within the SME sector. As with the case of ISAs, noted in Chapter Two, there are reasons to be cautious about the efficacy of interventions. Whilst the system does have its weaknesses, intervention runs the risk of undermining the system's crucial strength of self-reliance. From the limited evidence available on such interventions, it seems likely that their chances of success are particularly weak if they threaten to undermine the financial sustainability of the training system and fail to engage seriously with the needs of SMEs or to make ISAs (possibly along with local chambers of commerce and industry) partners in programme development, management and evaluation. Given the major differences across Africa in terms of the development of both indigenous apprenticeship systems and ISAs, there is need for considerable care in considering whether interventions of this kind are at all feasible. Development of greater knowledge about the efficacy of such interventions is urgently required.

PROPOSITION 4.4

Indigenous apprenticeship systems have been highly successful sources of skills development. Nonetheless, their ability to develop the appropriate skills that can help individuals and enterprises to access new high value niches and respond to new technologies is open to question. Moreover, they are not universally available across Africa, and lessons from West Africa cannot necessarily even be expected to apply to countries such as Kenya.

PROPOSITION 4.5.

Notwithstanding any questioning of the efficacy of indigenous systems of skills development, it is clear that considerable caution is required about attempts at intervention therein. Tentatively, it can be suggested that success of interventions is most likely when improvements in training are based on the expressed needs of masters and apprentices; where ISAs are intimately involved in programme development, management and evaluation; and where the programme avoids donor-dependence. Interventions may be most likely to succeed where indigenous systems are strongest, as in West Africa.

4.6. SKILLS TRANSFER FROM LARGER FIRMS

Structural adjustment was supposed to benefit the SME sector through skills transfer from larger firms. Jeans (1999) has argued that

"downsizing" and "retrenchment" from large industry and government has led to a new cadre of entrants to the small enterprise sector who have developed their skills elsewhere. (Jeans 1999:178).

The transfer of skills from larger to smaller firms, charted by King in Kenya (1977, 1996 and 1999), appears to still be strong there. However, in West Africa, there is evidence from both Ghana and Nigeria that it may largely be an artefact of past times, although where it does occur it is still a powerful mechanism for skills upgrade (Powell 1995 a; Adam 1999). Powell (1995a) also shows in the Ghanaian case how the influx of new skills into SMEs this produced two generations ago has largely been diluted by lack of use over the years and how fewer skills are transmitted at each subsequent point.

A route from wage employment in a larger firm to self-employment in an SME may well bring successful new entrants to the latter sector. Many of the most dynamic SMEs have roots in and continuing connections with larger concerns. This is most likely when key individuals are able to choose to make the move to self-employment, and precede it by a period of straddling both wage and self-employment in which they adapt their existing skills to new contexts and build up the networks necessary for sustainable self-employment. The period of straddling itself remains in need of further analysis in the context of learning-led competitiveness. It is important to note that straddling may not simply be a transitional phase but may be a long-term strategy, both for profit and for survival.

The competitiveness orientation of such movements is strengthened when sub-contracting relationships are functioning well, as a lever for quality control (Grierson and Mead 1999). In some cases, programmes designed around retrenchment packages can lead to sustainable small enterprise creation (Manu 1999). However, such packages require a considerable investment from employers and/or the state and a favourable small enterprise climate.

The transition of workers from large to small firms will continue to be an important source of skills, capital and experience for the SME sector. However, it cannot and will not be the main route for transition to self-employment. For the majority of poor people in Africa, exclusion from formal sector employment is a major element of their reality of poverty. As employment continues to contract in larger firms in either absolute or relative terms, the possibilities of this route will be increasingly remote for the majority of school leavers.

PROPOSITION 4.6.

There is mixed evidence about the level of transition of personnel and skills from larger to smaller enterprises. Where it occurs, it seems to be an important source of learning-led competitiveness for small and micro enterprises and is worthy of support. Nonetheless, it is clearly under pressure from the contraction of larger firms across Africa and cannot be more than a partial solution to skill and technology problems of smaller enterprises.

4.7. RETHINKING TRAINING FOR SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS

Quality training is a necessary element of both economic growth and poverty eradication. It needs to be supported by constructive market - state relationships. However, as with enterprise and education in the previous chapters, training exists in a broader context and economies and enterprises cannot have their competitive problems solved through narrow skills development strategies alone:

Seeing skills and knowledge and particularly an increase in their supply as the chief point of departure for policies aimed at creating a more competitive and socially successful economy may be looking at the issue through the wrong end of the telescope. Skills and knowledge do not, of themselves, necessarily add value, unless and until they are combined with a number of other critical factors. These include competitive and product market strategies that place a strong emphasis on competition on the basis of quality and customisation rather than price and economies of scale; a marketplace that is willing and able to pay a premium for such goods and services; patterns of work organisation and job design that give opportunities for enhanced skills to be deployed to good effect; and human resource management and employee relations systems that aim at high levels of trust, commitment and motivation (Keep and Mayhew 1998: 11).

Policies need to do more to empower and encourage public training institutions to rethink their approach to self-employment preparation. Selection remains a key element here, with the argument remaining powerful that programmes for those interested, or already active, in self-employment have a greater likelihood of success than those which seek to reorient students focused on formal sector employment or who are using VTIs as second chance routes to other occupations.

Funding and institutional capacity need to improve if VTIs are to become more responsive to the needs of enterprises of all sizes. Whilst there are a number of good examples, too many VTIs lack even the most basic information about either where their students are going after training or what the local and national market niches for graduates are. Either through placement of students or the provision of services, such as equipment hire or book-keeping, VTIs have the potential for better mutual understanding with enterprises of all sizes. However, this too is rarely seized. Moreover, bureaucratic rules regarding curricular change often prevent them from adjusting training even when they do identify new opportunities and challenges.

There is reason for caution about the quality of indigenous apprenticeship systems, particularly in the face of the challenge of learning-led competitiveness, which places a premium on training that can help individuals and enterprises to access new high value niches and respond to new technologies. Thought also needs to be directed to whether the presence of apprentices with higher levels of prior education and training and masters with formal sector experience has implications for making apprenticeship more competitiveness-focused and knowledge-rich.

Such apprenticeship systems are not found to the same extent across all African countries. It is also clear that caution is required about the many attempts to intervene in order to upgrade such training where it does exist. Where improvements in training are based on the expressed needs of masters and apprentices; where ISAs are intimately involved in programme development, management and evaluation; where the programme avoids donor-dependence, there may well be better prospects for success. In cases where such indigenous systems are not present or only weakly so, the obstacles to successful intervention may be even more serious.

There appears to be a mixed picture in Africa, and elsewhere, regarding the extent of movement of personnel out of larger and more formal enterprises into the SME sector. Programmes to support such transitions are evident in all three countries, although to varying degrees. Here too, there is potential for exploring a stronger focus on learning-led competitiveness. The growing interest in business linkages also highlights the possibility of inter-firm relationships constructed around such movements of individuals that can highlight learning and enhance competitiveness.