Explaining the Economic Success of Singapore explores the transformation of Singapore in the last three decades, going beyond the conventional explanations. The book argues that there was more to the transformation than a simple 'right place, right time' scenario as other developing countries benefited from similar multinational corporation investment and political stability but did not achieve the same success. Johnny Sung illustrates what differentiates Singapore from these other similar countries. This book argues that both neo-classical economic theory and early versions of the developmental state theory have contributed little to understanding the nature of worker participation in Singapore's 'miracle growth' period. By developing a complementary concept - the developmental worker - the book examines the socio-political context in which workers became central to the national growth strategy and its skill formation projects. It further argues that one of the most important achievements of the developmental state is its ability to systematically embed the skill formation process through building innovative worker stake-holding while explicitly recognising the importance of social commitment for economic growth. Providing important lessons for workforce development policies, this book will appeal to workforce development policy makers, researchers, academics of labour studies, Asian studies and political science, as well as consultants advising on workforce matters.

The East Asian miracle, or its putative demise, is always news. The four Tiger economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have experienced some of the fastest rates of economic growth ever achieved. This work provides an analysis of the development of education and training systems in Asia, and the relationship with the process of economic growth. The authors focus on how these systems facilitated their transition from labour intensive to capital intensive forms of production and explores the crucial role of government in managing this relationship. The hallmark of policymaking in these economies is that governments have been able to gear the output of their education and training systems to the requirements of any particular stage of growth, often by anticipating future skill demands. However, the book also considers to what extent this model of skill formation is being undermined by processes of economic liberalization and democratization. The text provides policy makers with a model of the skill formation process. It has practical implications for all those concerned with facilitating the process of economic development: from policy makers or sociologists to those

Johnny Sung and David Ashton are two of the leading scholars in the area of skills. This book combines challenging theories with cutting edge research in a way that should bring skills to life for students. I strongly recommend it for anyone researching or studying in this area. - Irena Grugulis, Leeds University Business School "A much needed contribution to the complex debate of how skills can best be utilised to enhance company performance, with particular emphasis on an innovative sectoral approach. It is a model of clarity in its presentation of the authors' conceptual models using a historical narrative as well as comparative case studies in both the UK and Singapore." - Bert Clough, Leeds University Business School Public skills policy in most market economies in the last forty years made one repeated error, time and again. We seem to be unable to learn from those mistakes. Consistently, public policies view a wide range of economic and social issues e.g. low productivity, low-skilled jobs, low wage, inequality and in-work poverty as the consequence of skills deficits and a lack of qualifications held by individual workers. Whilst mis-diagnosing the source of the problems and failing to deliver any effective change, public skills policies continue with a policy prescription of 'more skills' and 'more degrees'. If we have not solved the problems with this decade-old approach, why should the same medicine work this time? This book examines the role of public skills policy from a completely different perspective. It starts by challenging the lack of a systematic analysis of the link between skills utilisation and business strategy, and provides a new model for fresh thinking. The book extends this theoretical analysis to examine the implications for the sectoral approach to skills development as a more effective form of public skills policy. David N. Ashton is Emeritus Professor at the University of Leicester and Honorary Professor at Cardiff University. Johnny Sung is at The Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore Workforce Development Agency, Singapore.

In this book, written by David Ashton and Johnny Sung, the ILO is responding to the widespread interest in learning and training in high performance work organizations (HPWOs) and has taken up the challenge of identifying and documenting these innovative practices. The book looks at many aspects of workplace learning and training and considers these aspects from the perspective of workers as well as employers, including the prospective benefits for the different parties. It also examines the role governments can play in fostering high performance work practices and, in particular, encouraging enterprises to make better use of their employees' skills. This book contributes to the ILO's strategic objective of creating greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent work. The HPWOs create the scenario for a win-win outcome: the companies benefit through increased productivity, and the employees gain through improved quality of working life - decent employment - and increased remuneration compared to more traditional enterprises. The recent research, for the first time, shows how high performance work practices increase productivity. The book also shows that employees in HPWOs often have more stable employment and that equity issues are dealt with in a more open and fair manner due to the commitment of managers and workers alike. Mutual trust is an essential element of high performance work practices.

Johnny Sung and David Ashton are two of the leading scholars in the area of skills. This book combines challenging theories with cutting edge research in a way that should bring skills to life for students. I strongly recommend it for anyone researching or studying in this area. - Irena Grugulis, Leeds University Business School "A much needed contribution to the complex debate of how skills can best be utilised to enhance company performance, with particular emphasis on an innovative sectoral approach. It is a model of clarity in its presentation of the authors' conceptual models using a historical narrative as well as comparative case studies in both the UK and Singapore." - Bert Clough, Leeds University Business School Public skills policy in most market economies in the last forty years made one repeated error, time and again. We seem to be unable to learn from those mistakes. Consistently, public policies view a wide range of economic and social issues e.g. low productivity, low-skilled jobs, low wage, inequality and in-work poverty as the consequence of skills deficits and a lack of qualifications held by individual workers. Whilst mis-diagnosing the source of the problems and failing to deliver any effective change, public skills policies continue with a policy prescription of 'more skills' and 'more degrees'. If we have not solved the problems with this decade-old approach, why should the same medicine work this time? This book examines the role of public skills policy from a completely different perspective. It starts by challenging the lack of a systematic analysis of the link between skills utilisation and business strategy, and provides a new model for fresh thinking. The book extends this theoretical analysis to examine the implications for the sectoral approach to skills development as a more effective form of public skills policy. David N. Ashton is Emeritus Professor at the University of Leicester and Honorary Professor at Cardiff University. Johnny Sung is at The Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore Workforce Development Agency, Singapore.