Content area
Full text
Background issues on skills
Much has changed in respect of the concept of skill. At the macro-level, for example, it is some 37 years ago since Harry Braverman highlighted one of the consequences of capitalism, the deskilling of labour and the degradation of work ([30] Braverman, 1974). Deskilling labour means that jobs would require the minimum of skill, of creativity, judgement or problem-solving capability. Wages would then be commensurate with such degraded work. Labour process theory has been heavily criticised in part for the narrowness of its perspective. Furthermore structural changes were occurring in developed economies, which meant that old technologies were being replaced and heavy industry was migrating to countries where labour costs were lower. Now, however, it would appear that the situation has changed again. Government calls for up-skilling not only of the labour force but of young people preparing for the world of work ([79] Leitch, 2006). Leitch addresses the issue of the UK competitiveness head on, making international comparisons with countries as disparate as the USA, Norway and Germany, whose investment in training and human resource development far outstrips that of the UK. The argument of Leitch is that only by significantly increasing skills levels will the UK improve its productivity; crucial skills are identified as leadership, management and innovation, which drive productivity-led growth.
The argument for the improvement in the national skills' profile appears to be that to compete worldwide, to innovate and maintain market presence, companies not only need to secure strategic position, but attract high-quality resources, including and most notably, well qualified human capital. This is clearly a general issue and not one that pertains specifically to entrepreneurship and innovation. Skills for entrepreneurship and innovation are likely to be specific to those activities and to aim to produce particular outcomes. The latter vary from business founding, growth and sustainability of an enterprise, to the development of innovative products and services, enabling enterprises to compete locally, nationally or globally.
Research in entrepreneurship and innovation over the past decade has tended to focus on theory-building, developing conceptual thinking about the entrepreneurial process, with, arguably insufficient attention being placed on what entrepreneurs and innovators do and how they do it. This is a further step removed from a consideration of how...