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The German skill‐creation system has been a vital part of the success of its ‘diversified quality production’ model. Some argue that this success is now threatened by the spread of lean production and that the existing skill‐creation system may hinder, rather than help, German manufacturers to restructure. We explore this argument in a detailed study of a nationally representative sample of German pumpmakers. We find that the existence of a highly skilled work‐force may deter the adoption of multifunctional work teams, but that countervailing strengths of the German skill‐creation system have the potential to help firms develop a new, distinctive German production model.
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Finegold et al. (1998) studied this question.
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