Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Transfer research as an element of comparative vocational education and training: An example of factors influencing the transfer of dual training approaches of German companies in China, India and Mexico

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Comparative Vocational Education Research

Part of the book series: Internationale Berufsbildungsforschung ((INBER))

Abstract

This article deals with comparative vocational education and training (VET) research on the international transfer of the dual training system. The article focuses on the question, which factors influence the possible transfer of dual training approaches in German multinational subsidiaries from a company-specific perspective.

Based on the current state of research, a brief overview of the research history and the theoretical background is given.

The article specifies the outlined research question for China, India and Mexico with a focus on the mechanical engineering and plant construction sectors, the automotive and automotive supply sectors as well as the electronics and chemicals sectors.

Using a qualitative research approach, expert interviews with 149 training experts of subsidiaries of German production companies were conducted, factory tours and visits to training facilities took place and document analyses rounded off the recording instruments. The identified influencing factors for companies are presented and discussed on the basis of country-specific findings. As an aggregated overview, the main influencing variables within the company and externally are outlined. The overall reflection for the transfer of dual training approaches in the conclusion completes the article.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Appelbaum, E., Bailey, T., Berg, P., & Kalleberg, A. L. (2000). Manufacturing advantage: Why high-performance work systems pay off. London: Ithaca.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aring, M. (2014). Innovations in quality apprenticeships for high-skilled manufacturing jobs in the United States at BMW, Siemens, Volkswagen. Geneva: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arteaga García, A., Sierra Romero, S., & Flores Lima, R. (2010). The vocational training system in Mexico: Characteristics and actors, strengths and weaknesses. In G. Bosch & J. Charest (Eds.), Vocational training: International perspectives (pp. 187–213). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. (1990). Politics and policy making in education. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. (1998). Big policies/small world: An introduction to international perspectives in education policy. Comparative Education, 34(2), pp. 119–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bliem, W., Schmid, K., & Petanovitsch, A. (2014). Erfolgsfaktoren der dualen Ausbildung: Transfermöglichkeiten (ibw-Forschungsbericht Nr. 177). Wien: ibw.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busemeyer, M. R., & Trampusch, C. (Eds.). (2012). The political economy of collective skill formation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cáceres-Reebs, D., & Schneider, U. (2013). Berufsausbildung in Mexiko – Wie das Land das duale Modell tropenfest macht. Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis, 42(5), pp. 11–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carnoy, M. (1974). Education as cultural imperialism. New York: David McKay.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowen, R. (2006). Acting comparatively upon the educational world: Puzzles and possibilities. Oxford Review of Education, 32(5), pp. 561–573.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dolowitz, D. P., & Marsh, D. (2000). Learning from abroad: The role of policy transfer in contemporary policy-making. Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration, 13(1), pp. 5–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowling, P. J., Festing, M., & Engle, A. D. (2008). International human resource management: Managing people in a multinational context (5th ed.). Ohio: Thomson South-Western.

    Google Scholar 

  • Festing, M., Eidems, J., & Royer, S. (2007). Strategic issues and local constraints in transnational compensation strategies: An analysis of cultural, institutional and political influences. European Management Journal, 25(2), pp. 118–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Georg, W. (2005). Vergleichende Berufsbildungsforschung. In F. Rauner (Ed.), Handbuch Berufsbildungsforschung (pp. 186–193). Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gessler, M. (2016). Educational Transfer as transformation: A case study about the emergence and implementation of dual apprenticeship structures in a German automotive transplant in the United States. Vocations and Learning, 37(2), pp. 1–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gessler, M. (2019). Promotoren der Innovation im transnationalen Berufsbildungstransfer: Eine Fallstudie. In M. Gessler, M. Fuchs, & M. Pilz (Eds.), Konzepte und Wirkungen des Transfers Dualer Berufsausbildung (pp. 233–279). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gessler, M., Fuchs, M., & Pilz, M. (Eds.). (2019). Konzepte und Wirkungen des Transfers Dualer Berufsausbildung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • GTAI (German Trade and Invest). (2017a). Wirtschaftsdaten kompakt: Indien. https://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Content/DE/Trade/Fachdaten/MKT/2016/11/mkt201611222018_159630_wirtschaftsdaten-kompakt---indien.pdf?v=3. Accessed: 06 April 2018.

  • GTAI. (2017b). Wirtschaftsdaten kompakt: China. https://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Content/DE/Trade/Fachdaten/MKT/2016/11/mkt201611222022_159610_wirtschaftsdaten-kompakt---china.pdf?v=3. Accessed: 02 March 2018.

  • GTAI. (2017c). Wirtschaftsdaten kompakt: Mexiko: https://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Content/DE/Trade/Fachdaten/MKT/2016/11/mkt201611222019_159520_wirtschaftsdaten-kompakt---mexiko.pdf?v=2. Accessed: 11 August 2018.

  • Heenan, D. A., & Perlmutter, H. V. (1979). Multinational organization development. A social architectural perspective. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helbig, J. (2015). Internationalization of small and medium sized mechanical engineering enterprises: The impact of culture and success factors for manufacturing in India. Berlin: Logos Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, B. (1965). Problems in education: A comparative approach. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulme, R. (2005). Policy transfer and the internationalisation of social policy. Social Policy & Society, 4(4), pp. 417–425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulme, R. (2006). The role of policy transfer in assessing the impact of American ideas on British social policy. Global Social Policy, 6(2), pp. 173–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jürgens, U., & Krywdzinski, M. (2016). Neue Arbeitswelten: Wie sich die Arbeitsrealität in den Automobilwerken der BRIC-Länder verändert. Frankfurt a. M.: Campus Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S. (2017). Culture matters in educational policy transfer: The case of curricular reforms in the two Koreas during the Soviet and US military occupation. Journal of Education Policy, 32(3), pp. 372–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Körbel, M., Pierenkemper, S., & Zibrowius, M. (2017). Fachkräftesicherung deutscher Unternehmen im Ausland – Erfahrungen bei der Übertragung dualer Ausbildungselemente. Abschlussbericht. Köln: Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuckartz, U. (2016). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Methoden, Praxis, Computerunterstützung (3rd ed.). Basel: Beltz Juventa Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, A. S., & Suresh, N. (2008). Production and operations management: With skill development, caselets and cases (2nd ed.). New Delhi: New Age International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, T. (2007). The problem of cultural fit – what can we learn from borrowing the German dual system? Compare, 37(4), pp. 463–477.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, J., Wiemann, K., Shi, W., Wang, Y., & Pilz, M. (2019). Vocational training in Chinese and German companies in China: a “home international” comparison. International Journal of Training and Development, 23(2), pp. 153–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muehlemann, S., & Wolter, S. C. (2011). Firm-sponsored training and poaching externalities in regional labor markets. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 41(6), pp. 560–570.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ochs, K. (2006). Cross-national policy borrowing and educational innovation: Improving achievement in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham. Oxford Review of Education, 32(5), pp. 599–618.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ochs, K., & Phillips, D. (2004). Processes of educational borrowing in historical context. In D. Phillips & K. Ochs (Eds.), Educational policy borrowing: Historical perspectives (pp. 7–24). Oxford: Symposium Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ozga, J., & Jones, R. (2006). Travelling and embedded policy: The case of knowledge transfer. Journal of Education Policy, 21(1), pp. 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, L. B., & Tor, G.-H. (2008). Understanding educational transfer: Theoretical perspectives and conceptual frameworks. Prospects, 38(4), pp. 509–526.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, S. (2019). Bildungstransfer im Unternehmenskontext. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeiffer, S. (2008). Montage braucht Erfahrung. München: Mering.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, D. (2006). Investigating policy attraction in education. Oxford Review of Education, 32(5), pp. 551–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, D., & Ochs, K. (2003). Process of policy borrowing in education: Some explanatory and analytical devices. Comparative Education, 39(4), pp. 451–461.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, D., & Ochs, K. (2004). Researching policy borrowing: Some methodological challenges in comparative education. British Education Research Journal, 30(6), pp. 773–784.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, P. (2000). Increasing returns, path dependence, and the study of politics. The American Political Science Review, 94(2), pp. 251–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilz, M. (2009). Initial vocational training from a company perspective: A comparison of British and German in-house training cultures. Vocations and Learning, 2(1), pp. 57–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilz, M. (2012). International comparative research into vocational training: Methods and approaches. In M. Pilz (Ed.), The future of vocational education and training in a changing world (pp. 561–588). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilz, M. (2016a). Training patterns of German companies in India, China, Japan and the USA: What really works? International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 3(2), pp. 66–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilz, M. (2016b). Typologies in comparative vocational education: Existing models and a new approach. Vocations and Learning, 9(3), pp. 295–314.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilz, M. (2016c). Training like at home or like the domestic competitors? – A study of German and Indian companies in India. In A. Yasin, & R. B. Shivagunde (Eds.), Emerging trends in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) (pp. 2–14). New Delhi: Lenin Media.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilz, M. (2017). Policy borrowing in vocational education and training (VET) – VET system typologies and the “6 P strategy” for transfer analysis. In M. Pilz (Ed.), Vocational education and training in times of economic crisis: Lessons from around the world (pp. 473–490). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilz, M., & Li, J. (2014). Tracing Teutonic footprints in VET around the world? The skills development strategies of German companies in the USA, China and India. European Journal of Training and Development, 38(8), pp. 745–763.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, R. (2005). Learning from comparative public policy: A practical guide. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rupidara, N. S., & McGraw, P. (2011). The role of actors in configuring HR systems within multinational subsidiaries. Human Resource Management Review, 21(3), pp. 174–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schriewer, J. (1988). The method of comparison and the need for externalization: methodological criteria and sociological concepts. In J. Schriewer & B. Homes (Eds.), Theories and methods in comparative education (pp. 25–83). Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon, P., & Li, Y. (2013). Localized poaching and skills shortages of manufacturing employees among MNEs in China. Journal of World Business, 48(2), pp. 186–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2012). Understanding policy borrowing and lending: Building comparative policy studies. In G. Steiner-Khamsi, & F. Waldow (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2012: Policy borrowing and lending in education (pp. 3–17). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stockmann, R. (2019). Ziele, Wirkungen und Erfolgsfaktoren der deutschen Berufsbildungszusammenarbeit. In M. Gessler, M. Fuchs, & M. Pilz (Eds.), Konzepte und Wirkungen des Transfers Dualer Berufsausbildung (pp. 121–162). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stockmann, R., & Silvestrini, S. (2013). Berufsbildungsförderung im Vergleich. Zeitschrift für Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik, 109(2), pp. 170–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, K. (2004). How institutions evolve: The political economy of skills in Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valiente, O., & Scandurra, R. (2017). Challenges to the implementation of dual apprenticeships in OECD countries: A literature review. In M. Pilz (Ed.), Vocational education and training in times of economic crisis: Lessons from around the world (pp. 41–57). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waldow, F. (2012). Standardisation and legitimacy: Two central concepts in research on educational borrowing and lending. In G. Steiner-Khamsi & F. Waldow (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2012: Policy borrowing and lending in education (pp. 411–427). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wessels, A., & Pilz, M. (2018). India: International handbook of vocational education and training (BIBB, Ed.). Leverkusen: Barbara Budrich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiemann, J., & Fuchs, M. (2018). The export of Germany’s “secret of success” dual technical VET: MNCs and multiscalar stakeholders changing the skill formation system in Mexico. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 11(2), pp. 373–386.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiemann, K. (2020). Qualifizierungspraxis deutscher Produktionsunternehmen in China, Indien und Mexiko. Eine Analyse der Übertragbarkeit dualer Ausbildungsansätze. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiemann, K., Li, J., Wiemann, J., Fuchs, M., & Pilz, M. (2019). Lost (in) VET: Zum Stand der Transferforschung in der internationalen Berufsbildungszusammenarbeit aus Sicht verschiedener Wissenschaftsdisziplinen. In M. Gessler, M. Fuchs, & M. Pilz (Eds.), Konzepte und Wirkungen des Transfers Dualer Berufsausbildung (pp. 13–57). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiemann, K., & Pilz, M. (2017). Berufliche Ausbildung durch mexikanische und deutsche Unternehmen in Mexiko – ein Home-International-Vergleich. Tertium Comparationis, 23(2), pp. 217–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (1996). World development report: From plan to markets. Washington, DC. Retrieved from: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5979?show=full. Acceessed: 19 December 2017.

  • Zhang, Y., & Marsh, D. (2016). Learning by doing: The case of administrative policy transfer in China. Policy Studies, 37(1), pp. 35–52.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Economics and Business Education, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Kristina Wiemann & Matthias Pilz

Authors
  1. Kristina Wiemann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthias Pilz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristina Wiemann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Economics and Business Education, University of Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Matthias Pilz

  2. Chair of Economics and Business Education, University of Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Junmin Li

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Wiemann, K., Pilz, M. (2020). Transfer research as an element of comparative vocational education and training: An example of factors influencing the transfer of dual training approaches of German companies in China, India and Mexico. In: Pilz, M., Li, J. (eds) Comparative Vocational Education Research. Internationale Berufsbildungsforschung. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29924-8_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29924-8_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-29923-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-29924-8

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation