The main objective in this chapter is to examine the firm’s competence strategies: learning activities and organisational practices, and their relationship with the firm’s environment and economic output. The main conclusion is, besides that these activities and practices in firms can be measured, that they are heterogeneous across organisations, but not according to measurements of the firm’s environment, as theory defining organisational boundaries argue. Most of the learning activities and work practices are used in such a way that they make a common pattern; a few make their own patterns. An analytical scheme developed for analysis of a firm’s competence strategy is used in creation of the models and in the interpretation of the results, made by factor analysis and regression analysis.

The main objective of this study is to compare the traditional TQM management concept with contemporary learning and work practices in firms in the business sector in Sweden. Will the use of one or both of the concepts predict higher value added per employee? The two management concepts are used as measurements of endogenous activities in the firm and are included in growth models. The concepts are based on new data from the Swedish Meadow Survey 2009 and matched with innovation data, ICT data, and register data for 2008 from Statistics Sweden. The Meadow Survey is based on the new proposed guideline of harmonising the collection and interpretation of data concerning work organisation and competence development in the European Union countries.

The background of the thesis is the ongoing struggle for a better understanding of driving forces for economic growth. Some important and rewarding new steps have been taken in the last decades in economic growth theory research. For example, the theory includes the use of technology and the creation and implementation of new technology intertwined with management and learning practices at work. However, the knowledge development on the matter can be described as slow. The explanation is argued to be the lack of data, which complicates and prevents theory development. The lack of data and the intertwined dependence on the development of theory in the matter constitutes the starting point for the research in the thesis.This thesis aims to contribute to developing measures of management of work and learning practices at work that can be used in productivity models. The analyses are based on the micro-level data from the Swedish MEADOW Survey 2009/2010 at Statistics Sweden. Factor and regression analysis and other analytical techniques are also used. Some key findings are that management and learning practices at work in business firms are used in bundles. The results indicate synergy effects on performance when applying multiple management and learning practices. Two different management approaches are tested, and both predict productivity. However, the measure of the contemporary use has a better fitness than the theoretical model. Focus and delimitations of research questions in the forthcoming doctoral dissertation are discussed. See Future Research – the Logic Next Step, Chapter 6, Final Reflections.

Artikeln handlar om HRM-praktikerna lärande i arbete och arbetets organisering samt deras påverkan på produktiviteten, utifrån ett tillväxtteoretiskt perspektiv. Teorier beskriver dessa praktiker som tillväxthöjande, däremot saknas data som styrker detta i produktivitetsmodeller. Riktlinjer för data har tagits fram (Meadow Consortium, 2010), men de ingår inte i det europeiska eller svenska statistiska systemet. Våra beräkningar och analyser baseras på data insamlade enligt riktlinjerna för studier av praktikernas betydelse för produktiviteten (ibid.). Resultaten visar att ett samlat HRM-index predicerar produktivitet med mycket hög signifikans. Ju fler praktiker desto högre produktivitet. Artikeln bidrar med HRM:s betydelse för produktiviteten och hur HRM kan mätas.

The article is about HRM-practices at work and how they affect productivity, from a growth theory perspective. Theories describe these practices as growth-en-hancing. However, data about these practices in productivity models have long been lacking. Non-mandatory guidelines have been developed (Meadow Consor-tium, 2010). This analysis uses data following the proposed guidelines in studies of the impact of HRM-practices on productivity. Each practice by themself show low correlations, but an overall HRM-index predicts productivity with very high significance. The more practices, the higher the productivity. The article contributes to the knowledge of how HRM-practices can be measured and their importance for productivity.

In Sweden, endogenous forces in companies are decisive for productivity. It is thirty years since the breakthrough in economic theory. Still, there is a lack of knowledge about their relationship with innovativeness and productivity. The shortcomings are partly due to a lack of data. Here, we take the operationalization of indicators that highlight learning at work a step further compared to the previous article in Arbetsmarknad_&_Arbetsliv. We present factor analysis that reveals learning patterns at work and regression analysis that validates the relevance of the indicators for innovation and productivity based on a representative sample of companies in Swedish business.

I Sverige är endogena drivkrafter i företagen avgörande för produktiviteten. Även om det gått trettio år efter genombrottet i ekonomisk teori om dessa drivkrafter saknas kunskap om lärandets roll och sambanden med teknisk innovativitet och produktivitet. Bristerna beror delvis på avsaknad av data. I artikeln tar vi operationaliseringen av indikatorer som belyser lärande i arbetet ytterligare ett steg jämfört med tidigare artikel i Arbetsmarknad-& Arbetsliv. Vi baserar analyserna på ett representativt urval företag i svenskt näringsliv. I artikeln presenteras faktoranalys som avslöjar vissa generella mönster av lärande i arbetet och regressionsanalyser som validerar relevansen av indikatorerna för innovativitet och produktivitet.