The State, skill formation and productivity enhancement in the construction industry: The case of Singapore

International Journal of Human Resource Management

Volumn 12, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 184-202

  Debrah, Yaw A ^b   Ofori, George ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

^b NONE

Author keywords

Construction industry; Political elites; Productivity; Singapore; Skill formation; Skills testing; Skills training; State

Indexed keywords

EID: 0345861013     PISSN: 09585192     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09585190010014593     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Amin, S. (1974) 'Accumulation and Development: A Theoretical Model', Review of African Political Economy, 1(August-November): 9-26.
2. Amin, S. (1976) Unequal Development: An Essay on the Social Formulation of Peripheral Capitalism. Hassocks: Harvester.
3. Aryee, S. (1994) 'The Social Organisation of Careers as a Source of Competitive Advantage: The Case of Singapore', International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(1): 67-88.
4. Ashton, D. and Green, F. (1996) Education, Training and the Global Economy. Cheltenham: Elgar.
5. Ashton, D. and Sung, J. (1994) The State, Economic Development and Skill Formation: A New Asian Model?, Working Paper 3, Centre for Labour Market Studies, Leicester University.
6. Booth, A.L. and Snower, D.J. (eds) (1996) 'Introduction: Does the Free Market Produce Enough Skills?'. In Acquiring Skills: Market Failures, Their Symptoms and Policy Responses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-16.
7. Business Roundtable (1989) Measuring Productivity in Construction, Report No. A-1. New York.
8. Cassen, R. and Mavrotas, G. (1997) 'Education and Training for Manufacturing Development'. In Godfrey, M. (ed.) Skill Development for International Competitiveness. Cheltenham: Elgar, pp. 141-68.
9. Castells, M. (1992) 'Four Tigers with a Dragon Head: A Comparative Analysis of the State, Economy and Society in the Asia Pacific Rim'. In Appelbaum, R. and Henderson, J. (eds) States and Development in the Asia Pacific Rim. London: Sage.
10. Chapman, P. (1994) 'Investment in Skills: Training Policy in the UK'. In Buxton, T., Chapman, P., and Temple, P. Britain's Economic Performance. London: Routledge.
11. Cheah, H.B. (1997) 'Can Governments Engineer the Transition from Cheap Labour to Skill-Based Competitiveness? The Case of Singapore'. In Godfrey, M. (ed.) Skill Development for International Competitiveness. Cheltenham: Elgar.
12. Chen, E.K.Y. (1979) Hyper-Growth in Asia Economies: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. London: Macmillan.
13. Chong, C.L., Gan, C.E. and Rodgers, R. (1996) 'Does the Availability of Foreign Workers Inhibit Technological Upgrading and Technology Improvements in the Singapore Construction Industry?'. In Productivity in Construction: International Experiences, Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress on Construction, Singapore, 5-6 November, pp. 138-44.
14. Construction Focus (1992) 'Higher Productivity is Key to Long-term Growth', 4(11-12): 4.
15. Construction Focus (1996a) 'New Approved Centres', 8(2): 3.
16. Construction Focus (1996b) 'Three Break Through $400m mark', 8(6): 8.
17. Construction Focus (1997) 'Buildable Designs May Be Made Compulsory', 9(3): 1.
18. Construction Industry Development Board (1995) Construction Industry Manpower Survey 1995. Singapore.
19. Construction Industry Development Board (1996a) Annual Report 1996. Singapore.
20. Construction Industry Development Board (1996b) Construction Industry Manpower Survey 1996. Singapore.
21. Construction Industry Development Board (1997a) Register of Contractors 1997/8. Singapore.
22. Construction Industry Development Board (1997b) Design & Build in Singapore. Singapore.
23. Debrah, Y.A. and Ofori, G. (1997) 'Flexibility, Labour Subcontracting and HRM in the Construction Industry in Singapore: Can the System Be Reformed?', International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(5): 690-709.
24. Economic Planning Committee, Ministry of Trade and Industry (1991) The Strategic Economic Plan: Towards a Developed Nation. Singapore: SNP.
25. Edwards, C. (1997) 'State Failure or Market Failure? The Ten Steps to a Levy-Grant System of Vocational Training'. In Godfrey, M. (ed.) Skill Development for International Competitiveness. Cheltenham: Elgar, pp. 169-200.
26. Emmanuel, A. (1972) Unequal Exchange: A Study in the Imperialism of Trade. New York: Monthly Review Press
27. Emmanuel, A. (1982) Appropriate or Underdevelopment Technology. Chichester: Wiley.
28. Finegold, D. (1991) 'Institutional Incentives and Skill Creation: Understanding the Decisions that Lead to a High Skill Equilibrium'. In Ryan, P. (ed.) International Comparisons of Vocational Education and Training for Intermediate Skills. London: Falmer Press, pp. 93-116.
29. Finegold, D. (1996) 'Market Failure and Government Failure in Skills Investment'. In Booth, A.L. and Snower, D.J. (eds) Acquiring Skills: Market Failures, their Symptoms and Policy Responses, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 235-53.
30. Finegold, D. and Soskice, D. (1988) 'The Failure of British Training: Analysis and Prescription', Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 4(3): 21-53.
31. Finegold, D. and Soskice, D. (1988) The Failure of Training in Britain: Analysis and Prescription', Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 4(3): 281-94.
32. Finlay, I. and Niven, S. (1996) 'Characteristics of Effective Vocational Education and Training Policies: An International Comparative Perspective', International Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 4(1): 5-22.
33. Frank, A.G. (1969) Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America: Historical Studies of Chile and Brazil. New York: Monthly Review Press.
34. Frank, A.G. (1975) On Capitalist Underdevelopment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35. Frank, A.G. (1978) Dependent Accumulation and Underdevelopment. London: Macmillan.
36. Glynn, S. and Gospel, H. (1993) 'Britain's Low Skill Equilibrium: A Problem of Demand?', Industrial Relations Journal, 24(2): 112-25.
37. Godfrey, M. (ed.) (1997) Skill Development for International Competitiveness. Cheltenham: Elgar.
38. Goodwin, J. (1997) The Republic of Ireland and the Singaporean Model of Skill Formation and Economic Development, Working Paper No. 14, Centre for Labour Market Studies, Leicester: University of Leicester.
39. Government of Singapore (1991) Singapore: The Next Lap. Singapore: Times Editions.
40. Harris, N. (1992) 'States, Economic Development and the Pacific Rim'. In Appelbaum, R. and Henderson, J. (eds) States and Development in the Asia Pacific Rim. London: Sage.
41. Harrison, D (1988) The Sociology of Modernization and Development. London: Unwin Hyman.
42. Haskel, J. and Martin, C. (1993) 'Do Skill Shortages Reduce Productivity? Theory and Evidence from the UK', Economic Journal, 103: 386-94.
43. Haskel, J. and Martin, C. (1996) 'Skill Shortages, Productivity Growth and Wage Inflation'. In Booth, A.L. and Snower, D.J. (eds) Acquiring Skills: Market Failures, their Symptoms and Policy Responses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 149-73.
44. Herbsman, Z. and Ellis, R. (1990) 'Research of Factors Influencing Construction Productivity', Construction Management and Economics, 8: 49-61.
45. Hughes, H. (1993) 'An External View'. In Low, L., Heng, T.M.H., Wong, T.W., Yam, T.K. and Hughes, H. Challenge and Response: Thirty Years of The Economic Development Board. Singapore: Times Academic Press.
46. Islam, I. and Chowdhury, A. (1997) Asia Pacific Economies: A Surrey. London: Routledge.
47. Johnson, C. (1982) MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy 1925-1975. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
48. Kane, A.R. (1980) 'An Examination of the Factors Influencing Productivity in the Highway Construction Industry'. In Proceedings of the CIB W65 Third Symposium on Organisations and Management of Construction, Dublin, pp. A1: 181-A1. 194.
49. Keep, E. and Mayhew, K. (1995) 'Evaluation the Assumptions that Underlie Training Policy'. In Booth, A. and Snower, D. (eds) Acquiring Skills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 303-27.
50. Kioki, K. and Inoki, T. (eds) (1990) Skill Formation in Japan and Southeast Asia. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
51. Larrain, J. (1989) Theories of Development: Capitalism, Colonialism and Dependency. Cambridge: Polity Press.
52. Leong, C.T. (1989) 'Singapore Builders Need to Upgrade Urgently to Meet Competition', The Straits Times, 22 August.
53. Lucas, R.E.B. (1997) 'Skill Development and Structural Adjustment'. In Godfrey, M. (ed.) Skill Development for International Competitiveness. Cheltenham: Elgar, pp. 203-22.
54. Manpower Research and Statistics Department (1998) 1997 Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics. Singapore: Ministry of Manpower.
55. Ministry of Labour (1992) Annual Report 1992. Singapore.
56. Ministry of Trade and Industry (1987) Economic Review of Singapore. Singapore.
57. Ng, P. (1996) 'Improving Construction Productivity Through Buildable Designs in Singapore'. In Productivity in Construction: International Experiences, Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress on Construction, Singapore, 5-6 November, pp. 113-21.
58. Nolan, P. (1989) 'The Productivity Miracle'. In Green, F. (ed.) The Restructuring of the UK Economy. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, pp. 101-21.
59. Nolan, P. and O'Donnell, K. (1995) 'Industrial Relations and Productivity'. In Edwards, P. (ed.) Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice in Britain. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 397-433.
60. Ofori, G. (1990) The Construction Industry: Aspects of its Economics and Management. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
61. Ofori, G. (1993) Managing Construction Industry Development: Lessons from Singapore's Experience. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
62. Ofori, G. (1994) 'Formulating a Long-term Strategy for Developing the Construction Industry of Singapore', Construction Management and Economics, 12: 219-31.
63. Prais, S.J. (1981) Productivity and Industrial Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
64. Prais, S.J. and Steedman, H. (1986) 'Vocational Training in France and Britain: The Building Trades', National Institute Economic Review, May: 45-55.
65. Rabushka, A. (1979) Hong Kong: A Study in Economic Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
66. So, A.Y. (1990) Social Change and Development: Modernization, Dependency and World-Systems Theory. London: Sage.
67. Steedman, H. (1993) 'Do Work-Force Skills Matter?', British Journal of Industrial Relations, 31(2): 285-92.
68. Straits Times, The (1992) 'Build-in-Time Construction Productivity: Where We Stand', 7 March, p. B2.
69. Straits Times, The (1993) 'Sub-contractors to Get Formal Training Soon', 13 October, p. 36.
70. Straits Times, The (1994) 'New Guidelines for Subcontractors', 20 November, p. 23.
71. Tang, W.Y. (1992) 'Raising Productivity and Quality through Continual Training', The Straits Times, 2 March, p. L15.
72. Task Force on Construction Productivity (1992) Raising Singapore's Construction Productivity. Singapore: Construction Industry Development Board.
73. Wade, R. (1990) Governing the Marker: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialisation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
74. Wallerstein, I. (1979) The Capitalist World Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
75. Wilkinson, B., Leggett, C. and Patarapanich, S. (1986) 'National Ideology, Technology and Employment: The Construction Industry in Singapore', New Technology, Work and Employment, 1(1): 67-76.
76. Wolf, C. (1988) Markets or Governments: Choosing Between Imperfect Alternatives. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.