Small and medium sized enterprises and vocational education and training

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine the training practices and needs and skills structures in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Its six specific objectives are: to compare the skills profiles of firms by firm size (after controlling for industry); to describe the training practices of SMEs and compare these practices with that of big business; to identify how the approach taken to decision-making in the training area varies with enterprise size; to examine the factors that influence training and to identify how these factors differ with enterprise size; to identify obstacles to the provision of training and how such obstacles vary in importance with enterprise size; to draw implications from the research for VET delivery with respect to better meeting the needs of SMEs.