Finding Skills: Strategies of Local Auto Parts Supplier Firms in Mexico and Turkey

Abstract

This chapter investigates how the local auto parts suppliers in Mexico and Turkey find production workers with necessary skills, namely their “skilling strategies”, which include their recruitment and training practices. The chapter discusses how the institutional arrangements in Mexico and Turkey affect suppliers’ strategies to find workers with necessary skills. In this regard, it investigates the public vocational education and training (VET) systems, labour market regulations, as well as other regulations and arrangements that affect firms’ training and recruitment practices. The research in this chapter is based on in-depth interview data with eight auto parts suppliers in Mexico and Turkey, as well as interviews with various stakeholders of the VET system and the automotive industry in August 2014–November 2015 in the two countries. The chapter shows that the national institutional arrangements in fact have substantial impact on firms’ training and recruitment decisions.