Multinational companies and local knowledge base - an evolutionary perspective: Regional variants of initial vocational education and training activities in Germany

《经济地理学》将知识作为公司和区域竞争力的先决条件进行分析，例如在当地知识库的背景下。尽管应用实践教育的相关性很早就被指出，但到目前为止，对它的系统研究还很少。在这里，关注的是“双重”初始职业教育活动，这是当地劳动力市场和公司需求之间的接口。在德国，不同地区之间存在广泛的机会(从制度上讲)。特定行业的特点在当地品种以及当地利益攸关方和与教育有关的联合倡议中发挥作用。外国直接投资是研究的中心，因为在双重教育活动方面，它们可能是相关的但仍不为人所知的行为者，而且它们的部门分布在区域上有所不同。很明显，教育活动正在反复变化，无论是公司还是其他当地利益攸关方都是驱动因素。变化的原因不只是因为与生产有关的理性，例如公司的增长或创新，而且还有解释模式，例如侧重于竞争力或减少青年失业率。为了系统地捕捉时间动态，这个项目遵循了一种受进化经济地理学启发的观点。在这样做的过程中，确定了演员星座的“队形”和相关的“能力束”。该项目询问外国跨国公司的子公司如何参与德国不同地区的双重教育活动，在那里可以找到哪些演员安排的演变形式，以及为什么。由于来自不同国家的直接投资集中在不同的地区，该项目的重点(除了德国的总体概况)集中在汉堡、法兰克福、杜塞尔多夫、科隆、慕尼黑和斯图加特。总体情况通过数据库分析进行分析，通过试点研究和区域主要调查进行区域区分，采用定性方法，系统地结合经济地理学和商业教育的观点和方法。

Economic Geography analyses knowledge as prerequisite for the competitiveness of companies and regions, e.g. in the context of local knowledge bases. Although the relevance of applied practical education was pointed out early on, it has been hardly systematically researched until now. Here, the attention is on ‘dual’ initial vocational education activities, which is an interface between the local labour market and company needs. In Germany, there is (institutionally based) a wide range of opportunities between different regions. Industry-specific features play a role in the local varieties, as well as local stakeholders and joint education-related initiatives. Foreign direct investments are in the centre of the study, because they are potentially relevant but still unknown actors with regard to dual education activities, and because their sectoral distribution differs regionally. It is evident that education activities are changing repeatedly, whether companies or other local stakeholders are the drivers. The reasons for change are not (solely) due to production-related rationalities, such as company growth or innovation, but also patterns of interpretation, e.g. focussing on competitiveness or reduction of youth unemployment. To systematically capture the temporal dynamics, this project follows a view inspired by evolutionary economic geography. In doing so, 'formations' of actor constellations and relevant 'bundles of competences' are identified. The project asks how subsidiaries of foreign multinational companies are involved in dual education activities in different regions of Germany, and which evolutionary formations of actor arrangements can be found there, and why. As direct investment from different countries concentrate in different regions, the project focuses (besides a general overview of Germany), on Hamburg, Frankfurt, Duesseldorf, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart. The overall situation is analysed by database analysis, the regionally differentiating storylines by a pilot study and a regional main survey using qualitative approaches, systematically combining perspectives and methods of economic geography and business education.