DO US FIRMS INVEST LESS IN HUMAN-RESOURCES - TRAINING IN THE WORLD AUTO INDUSTRY

We investigate the common assertion that U.S. firms invest less in hum an resources than key international competitors, testing four alternat ive explanations for differences in training effort found in survey da ta from an international sample of fifty-seven automobile assembly pla nts. We find the strongest support for the view that the level of trai ning is derived from the requirements of the business/production strat egy and the overall ''bundle'' of human resource policies-beyond train ing-adopted by the firm.