Second Survey School and WOW.pdf

WORKING GROUP: TRANSITION
The direct employment effects of ICTs are, on the one hand, new jobs created in producing
and delivering new products and services and, on the other, the loss of jobs in redundant
technologies or in firms that fail to keep up with competitors’ rate of innovation.
An example would be personal computers. The computer industry itself has created many
jobs, while the use of computers in many other industries has substituted to some extent
labour force, thereby destroying jobs.
Indirect effects include the impact of technological change on productivity, skill requirements
and associated organizational adaptation.
The global competition
The reduction of barriers that first took place between local and national, then regional, and
now intercontinental markets, is a dominant theme in recent economic history. Liberalization
of trade controls on manufactures, an easing of restrictions on foreign direct investment and
other capital movements, as well as sharply reduced costs of transportation and
telecommunications, have fostered the emergence of a global market economy.
As a result of these changes more businesses face fiercer competition in their domestic and
export markets. Intensified global competition for products and services feeds through into
pressures to adapt workplaces and match the efficiency and quality of market leaders – or
close down.
The Netherlands
New demands, new management culture, ICT‐competencies, life long learning, Total quality
Management
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