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Investment in Qualitycompanies, even taking into account the size and sector in whichthey operated. FÁS recognises that because companies tend toprovide training to the better qualified, measures will be needed toencourage training of less well qualified employees. The Councilbelieves that training should be available to all regardless of age,gender or ability and that substantial productivity enhancement canbe achieved through even basic training of less skilled people.It is clear that the overall level of human capital available in Irelandneeds to be raised, through programmes of training and educationthat will facilitate workforce flexibility. In addition its developmentshould be focused on these areas where Ireland is exhibiting skillshortages and which offer the greatest gain for national competitiveadvantage. The absence of an appropriately qualified workforcecould be a significant constraint on the success of the enterprisestrategy outlined above. In addition, increasing the opportunity forall to participate in programmes of education and skill upgrading isan important element in a strategy to tackle social exclusion.10.4. 4 Organisational PerformanceAfter decades in which the focus of analysis centred on thestructural weakness of the Irish economy and the structuralweakness of Irish enterprises (because of small size, peripherallocation and barriers to entry), attention is now turning toorganisational capability and performance (NESC, 1998;O’Connell, 2001). This has potentially important implications forhow we think about indigenous development and the role of publicpolicy in supporting it.The practice of business improvement—which can and shoulddeliver mutual gains —rotates around processes of inquiry designedto highlight the reasons why processes do not work as they shouldand how they might be improved. It is this process of continuousinvestigation and learning that characterises many of the mostsuccessful organisations. The environment in which firms operatenow demands that companies successfully engage in thiscompetitive benchmarking of their processes and performance.562