독일 중소기업의 경쟁력과 고용관계

The Competitiveness of the German SMEs and Employment Relations Woontaek Lim This paper explores the background of competitiveness in the German SMEs(Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) as so-called 'hidden champions' and their employment relations. According to this study the competitiveness of the German SMEs takes rise in two aspects. The one is the social-economic system, that encompasses legal and institutional backup as well as favourable societal conditions for the SMEs. The other one is the continuos innovation of the SMEs, so that they overcome their disadvantageous position owing to high tax and high labour costs. On that occasion, the core of innovation is efficient use of human capital based on the traditional skilled labour, and the cooperative industrial relationships supporting vocational training on the social dimension. This Aspect presents the distinction of the German SMEs the competitiveness of which is based on the stability of employment relations. Skilled Labor is result of the German dual vocational training system, to what extent the unemployment rate of the skilled worker lies under 5% in spite of high average unemployment rate. This situation is supported by the cooperative industrial relations, which relate stability of employment to vocational training. Regarding this examples of some German SMEs in this paper present various strategies of the cooperative industrial relations, in the way the competitiveness of the SMEs and the stability of employment can be guaranteed by vocational training.