"Each chapter in this book, written by experts in employment issues, addresses employment practices across similar firms within an industry and attempts to explain why they differ. The contributors also explore ways in which public policy can aid workers without subverting the strategic choices made by their firms. One lesson that emerges from their work is that efforts to encourage employers to develop a particular set of high performance work practices must confront the fact that these decisions result from a complex system of prior choices that are difficult to alter. Public policy may play a role by supporting training and other skill development programs, but pressures directed at work practices themselves are likely to be less successful."--BOOK JACKET.