Vol. 38, No. 18

2-4-2005
By: Wayne Rowe

Far East gets boost from Alber Enterprise Center

A research fellow for the New Paradigm Center in Seoul, South Korea, recently visited several central Ohio businesses as part of a case study to gain knowledge about business training methods being implemented by Ohio State Marion’s Alber Enterprise Center, a university-based workforce development center.

Professor Tae Woon Kwak, a visiting scholar with the Department of Workforce Development and Education at Ohio State, has taken a sabbatical from his faculty position in economics at the University of Seoul to complete research he hopes will offer improved training methods for small businesses throughout Korea. The goal of the case study is to find and implement training solutions for businesses in Seoul, a city of nearly 10 million residents.

A large number of workers in Seoul are part of small business firms. Kwak said an increased emphasis on training will make these companies more competitive and make Seoul’s economy stronger.

Two criteria drive the need for more training in Korea: company retention and the need to bring the unemployed to work.

“There are a huge number of unemployed workers due to a recession in Korea,” Kwak said. “Many firms laid off workers to reduce wage costs. If we have a good training program, that will help retain workers, increase employment and help social stability.”

Kwak’s research focuses on finding specific case studies of how the government helps fund training; how grant funds are distributed; how the government evaluates company performance; and governmental regulations and requirements.

According to Kwak, understanding the Alber Enterprise Center and its training relationship with area employers will help build a network of training providers, which currently doesn’t exist in his country.

“This is blank at this point,” he said. “The government currently takes on the function as trainers. We need to understand the link between campus and government training providers.”

He also expects to learn how to mobilize training experts.

Frank Gibson, program director of the Alber Enterprise Center, shared training models and their successes at both Dana Corporation in McConellsville and Caldwell, Ohio, and Triumph Thermal Systems, a defense contractor located in Forest, Ohio. The primary benefit of sharing these training models with Kwak and the New Paradigm Center, Gibson said, was the ability to realize how the training model they’ve incorporated with local companies plays out on a global scale.

“We’ve seen our model applied in different businesses and industries, but now we can see how it applies in other countries,” he said.

The center’s ability to create customized training allows it to incorporate an organization’s objectives and preferences into design, implementation and evaluation processes. Gibson said the Alber Center identifies experts based on company need and incorporates a training software package that can be updated by company representatives as information changes.

“Where we are unique is our ability to help organizations achieve their objectives by drawing upon the resources of a major university,” Gibson said.
New Paradigm will use the recommendations from the study, Kwak said, to develop a model to assist South Korean Workforce Development officials in specializing training.

“We hope we will become well known in Korea, allowing for a possible expansion to assist and consult companies overseas,” Gibson said.

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