Conclusion
The findings in this paper, despite deriving from a small number of interviews in each enterprise, give important guidance for future WPDPs, for vocational training or university activities customised for SME contexts to promote production capabilities, and for SMEs that aim to strengthen employee-driven innovation. Based on the empirical findings of this study, the first conclusion is that competence development activities and support provided by the WPDP were important triggers for innovative learning, and if combined with an enabling learning environment in the enterprises, including management’s leadership skills in fostering employee-driven innovation, the activities in the WPDP became driving forces for employee-driven innovation. The approaches to employee-driven innovations – the Lean coordinator, engineer or operator approaches – developed in the enterprises indicate that employee-driven innovations may take different forms and involve functions that have the capacity to support workers in innovation processes that go beyond minor adjustments to the existing standards of production. In addition, it appeared that the everyday work activities performed by the workers and their communication with supervisors and management continually negotiated the programme’s aim – in this case, strengthening Swedish manufacturing enterprises’ competitiveness.
