The data used for this article are derived from a larger research project1, a three-year case study of four training networks in Switzerland that were selected on the basis of typological criteria (Yin 2009). Apart from network size, a factor that will not be discussed in detail here, other important selection criteria were the founding initiative – who initiated the network and how? Table 2 shows that two of the training networks under examination, the Freight Forwarding Network and the Public Transport Network, were the result of bottom-up initiatives taken by economic actors from the respective industries, while the other two cases studied, the Region Network and the Integration Network, were initiated top-down by state actors.
Our hypothesis is that, depending on the founding initiative, the action of the network actors is guided by different convention-specific rationalities. In the case of networks initiated by actors from a particular industry or by the participating companies themselves, we expect the need for highly qualified junior staff to be a driving motive behind the pooling of training resources. Action geared to the corporative benefit of having a “qualified workforce” reflects the logic of the industrial convention, which is oriented towards the long term and the securing of expertise. If it was a government agency that initiated the formation of a training network with the objective of generating more training opportunities for young people, we can rather expect civic motives, such as participation or inclusion, to be at work.