This new book makes its own genre in the skills debate and research, combining research disciplines at different levels, namely theoretical concepts, practice in enhancing performance, organisational strategy and national skills policies. It begins by challenging the poor record of public skills policies that are often derived from human capital theory. The book argues that the days for relying on market failure for providing intellectual input into skills policies are numbered. The nature of a contemporary and forward-looking skills policy is about understanding skills in the context of business strategy, the nature of the productive system, work practices and skills utilisation at the workplace. Thus, skills policies are no longer solely about training and qualifications. It should also be (if not more so) about using sector-based policies to create a set of 'institutional logics' that shape business decisions and employers' competitive behaviour. The book has an in-depth critique of the development of skills policies, a (new) strategic skills model that identifies the fundamental drivers for high skills utilisation, case studies for high performance working as well as an analytical framework for a sectoral approach to skills development for public policy-making. This book was published in November 2014. The attached (free) chapter is the introduction to the book which gives the reader a good idea about the content of the book.