This book assesses the competitive strengths and weaknesses of the management practices of North American companies. It undertakes four tasks: (1) compilation and analysis of the results of "Laborforce 2000," an intensive survey of the human resource strategies of more than 400 Conference Board member companies; (2) examination of practices across firms of different sizes and industries; (3) outline of the innovations of leading companies that have had a demonstrable result; and (4) comparison of U.S. companies with their European and Japanese competitors in such areas as education and training, work and family programs, health care costs, productivity, and quality improvement. The eight chapters of the book cover the following: "A Competitive Workforce: The Issues and the Study" (Philip H. Mirvis); "Strategic Human Resource Management" (Edward E. Lawler III, Susan G. Cohen, Lei Chang); "Restructuring and Downsizing" (Mitchell Lee Marks); "Company Policies on Education and Training" (Michael Useem); "Workplace Flexibility: Faddish or Fundamental?" (Victoria A. Parker, Douglas T. Hall); "Corporations and the Aging Workforce" (Michael C. Barth, William McNaught, Philip Rizzi); "The Changing Nature of Employee Health Benefits" (Karen Davis); and "The Findings and Their Implications" (Philip H. Mirvis). (KC)