STRENGTHENING THE WEAK-LINK IN STRATEGIC EXECUTIVE-DEVELOPMENT - INTEGRATING INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBAL BUSINESS STRATEGY

The global business environment of the 1990s provides both challenge a nd opportunity to human resource development to become all integral pl ayer in helping implement business strategy. The results of two best p ractice studies suggest that some lending firms such as 3M and Motorol a are doing just that. At these companies current strategic business i ssues are the drivers of flexible and opportunistic executive developm ent activities. Naturally occurring on-the-job experiences are conscio usly utilized in such a way that helping executives to develop becomes an integral part of conducting business. The implications of linking executive development to business strategy for practice and for future research are discussed. (C) 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.