Learning to learn in Chinese companies: Leadership development at COFCO

Over the past decade or so, there has been a growing interest in the challenges and benefits of corporate talent development, particularly in Europe and America (see, for example, Chambers et al., 1998; Michaels et al., 2001; Ready et al., 2008). Interest in this issue in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) (Zhonghua renmín gongheguo) and other developing countries has been less evident (however, see Child 1991, Warner, 1992; and Ready et al., 2008, for a discussion of how companies compete for talent in emerging markets, including China). Nonetheless, there are few detailed descriptions of how Chinese organizations, particularly in the state-owned (danwei) sector, think about and deal with the challenges of leadership development in particular.