ABSTRACT
This chapter explains a major type of strategic leadership initiative, the corporate university phenomenon. It draws on Max Weber's theories of charisma to understand how corporate universities seek to capture and develop leadership as a more routine corporate resource. The chapter outlines the development of corporate universities (CU), from early roots in the US to current global presence. CU initiatives spread across US industrial sectors in the 1990's and 2000's and can now are found in most manufacturing and service sectors. In addition, in common with many managerial fads and fashions, CUs have been exported across the Atlantic on the assumption that what is good for US business is beneficial to UK and European organizations. Wiggenhorn discusses how educational themes underpinning the distinction between corporate schools and university business schools continue to be relevant in analysis of CU initiatives. Other current corporate universities/academies include Bertelsmann, the BBC, E.ON; KPMG Business School; Infosys, Microsoft.
