ABSTRACT
The Western corporate faith in the power of management development – illustrated by the above US oil executive based in Vietnam – adheres to the Asian perception of foreign MNCs as being “big on training.” Even during the precrisis period, when things were so good for local corporate units, companies such as the cosmetics giant Estée Lauder were stressing the need for training at every level of their local organizations, from the senior managers right down to the part-time make-up artist. Training was held as being “imperative” should a company wish to get the best from its people. To this end employees were regularly flown abroad and relevant functional experts were flown in, not just at Estée Lauder but across the whole spectrum of multinational interests in the region.
