Editorial

Citation

Young, R. (2009), "Editorial", Strategic Direction, Vol. 25 No. 11. https://doi.org/10.1108/sd.2009.05625kaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Strategic Direction, Volume 25, Issue 11

In this final issue of Volume 25 we offer a slightly different format than usual as we are pleased to present the three shortlisted papers from the EFMD Excellence in Practice Award 2009. EFMD is recognized globally as an accreditation board of quality in management education. With more than 700 member organizations from academia, business, public service and consultancy in 80 countries, EFMD provides a unique forum for information, research, networking and debate on innovation and best practice in management development.

Now in its third year the Award attracts case studies on best practices of cooperation between companies and business schools or executive education centres. This year’s competition attracted over 25 cases from 16 countries showcasing high quality programmes, designed to meet a specific strategic challenge within a company.

The winning paper, “The strategic component: partnership starts from the very beginning” by Allyson Stewart-Allen and Dr Michael Christ explores the partnership between Germany’s first corporate University, the Lufthansa School of Business and the London Business school and the program they devised to connect individual management development and corporate organizational development.

In “Virtual strategy development in Alfa Laval”, Mikeal E Malgren and Ghislaine Caulat explore how Ashridge Business School and global engineered products company Alfa Laval overcame the challenge to engage their top 30 MDs, in a company with 13,000 employees and operations in 55 countries, in a 6 month project.

Last, but not least André Wierdsma and Herman van Hemsbergen describe the program for major organizational change that VVAA and Nyenrode Business University worked on to improve the business proposition that VVAA, a membership organization serving the medical profession, offered to its members in “Partnership for Organizational Transformation”.

In the first of our review pieces “Exceptional public sector organizations: valuable lessons from the National Library Board and Singapore Airlines” looks at whether the corporate sector has something to learn from how successful public sector organizations are operating, providing some interesting case studies from Singapore, a particularly pertinent article in the current business climate.

“Talent ROI energizes npower: how to measure the cost of leadership initiatives” tackles the thorny issue of how to successfully evaluate return on investment from employee development programs and takes an interesting approach in aiming to evaluate future potential as opposed to current performance.

And finally “China teaches IKEA limits of homogeneity” illustrates IKEA’s approach to operating in the Chinese market. The article offers some fascinating insights for other companies dealing with the challenges of global expansion and questions the “one size fits all” standardization approach championed by the world’s largest furniture retailer.

Ruth Young