This paper examines the strategic role of management development and the forms this strategic role can take. These include initiatives at the Corporate, Strategic Business Unit, and Functional Levels within an organisation. Each form of management development as strategy is explored by reference to recent theoretical and empirical accounts, and illustrated and grounded in experiences gained from THORN-EMI Home Electronics. It is concluded that management development as strategy has an important role to play in promoting organisational success, in developing individual and organisational effectiveness, and in differentiating the quality of a company and its people from competing organisations.
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