¹Birmingham University Business School, Birmingham, UK

Correspondence: C Mabey, Birmingham University Business School, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 121 445 8436; Fax: +44 (0) 121 444 7380; E-mail: c.mabey@bham.ac.uk

Received 13 December 2005; Revised 12 September 2007; Accepted 31 October 2007; Published online 19 June 2008.

Abstract

While comparative studies of human resource management (HRM) are relatively plentiful, few have examined the way organisations in different countries train and develop their managers, or the impact of this upon firm performance. Given the centrality of management capability for corporate and national competitive performance, this represents an important area of enquiry. Utilising telephone interview data from the human resource development manager and a line manager in 482 domestic and multinational organisations in four European countries, patterns of management development (MD) are found to differ according to country and, to a lesser extent, by international strategy. However, a significantly greater amount of organisational performance is explained by internal MD strategies adopted by the organisations concerned and the credence accorded these by line managers.