The impact of management development system on firm performance: Comparing Asia with Europe

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of management development system on firm performance through data collected from 146 organisations from four Asian countries and 584 organisations from six European countries. The analysis shows that the management development system is significantly associated with human resources outcomes (the firm?s ability to attract and retain essential employees, and better inter-firm relationships), which in turn contributes to firm performance outcomes (improved product quality, product development and better customer satisfaction). Importantly, location (i.e., Asia versus Europe) and firm size (i.e., SMEs and Large) have significant effects on the management development system and human resources outcomes. Keywords: Management development, management development system, human resource best practice system, human resource management, strategic human resource management, firm performance. Acknowledgement: The authors would like to acknowledge Professor Chris Mabey for his support and the use of the European data set used in the present paper.