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More firms these days are choosing Singapore as their top site for holding talent management programs, especially those that cover areas such as immersion in Asian cultures.

Such offerings can be a major draw for multinational companies keen to familiarize their staff with Asian cultures without having to send them to the region on long-term stints.

Dr Fons Trompenaars, a business consultant and best-selling author, believes Asia has enormous potential for “inter- cultural competence” as it becomes more cosmopolitan and more open in doing business with the West.

He said: “Much attention has been given to the recognition and respect for cultural differences. The new question is to ask what we can do with the differences to make business more effective once we cross cultural or diversity boundaries.”

Take 33-year-old Itto El Hariri. For the past 10 weeks, he has been in Singapore undergoing a leadership program along with 50 of his colleagues from around the world.

He lives in France, where he works as an auditor, and he jumped at the chance to come to Asia when his employer PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) included him in its Genesis Park program.

“When I was asked to choose where I wanted to do the program, I picked Singapore because I wanted to have the experience of immersing myself in Asia,” he said. “Many of my clients are from Asia, and being here really helps me understand the challenges facing them. It makes the training more relevant to my work, and you realize the power centre is moving from the West to the East.”

Such insights are exactly what PwC wants its staff to take away with them. It picks only the cream of its senior managers to take part in the 10-year-old in-house leadership program.

Previously, the 10-week-long program was held in two locations: Boston in the United States and Warsaw in Europe. Non-US residents would be sent to the former, while non-European residents would head for the latter.

For this year, PwC decided to add an Asian location: Singapore.

Global development leader Richard Pollard, who has been here for the past 10 weeks, said: “What makes this program unique is that it is firmly rooted in the real world. This is not role play. We give participants a real issue, and we examine how they react to it and develop a solution.

“Although we have global and regional leaders speaking to our participants, the Singapore program is very focused on scenario planning in Singapore and Asia. It focuses on doing business in Asia.”

Gautam Banerjee, PwC Singapore's executive chairman, said the Republic was chosen because it is “a growing powerhouse in Asia, attracting the world's top companies and talent”.

“It's maturing as a center of excellence, renewable energy investment, technology and finance. Time spent here will give our Genesis Park participants valuable insight into one of the world's fastest-growing economies, and deepen and broaden their understanding of Asia and its impact on the world economy.”

Another multinational company that recently held a senior executive program in Singapore was Infineon Technologies.

Eighteen of its global senior executives were here for a week to steep themselves in what Infineon called a “glocalisation” course - learning what it takes to run a global business within a local context and with a local mindset.

Infineon's chief executive himself flew from Munich to join in the event. Peter Bauer said the company felt that Singapore was the 'natural location' for holding the leadership program when it decided to have it in Asia.

“In terms of Infineon's needs, right now, we would like to grow our management in Singapore and in Asia from the local market itself, instead of shipping expatriates to this area. It's more beneficial to get to know this region and to hire here,” he explained.

“So the course has a specific focus on Asia and how business is done here. We would like to grow Singapore from being just an offshore location for us into a major market.”

Bauer, who worked with the Economic Development Board to design the program, hopes it will impart a sound knowledge of Asia's infrastructure, with an emphasis on the region's diversity and what services various governments could offer companies doing business in Asia.

Infineon also wanted the program to be held in Singapore because it wanted the participants to experience Asia and understand the “end-market” point of view.

To introduce non-Asians to the local culture, the program included a sampling of various Asian foods and even a few sessions of qigong.

As Dr Trompenaars puts it: “It's very important for businesses to get their staff to understand how to do business in Asia. Just look at the Asian diaspora around the world. Not only will it help Asian companies in terms of their ability to network, it will itself become a force to be reckoned with.”


Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.