The William Davidson Institute’s Human Resource Network, since 1999 the premier networking and educational forum for HR executives responsible for operations in Central and Eastern Europe, has been re-launched as the Strategic HR Network Europe. The forum will now serve HR executives from all across Europe as they deal with the most pressing human resource problems in their organizations.
“Europe is becoming more homogenous,” said Dr. Sonia Ferencikova, director of Strategic HR Network Europe. “With the ever-expanding European Union (EU), Europe is more competitive and more demanding. It requires new HR strategies and approaches, which is why Strategic HR Network Europe is vital for companies operating in the new Europe.”
Ferencikova said that while EU expansion has formally unified countries, they remain divided internally. Many countries that operate across Europe need to account for these internal and external differences. “Those companies that see things completely will succeed,” Ferencikova said. “The Strategic HR Network Europe will help managers and executives get the latest thinking in the HR and strategy fields, thereby improving their organizations.”
Members of the Strategic HR Network Europe — HR directors and vice presidents — convene in European capitals twice a year to learn from top HR professors and to share ideas and best practices. WDI draws on professors from the top-ranked Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, in addition to faculty from other top business schools in the USA and Europe. Workshop leaders have included management gurus Noel Tichy, Wayne Brockbank, Lynda Gratton, and Henry Mintzberg.
The network provides members with the opportunity to interact with other top-level HR executives. Members create a powerful peer network at professor-led seminars, best practices-sharing workshops, informal information exchanges throughout the year, and through a members-only website. Members include Oracle, Bank Austria, Coca-Cola HBC, Procter & Gamble, Erste Bank, IBM, and others.
The Strategic HR Network Europe helps members nurture local management talent. Members are invited to bring a local HR manager to each of the workshops.
The Strategic HR Network Europe is one of several initiatives of the Executive Education department at the University of Michigan’s William Davidson Institute (WDI). The department runs 35 executive education programs in emerging market countries each year.
