It is hard to imagine what a multinational company could learn from the Communist party of China.
And yet, Nokia Siemens Networks, on track to become the world’s second-largest provider of telecommunications network infrastructure equipment this year, has set up what it calls the “Party School” to train its executives in China, borrowing the name of the ruling party’s top institution for developing leadership talent.
“Following the establishment of the joint venture [between Nokia and Siemens] in 2007, we felt we had to build local leadership talent quickly, and in a way that would establish a distinctive NSN culture,” says Zhang Zhiqiang, head of the greater China region at the company.