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As one of the most vibrant nations of Asia, Singapore is well known for its dynamic and innovative human capital development initiatives. These are driven mainly by the government policies, with inputs from public sector organizations and large local companies. Human resource development (HRD) related legislations, financial incentives, infra-structural support and deployment of management and info-communication technologies (ICT) help to sustain the national HRD initiatives. This paper presents an analysis of the current practices and future trends and challenges faced by organizations in Singapore. Some of these challenges are: ageing workforce, talent retention and development, rapid technological changes and cross-cultural skills development for working in the emerging markets. Eight trends and challenges identified here are expected to significantly impact the HRD profession in future. Implications of the trends and challenges are also discussed for future research and professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the experiences of the conference management team and the host (Universiti Putra Malaysia -UPM) of the Fifth Asian Conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development, held in Putrajaya, Malaysia from 2 to 5 December 2006. In reviewing the conference, the following sub-topics are used for organizing the contents of the article: HRD in Malaysia; conference theme & overview; participations/country representations and paper streams; keynote addresses; conference assessment; and conclusions. At the end, brief perspectives of the next Asian HRD conference to be held in China are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization of business operations has assumed an increased significance in contemporary business strategy across the developed and developing world. Assignment of staff overseas is one of the most critical areas of the global business operations. While there have been numerous studies on various aspects of expatriate performance, such as selection, training, and compensation of expatriates, these studies have been mostly “americentric” in their scope and approach. Keeping in view the growing importance of China as a favored recipient of Foreign Direct Investment not only from the United States and Europe, but also from other Asian countries such as Japan and Singapore this study has examined factors that determine the success of Singapore expatriates in China. One of the significant findings of the study is that there is a discrepancy between perception of success factors between the expatriates themselves and the human resource directors (HRDs) of the multinational corporations who have an important role in the assignment of those expatriates. Thus this study argues that in addition to the knowledge of what constitutes success in overseas ventures it is important to achieve a common agreement on the factors determining such success. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Singapore-based companies were surveyed about the status, impacts and implementation issues related to their use of on-the-job training (OJT) in general and structured OJT in particular. The results showed that some form of OJT is among the training approaches most frequently used in those organizations and that there are perceived benefits for using structured OJT. Implementation issues related to structured OJT include how to document the work accurately and allowing sufficient time to deliver the training during the workday. Structured OJT is part of a workforce development initiative sponsored by the Singapore Productivity Standards Board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of human resources of a nation will determine their competitiveness in the twenty-first century. The well-equipped and skilled human resources will contribute to individual, organizational and national development through improved performance. In Singapore's case, it has used its location and its human resources to the greatest possible advantage through effective human resource development strategies. It has succeeded in being included in the top five of the competitiveness lists each year. This paper examines the human resource development strategies adopted in Singapore and highlights the possible lessons on human resource development at a national strategic level for other nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased internationalization of corporate and national economic activity has created the need for business schools to appropriately educate current and future business leaders around the world. This has forced business schools to refocus and inject into their curricula a more internationally-oriented flavor. The impact of internationalization on the business curriculum has been great on the dynamic business schools of the Pacific Rim countries. With the unprecedented rate of economic growth and technological development experienced by these countries, the need to restructure their education and human resource development strategies has been high in recent years. One of the major emphases of the educational restructuring process is the rapid internationalization of curriculum at all levels. The internationalization process needs to be looked at from a systemic perspective. This paper attempts to present a conceptual framework of a market-driven paradigm for developing the internationally-oriented business curriculum. The paper identifies those components/factors that influence the design and development decisions of the internationalization process in order to achieve the broader objectives of business schools. Contextual factors of national economy as well as potential employers of business school graduates have been analyzed. The role of competing tertiary institutions on the demand of university business graduates has also been considered in developing the curriculum. Also, the role of the academic/professional research centers and the individual faculty in knowledge and skill development of prospective graduates has been integrated into the internationalization process. The paper also identifies the various mechanisms used in the internationalization process both at the graduate and undergraduate level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased internationalization of corporate and national economic activity has created the need for business schools to appropriately educate current and future business leaders around the world. This has forced business schools to refocus and inject into their curricula a more internationally-oriented flavor. The impact of internationalization on the business curriculum has been great on the dynamic business schools of the Pacific Rim countries. With the unprecedented rate of economic growth and technological development experienced by these countries, the need to restructure their education and human resource development strategies has been high in recent years. One of the major emphases of the educational restructuring process is the rapid internationalization of curriculum at all levels. The internationalization process needs to be looked at from a systemic perspective. This paper attempts to present a conceptual framework of a market-driven paradigm for developing the internationally-oriented business curriculum. The paper identifies those components/factors that influence the design and development decisions of the internationalization process in order to achieve the broader objectives of business schools. Contextual factors of national economy as well as potential employers of business school graduates have been analyzed. The role of competing tertiary institutions on the demand of university business graduates has also been considered in developing the curriculum. Also, the role of the academic/professional research centers and the individual faculty in knowledge and skill development of prospective graduates has been integrated into the internationalization process. The paper also identifies the various mechanisms used in the internationalization process both at the graduate and undergraduate level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With increased globalization and regionalization of business operations, the issues of overseas manpower strategies are gaining increasing importance. The importance is especially felt by companies in the Asia Pacific region, as the region is currently experiencing an unprecedented rate of economic growth. A maturing domestic economy along with a number of push and pull factors have spurred the efforts towards the regionalization of the Singapore economy, and the government's policy initiatives in 1993 added significant impetus to the process. This paper presents the findings of an extensive study conducted on the overseas manpower strategies of MNCs and local companies in Singapore. More than 200 companies participated in the study. The results provided information about several international human resource management (HRM) issues facing the companies. Selection, training and development, and compensation strategies of the responding companies are analyzed. The Findings provide significant insights of HRM strategies for companies willing to expand their business operations in the vibrant region of the Asia Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the rapid economic growth of the East Asian countries, there has been an increasing interest in the education and skill development strategies used in the region. One of the critical features of Singapore's human resource development strategy is the emphasis on regionalization and internationalization of the academic curriculum. The trend of this internationalization may be attributable to three major factors: Singapore government's regionalization policy, distance learning programs offered by foreign universities, and the overseas assignment of Singaporean managers as expatriates. This paper presents an overview of the internationalization of the business curriculum at the graduate and undergraduate level in Singapore, particularly at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The Nanyang Business School, although a young institution, is rapidly moving towards the internationalization process in various areas. At present its student body is drawn from more than 20 countries. About a third of its business faculty come from about 19 countries. At the undergraduate level, students are encouraged to study foreign languages, and required to take the international business course irrespective of their functional specialization. In addition, most functional areas of specialization offer at least one international course as an elective choice. Some of the students also complete their required professional attachment abroad. At the graduate level, the unique feature of it's MBA program is the compulsory International Business Study Mission. The newly introduced MBA specialization in International Business adds another dimension. The school is now focusing on extensive research efforts in the area of regional-ization and globalization of business through its several research centers. The paper also identifies a few concerns such as the rapid changes in the pedagogy due to the overall systemic changes in the curriculum from the traditional British education model and the availability of suitable case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including one on the management of human capital in Asia and another on the trends and challenges of developing human capital in selected Asian countries.