Ilim Pulp, blending former Russian state enterprises, creates a corporate university to change culture, become an industry leader

Abstract

AbstractThis article describes the establishment of a corporate university in a Russian company. Following the economic restructuring of the country, training and personnel development became vital ingredients in the company's long‐term strategy. In these turbulent conditions, the company realized that it needed to have the training and personnel development characterized by continuity on the one hand and revolutionary changes in organizational culture on the other. If this could be achieved, it would encourage entrepreneurship, innovation, and change in the internal processes of the organization. The case describes the stages, programs, and basic components of the corporate university model. It not only illustrates the basic issues in the application of corporate training theory, but also analyzes the risks and problems for the company in the project's realization. The article concludes with a description of how the corporate university developed after its initiation, and some conclusions about the overall success of the project. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.