Leveraging regional, organizational and human resources to create competitive advantage: a new framework for professional development

The process of globalization has enhanced the demand for professional, organizational and regional development that is informed by emerging theory and practice. Education, industry and government share a clear consensus on human resource development as a key factor in the competitiveness of extended enterprise systems and are moving increasingly towards collaboration as a means of achieving it. The paper outlines a jointly accredited, practice-oriented Masters course in Supply Chain Logistics for professionals in the automotive manufacturing industry in Germany and Brazil, as an example of how collaboration and training across regions can provide the infra-structure and the engine for the competitiveness of the professional, the organization and the regions. This innovative model focuses on the stakeholders themselves as the means by which research can inform practice, and practice can generate new theory and innovation, particularly in areas of emerging concern, such as the management of socio-technical and cross-cultural factors in complex collaborative engineering projects.