L'Oreal's worldwide corporate structure and career opportunities

¶ … programs discussed help build core competencies and competitive capabilities at L'Oreal.

L'Oreal is an international company that strives to ensure that all of its diverse employees feel at home and work together. L'Oreal FIT (Follow-up & Integration Track) acts as a two-year, personalized integration and support program designed to facilitate the transition of the employee into the corporate culture of the company. It is "adaptable to the needs of all new employees at L'Oreal. This global integration programme allows us to enrich and perpetuate our group's professional culture while taking account of each subsidiary's cultural characteristics and local needs" (L'Oreal FIT, 2011, L'Oreal). The program focuses on educating the employee so he or she can truly understand the product and the mission of the makeup company, regardless of his or her area of expertise. It is focused on providing the employee with a "personalised schedule of meetings, training and round-table discussions, on-the-job learning with your line manager and individual guidance via mentoring and HR support" (L'Oreal FIT, 2011, L'Oreal). The company gives back to the employee through nurturing support and professionally-oriented development, and thus expects the employee to give back to it and show loyalty. Retention of top talent is facilitated by this approach, as well as integrated and in-depth knowledge of the product by all personnel.

Q2. Use the chapter's discussion of building core competencies and competitive capabilities as a guide for formulating your response.

Core competencies are the strengths of a company that can be leveraged across a wide array of markets, but are difficult for competitors for any of those markets to imitate. A highly trained staff that is committed to the brand is one of L'Oreal's core competencies. Makeup is a competitive industry, given the many major mid-market companies that rival L'Oreal. Only through development of talent early on in employees' careers can L'Oreal thrive and grow.

The Brady Training Program: Respond to the following:

Q1. How do you account for Bill's behavior during and after participation in the training?

Bill was placed in a highly pressurized situation. He had effectively sacrificed his old job, and placed all of his hopes for the future in succeeding at his training for his new career. Yet he saw the attrition rate was extremely high in the program. This caused him to make many underhanded moves, and to 'sneak around' to find out what was really being said about the trainees. He rationalized his actions that he could not afford to do otherwise. However, the training was so intense, trainees had a sense of being part of a 'band of brothers' working together to succeed. This explained the team's willingness to accommodate the less-than-stellar performers and help them study for the tests.

Q2. Should Bill stay with Brady or take a job with one of the other companies he has interviewed with?