Stakeholder Dialogues in Transition Economies: Educating and Training Leaders to Build Relations between Investors and Local Communities

Business schools around the world are challenged to educate future managers and to train executives in acquiring and developing universal skills for the global economy. Specific competencies are needed which address local realities of their particular region and countries (Alon and McIntyre, 2004). However, traditional business undergraduate educa- tion often fails to prepare for operating in a complex environment where global and local needs are mixed (Re eves-Ellington, 2004). In a global economy with important emergent markets, new generations of leaders and managers have to learn cultural analysis skills and the ability to apply them in unknown contexts. The skills required to com- pete in this new environment include business function, mental and social abilities, and organizational, societal and cultural competence. It has been said for a long time that more formal education in mental and interpersonal skill teaching and learning methods is necessary (Greenwalt, 1999).