Pursuit of Competitive Advantages for Entrepreneurship: Development of Enterprise as a Learning Organization. International and Russian Experience

are designed in conformance with the corporate requirements. The learning system
gives an opportunity to improve skills remaining in the professional environment. Be-
sides, the possibility to study at the corporate university is the additional motivation for
the employees.

Certainly the professional universities cannot substitute of the fundamental edu-
cational system. However, they are spreading at a rapid pace and modern companies
assign considerable funds to support them.

At the beginning of 1980 there were about 400 training centers. At present their
number exceeds 2 000 (Kommersant-Money Magazine, vol.6, 2002). Good examples of
the most famous foreign corporate universities are the University Motorola, Coca-Cola
Learning Center, International McDonald’s training center - Hamburger University,
and Xerox Document University.

Those universities cooperate with the world’s leading institutes of higher educa-
tion, schools of business and economics. Invited teachers and employees of the com-
pany conduct the teaching process as well. Leading managers act as teachers on the
learning courses. As a result, there appears a real knowledge system in the company.
This system lets the specialists of the company pass on their experience using the ap-
proved methods, and the educational organizations receive access to the information
collected by the company.

As for the practical results of the corporate universities’ creation, they are con-
firmed by the experience of Motorola Company. The Motorola’s unique learning sys-
tem is created on the ground of the enormous data base, collected during the decades of
the Motorola’s life. All data is divided into compact and independent fragments, which
could be used as a basis for the separate educational courses according to the routine
business requirements. In 1987 University Motorola developed the special «Six Sigma»
program for the quality improving. That program led to elimination of rejects to 0,1%
and to cutting down 84% of expenses associated with low quality (Capital Market, vol.
12, 2001).

Thus, the company includes into its structure a new department oriented at the
solution of the specific educational tasks for real business. Obviously, at that moment

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