Talent and knowledge exchange
One of the significant benefits of operating on a global scale is our ability to share skills, experience and perspectives across the group. Through talent exchange programs, we move people across the business on long-term and short-term assignments. This enables them to share skills and perspectives with others in the company, and develop new ones.
In 2008, a number of employees from our operating companies were sent on temporary assignments to the Corporate Center to work on projects in their functional areas. Stop & Shop / Giant-Landover and Giant-Carlisle each welcomed a management trainee from Albert Heijn who spent six months as an intern in their operations. The trainees chronicled their experiences in blogs that were published on the Ahold-wide intranet.
These activities allow us to develop a pipeline of candidates with international experience suitable to fill top executive positions in the future. For example, in 2008, Giant-Carlisle President and CEO Sander van der Laan was recruited from Albert Heijn. He is applying his extensive knowledge of our European businesses to the U.S. market.
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