Management skills and strategies are acquired from adequate exposure and experience and are polished only through training and development. Further, the commercial world has become a place where only the fittest can survive; hence, the need for Executive Development Programs (EDPs). The programs differ with each management rung and provide valuable insights into the managerial functions and requirements of those in the higher rungs in the management ladder. Both the corporates and the executives enjoy the benefits of improved efficiency, alertness, productivity, creativity, health, performance, profits, as also reduction in stress, absenteeism, etc. Consequently, corporates accord high priority to EDPs for bringing out highly trained and skilled executives. For a corporate to glow with success and the executives to advance with satisfaction and elation, EDPs are indispensable.

Successful corporate giants and prosperous business houses do stand as tall and sturdy commercial capitols in the world of business. But a moment's thought will reveal that these edifices are built on the orderly piles of the `bricks' of business strategies baked by the phenomenal skills of the management team and the workforce in the `kiln' of their management acumen. The functional strategies and the management chores of the human resources contribute significantly to the growth such corporations spread across the world. Even automation and mechanization require the skillful hands of the operator. It is ultimately the human resources that control and run the systems and business.

But the management skills and strategies are not `built in a day'. They are acquired from adequate exposure and experience, and are polished to a high sheen only through planned training and development programs. Hence, the crying need for introduction of regular EDPs. However, the need is much more urgent, particularly when the economies of countries tend very fast to weave themselves globally and to whip up the spirit of competition and stir up the economic forces and in the process make the commercial world a place where only the fittest can survive.

Also, the constant need for innovation in business strategies and products, coupled with the unpredictable and sudden shift in the choices of the consumers, compel the organizations to make all the efforts to keep their HR front capable enough to face these phenomena to ensure their survival in business.

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