GE's Crotonville sale signals sunset of traditional corporate campuses
GE (formerly General Electric) recently sold its iconic 60-acre Crotonville campus, established in 1956, for $22 million. This facility, once the heart of GE’s corporate culture, thrived during Jack Welch's tenure when managers yearned to network with top executives and immerse themselves in the company's culture. But following GE's recent segmentation, Crotonville's significance dwindled.
This trend is not isolated to GE. IBM sold its Armonk campus to Chinese company, HNA, some time ago. Similar dispositions are occurring across the industry.
American multinational conglomerate 3M is divesting its 600-acre retreat centre in Minnesota, and Boeing seeking a buyer for its 285-acre leadership academy near St. Louis. These moves signify a marked shift from the once-popular model of in-house corporate universities, which emerged in the early 2000s as strategies for talent development and to stem attrition of managers.
Indian companies too adopted the concept of dedicated training campuses. In 1959, the visionary J.R.D. Tata founded the Tata Management Training Centre in Pune to advance career development and instill company values.
Similarly, the Infosys Leadership Institute was established in Mysuru in 2001 under N.R. Narayana Murthy's guidance to train world-class managers and leaders who would then go on to lead the company. It trains about 4,000 Infosys managers every year.
In fact, in the past, being selected for such training was an honour for employees. But times have changed. The relevance of these corporate academies is waning, both globally and in India.
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