E-Learning Strategies of Italian Companies

Abstract

The chapter gives a contribution to the understanding country-specific e-learning models, focusing on the e-learning experience of Italian companies in the pharmaceutical and banking industries. The chapter analyzes the antecedents of a corporate e-learning adoption process, asking whether it is forced by the rational search for economic benefit, or by bandwagon pressures, whereby companies are more interested in their reputations. The chapter also aims at understanding how companies are implementing e-learning, analyzing the most important features of the e-learning strategies: users, contents, infrastructures, and services and supports. After having discussed the result of the research conducted on a document analysis, a survey, some interviews, and two in-depth case studies, the emerging B2E strategy for e-learning is explained. In the conclusions the main issues related to the e-learning processes in the Italian companies are summarized, and the research methodology and the possible future research lines are discussed.