To position HR business partners (HRBPs) as a role supporting strategy execution, NEC adopted a policy of relinquishing day-to-day operational duties and held extensive discussions with division heads and FP&A leaders to define their roles and organizational structure.
Based on the concept of “ambidextrous management” to balance existing businesses with exploratory businesses, the company positioned the HRBP role as directly linked to achieving business-unit management and shared with the business side its policy of simultaneously pursuing company-wide optimization and transformation specific to each division.
At the time of implementation, the headquarters Human Resources Department became the CoE, while divisional HR transitioned to an organization in which it was known as the business partner, strengthening the link between business-unit management and strategic support.
Morimoto (森本) and Kato (加藤), who appear in the discussion, explain how they developed the HRBP role through consultations with the business side and emphasize the organization of roles around the shared objective of achieving business-unit management.
The background to the expansion of initiatives supporting strategy execution through HRBPs is also introduced, including the establishment of the Institute for Management Case Studies in connection with Eiji Press.