Talent Management Practices in Manufacturing Companies in Poland, the United States, Germany and Japan – a Comparative Analysis

Purpose: The research objective is to determine whether there are distinctions in the assessment of talent management (TM) practices between companies from Poland (PL), the United States (US), Germany (DE) and Japan (JP), and then to identify homogeneous groups. TM practices were defined as developing talent-oriented attitudes among managers (ITM), building a culture of high performance in the company (BH-PC) and retaining the best employees in the workplace (RT). Design/methodology/approach: Information on the assessment of TM practices was obtained from the ‘World Management Survey – Manufacturing’ (WMS) database. The studies used the Kruskal-Wallis test (KWt) and the Multiple Comparisons of Mean Ranks for All Samples (MCMR). Findings: The KWt showed that there are statistically significant differences between at least two groups. Based on the MCMR, one homogeneous group was identified for ITM practices (DE, JP, US), and two homogeneous groups for BH-PC and RT practices (DE, PL and JP, US; DE, US and JP, PL). Research limitations/implications: Limitations in the interpretation of the results derive mainly from the fact that the data for the WMS was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value: The novelty of this study lies in the combination and comparison of data on TM practices in companies from PL, DE, JP and US. Previous studies have not analysed TM practices in companies from DE, JP and US in detail in the context of TM practices in companies from PL.