Introduction Employee training and development is important in any organization that wants to have quality employees. In addition, organizations must invest in training and development of both the new and experienced employees while the human resources department must understand the process that should be followed in training and development of employees. Training and development can be summarized into a five-stage process. First, it is necessary to identify and assess the training needs of the employees. Secondly, training objectives must be set to ascertain the exact desired results (Cummings and Worley, 2008, p.467). During the training process, these objectives should be reviewed regularly to make sure that training is in line with the objectives (Rae, 2000, p.48). Thirdly, a training program should be designed addressing the training needs. The fourth step is conducting of the training program while the last stage is evaluation and feedback. PriceWaterHouse Coopers, Microsoft Corporation and General Mills have been successful in their training and development of employees. This has contributed greatly to their high performance and earned them a competitive edge over their competitors. This paper will discuss how these three firms investment in training and development has contributed to their high performance and competitiveness in the market. Price Water House Coopers (PWC) Training and Development PWC is one of the top training organizations since it invests in training and development of both its new and existing employees. Training is a continuous process in pricewaterhouse coopers right from day one. On-the-ob training is offered to all employees, with the new employees starting with an induction program and getting to learn the company’s policies, salaries and benefits, performance expectation as well as rules in the organization. On-the-job training also involves training at the workstation where the employees get to learn about the job by doing it practically. Each employee at PWC is assigned a coach irrespective of his level who continuously coaches the employee as he/she progresses with work. Coaching requires trust, patience and confidence from both parties and this creates a conducive working environment (Jackson and Werner, 2008, p.307). Through coaching, the strengths of the employee are built on, while the weaknesses are turned into strengths. Coaching improves the overall performance of the organization since employees will rarely make deadly costly mistakes therefore saving the company losses and holds it reputation high (Koontz and Weihrich, 2006, p.215). At PWC, there is planned progression of how employees progress from lower level positions to higher-level positions. However, this does not just come automatically as moving from lower level to higher level is based on merit and normally determined by an employee’s hardwork, character as well additional formal training, and character among other variables. Employees are therefore motivated to give their best and this improves the performance of the organization (PriceWaterHouse Coopers, 2010). Pricewaterhouse coopers also arrange foe conferences, workshops, and seminars for its employees. Such seminars, workshop