Mapping Global Talent: Essays and Insights - Heidrick & Struggles
Mapping Global Talent: Essays and Insights - Heidrick & Struggles
Mapping Global Talent: Essays and Insights - Heidrick & Struggles
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
The case of Procter & Gamble highlights the fact that<br />
survival in the consumer industry will come to rely<br />
not just on investment of resources but also on good<br />
management. Their R&D operation is working because<br />
it is being well-directed with a clear strategy. This has<br />
important implications for managerial talent in the<br />
sector. Those individuals who will perform best in 2012<br />
<strong>and</strong> beyond will be those who are able to manage the<br />
R&D function in a global context. These managers will<br />
be skilled at forecasting customer <strong>and</strong> supplier behavior<br />
<strong>and</strong> trends, <strong>and</strong> they will have an extremely detailed<br />
underst<strong>and</strong>ing of supply chain vagaries <strong>and</strong> imperatives.<br />
They will also need to be media-savvy. The single biggest<br />
challenge in the consumer sector over the next five years<br />
will be the increasing difficulty of communicating to<br />
consumers <strong>and</strong> potential employees. An astonishing<br />
range of media channels compete for the consumer’s<br />
attention, <strong>and</strong> the industry’s dilemma will be how to<br />
ensure their br<strong>and</strong> message – be it about online stores,<br />
green policies or the latest new products, is actually<br />
seen by their customers (before they see what the<br />
competition has on offer).<br />
So where will this talent be found? The educational<br />
ranking of the <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Talent</strong> Index indicates that<br />
unsurprisingly, over the next five years the US, Canada<br />
<strong>and</strong> Europe will be the predominant suppliers of top<br />
quality graduates. What is surprising <strong>and</strong> perhaps the<br />
consequence of heightened visa restrictions is that<br />
the United States registers a low score for mobility of<br />
labor <strong>and</strong> relative openness of its labor market. This<br />
measure records the language skills of the population,<br />
the number of international students studying in the<br />
country <strong>and</strong> the number of nationals studying in<br />
foreign universities. The USA scores 9th place in 2007,<br />
<strong>and</strong> falls to 10th place in 2012, overtaken by India.<br />
This is not the case in Canada, the UK or Germany,<br />
which score 1st, 2nd <strong>and</strong> 3rd place respectively in this<br />
particular ranking, both today <strong>and</strong> in 2012. This would<br />
suggest that, if it is to realize its full educational <strong>and</strong><br />
demographic potential, the US must encourage greater<br />
immigration <strong>and</strong> emigration, helping future American<br />
managers gain the international experience which will<br />
allow them to compete in (<strong>and</strong> fully underst<strong>and</strong>) the<br />
global consumer market.<br />
American companies in the consumer sector have not<br />
traditionally had a reputation for nurturing their own<br />
talent, innovation being the key concern. However,<br />
there is evidence that the giants in the industry are<br />
realizing the value of managing <strong>and</strong> developing the<br />
talent they have – Wal-Mart for example, has ongoing<br />
initiatives to develop its own talent, including a<br />
leadership-in-training program <strong>and</strong> a leader-to-leader<br />
project for managers, aiming to push decision-making<br />
power down the management ladder. They have<br />
also introduced a new pilot program through which<br />
employees can alert the company of their talents <strong>and</strong><br />
ambitions <strong>and</strong>, once assessed, managers recommend<br />
ways for them to pursue their skills, through<br />
secondments, evening classes, language lessons etc.<br />
This idea of temporary foreign work placements recalls<br />
that key talent trend – to be fully successful in the<br />
world of tomorrow, international experience will<br />
be indispensable.<br />
“to realize its full educational<br />
<strong>and</strong> demographic potential the<br />
US must encourage greater<br />
immigration <strong>and</strong> emigration,<br />
helping future American<br />
managers gain the international<br />
experience which will allow<br />
them to compete in (<strong>and</strong><br />
fully underst<strong>and</strong>) the global<br />
consumer market”<br />
<strong>Global</strong> <strong>Talent</strong> Index, developed in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit