Executive Newswire - Regional Newsletter for Middle East

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JULY 2009 T h e O n l i n e E x e c u t i v e N e w s f o r C o r p o r a t e L e a d e r s p2 The meetings had an entirely business development focus, giving special emphasis on each sector separately through innovative, oneday-long workshops per Practice Group. Throughout the meetings, it was highlighted once again that, based on the global market’s reaction, good talent still doesn’t come cheap. Companies perceive that finding top talent is harder today than it was before. The reason is due to the economic crisis, there are greater demands from boards of directors and CEOs to find talented people with the unquestionable ethics, integrity, business judgment and the ability to strategically grow a company the right way and in the right manner. So, the economic downturn has put more complexity into the leadership and management skills of major corporations. Despite the significant drop in executive search business from the beginning of 2009, there are positive signs coming from major markets of the world. There are already recovery indications from some mar- Executive Newswire 39th Stanton Chase International Global Partners meeting: Exploring the Trends of the Human Resources Market On the 30th of April till the 2nd of May, Stanton Chase International held its 39th Global Partners’ meeting in Dubai. Under the motto “A Symphony of Growth in C Major”, about 100 partners and senior consultants from all over the world gathered in Jumeirah Beach Hotel in order to explore the paths for long-term growth. “Dubai is still probably the most active employment market in the region, even amid the current economic downturn”, comments Steve Watson, the International Chairman of Stanton Chase International. “By the last quarter of 2009, we believe a talent shortage will emerge and companies will be aggressively hiring senior talent. When the economy turns around, we are going to have rapid business activities”, he added. From left to right: IvoHahn (Managing Partner, Greater China), Panos Manolopoulos (Managing Partner, Middle East) and Steve Watson (International Chairman) kets in the USA, Chile and Brazil in South America are also active, while China is picking up and GCC region is re-balancing to the new growth expectations and projections. Certain industries, like healthcare, retail, FMCP, technology and the industrial sector see interesting growth in the near future, especially in the emerging markets. The Construction and the Finance sector will pick up at a slower pace, although even there, there are hints of recovery. These observations were also supported through the panel discussion organized during the Global Partners’ meeting with senior executives representing key industries in the region. Thus, Mahendra Patel (Group Managing Director of Geap International), Kerry Anastassiadis, President of Aujan and Werner Baumgartner (Managing Director, Swarovski Middle East) joined the plenary session and exchanged information with the international partners of Stanton Chase, verifying the remarks per sector already outlined during the practice groups workshops. Within this context, Stanton Chase International continues its growth and expansion in additional key markets in the world. During this Global Partners’ meeting, 4 new offices were affiliated in Sofia, Brussels, Lagos and Toronto, while 3 more (in Moscow, Singapore and Boston) are expected to be affiliated in the next meeting. New offices: Stanton Chase Lagos, Stanton Chase Brussels, Stanton Chase Toronto and Stanton Chase Sofia From left to right: Dr Tommy Weir, Managing Director, EM Leadership Center and Member of the Advisory Board of SC -Middle East Key note speaker in Opening Cocktail Usman A. Ghani, Chairman of AIMS and of ConfluentC, Visiting Professor of the University of Texas, Dallas, Member of Advisory Board of SC - Middle East, Panel discusion with: Steve Watson (International Chairman), Kerry Anastassiadis (President of Aujan) Mahendra Patel (Group Managing Director of Geap International), Werner Baumgartner (Managing Director, Swarovski Middle East) and Panos Manolopoulos (Managing Director SCI Dubai),
By Wassin Karkabi S T A N T O N C H A S E I N T E R N A T I O N A L Stanton Chase’s largest practice group members conducted their annual meeting as part of the Global Partners’ Meeting, in Dubai for the first time ever. It was a special meeting as partners, consultants and researchers gathered from Stanton Chase offices around the world, under the heavy fire of the global crisis and the warm sun of Dubai, to discuss the changing trends in the executive search market, and in the industrial practice, with a special emphasis on Key Account Management. The results were astounding as veterans in the executive search industry put their minds together to think outside of the box on how to best to tackle the challenges and the opportunities that are emerging for the years to come. Over 25 executive search professionals left Dubai with a renewed sense of purpose and direction, after a full day session especially focused on Key Account Management and specific discussions on driving a matrix type approach to the market which runs across two dimensional expertise of functional and industrial subsector specialization, all enveloped in a cross border objective to develop global key accounts rather than focus on local relationships. On the whole the Stanton Chase International Industrial practice treads surely on solid grounds with a clear way forward, and with all offices registering continued growth in their own markets across the globe and more so in the EMEA region. Wassim Karkabi is a Partner and Regional Practice Leader, Industrial Services sector During the StantonChase International Partners meeting held in Dubai at the end of April, we had a unique opportunity to collect over 25 consultants from around the world in a day-long focus group, holding some in-depth discussions regarding Consumer Goods and Services in each region. This session allowed Stanton Chase to take advantage of our Executive Search breadth and depth in strategizing on how best to assist our clients in identifying who and from where are the key executives that can help them survive this “new economic order”. One thing we found from a retail standpoint was that the Emerging Markets of the Middle East, India, and China continue to provide areas ofgrowth. In the Middle East, overall the spending on discretionary luxury goods is expected to fall in 2009, while non-discretionary spending, like food retail, should remain relatively strong and forecasts suggests the GCC retail market will still continue to grow at a nominal 7 % during 2009-2011. However, Middle East markets are a “mixed bag” reaction in each country. In Kuwait for example, the luxury car market has not been affected, since their customers are higher income locals, and retailers report continued strong sales. The economy is not as dependent on foreign workers driving the local consumer economy. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi markets are holding strong, as they continue to spend on infrastructure projects financed by the last several years of high oil prices. They are still employing the management required to build, and thus have not seen the mass exodus of expatriates observed in the Dubai economic model. Oman reports also being relatively unscathed, as they had not gone as far out on a limb. ISSUE 2 Industrial Service Workshop Consumer and Retail Services Workshop Jack Montgomery is Senior Consultant, Stanton Chase – Middle East Picking up the Pieces “This too shall pass” King Solomon By Jack Montgomery Worldwide, we found a shift in the North American consumer purchases from wants to need, and from style to values, which left many retailers flatfooted in response to the downturn. This resulted in a slew of bankruptcies at the end of 2008 / first quarter 2009, which has now abated, the dust is settling, and the rebuilding has begun, creating new niche opportunities for experienced or entrepreneurial minded managers. From Latin America, our consultants have pointed out that informal, smaller consumer channels have shown resurgence in driving the national economies. During the last 5 years, as the masses moved up into the middle classes and higher, they drove more modern retail trade and services, thus supporting higher caliber executives to manage more complex organizations. With the downturn, more people are reverting to traditional consumer trading, creating a whirlpool effect, dragging larger businesses down and reducing managerial opportunities. The China market has seen many organizations tighten considerably, as their consumers have been thrown out of work, cascading down from the lower demand of their goods exported to Europe and the USA. Other Far East partners have reported active searches for marketing, sales, and country managers, in particular for luxury brands seeking competence in retaining their high end images while capturing sales. All in all, well into the second quarter of 2009, we are starting to see pockets of recovery for senior management, and most markets are optimistic for a upturn for the second half. Along with select sectors such as food and non-discretionary consumer products, other niche opportunities are appearing in organizations seeking executives who can salvage and rebuild. p3
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