Читать книгу Internationalization and Global Markets - Juliette Milgram - Страница 12

Europe is a vast and diverse region covering an area of about 9839 square kilometers (approximately equivalent in size to the US), around 800 million inhabitants, 45 national states and more than 70 languages (Mayrhofer and Larsen, 2006). The region includes the 28 Member States of the European Union (EU), which are continually working to achieve greater economic integration by reducing barriers to trade and other policies and interventions aimed at facilitating free movement of people, goods, services and capital. This situation has led to a rapid increase in cross-border trade and higher levels of intra-European foreign direct investment that has intensified the trend towards regional integration (Dicken, 2010). A direct impact of EU membership is that substantial legal and administrative requirements for foreign workers do not apply to transfers between EU countries.

Seventeen of these 45 nations share a single currency, the euro, which further increases integration. From a talent point of view, a key feature of the EU is the free movement of nationals of Member States within the EU. This facilitates the movement of key talent within the 28 EU members, with minimal restrictions.

With the aim of promoting the movement and development of talent in Europe, and because of European integration, institutional programs have been launched with the purpose of enhancing the Europe network with powerful actions that seek to strengthen the presence of the Europe in third countries. Programs, such as the COSME (Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) an EU framework program dedicated to the competitiveness of companies. This program supports companies at 4 levels (1) improving access to SME financing; (2) Improve market access within the EU but also on a global scale with the financing of a network of companies or accompanying instruments. (3) Improve the framework conditions for the competitiveness and sustainability of companies. (4) Encourage entrepreneurship, organizing exchanges and emphasizing digital transformation.

The Enterprise Europe Network helps European SMEs find commercial and technological partners to innovate and develop internationally. A genuine “one-stop shop” helps SMEs to develop their activities in new markets, as well as to create or commercialize new technologies. Within this program are developed group collaboration platforms or Business Beyond Borders (BBO). Particularly interesting is the Erasmus Young Entrepreneurs program aimed at acquiring skills and expertise by promoting cross-border exchanges of knowledge and experience without forget the “EBO Network” a network of chambers of commerce around the world that represents the commercial interests of the European Union in third countries.

All these challenges and threats are provoking contexts with a high level of uncertainty and competitiveness. It is what is called the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) environment (a terminology used by the US military in the 1990s, used to define a complex and hostile scenario) that has been moved into the business world. This is the environment in which, organizations are moving in Europe today and that affects all kinds of sectors and companies. We cannot help but refer in 2020 to the current health crisis, which, is causing economic consequences similar to a global conflict and makes us navigate in an environment of uncertainty never before known. Developing capacities to adapt continuously to an environment that is yet to be defined. Transformation and adaptation processes force European companies to define new and concrete strategic business plans and international expansion, with which to compete both within Europe and in new geographic markets and face an environment and a more changing workforce.

The implications of globalization and of course European integration on employment and people are complex. It is clear that the talent market today is global and people must compete in this area to gain a foothold in the labor market. This situation is both an opportunity and a challenge. Today we compete in Europe in a different league where traditional paradigms have long changed. Skills and objectives other than a different workforce marked by some aspects such as generational or gender diversity, geographical and functional mobility, and redefined work based not so much on financial compensation but on the pursuit of experiences within organizations that are committed to a more social identity.

In this changing labor market, the paradigm shift about to talent again goes through a mismatch between supply and demand for current and future skills. For companies, the opportunity to find the talent they need in a market is much broader, because of European and global market integration; but also the need to strive to train and retain its workers in the face of increasing opportunities globally. In the case of workers, opportunities are opened up in many more companies and countries, but they also find international talent competition in their home countries. For their part, governments and educational institutions face the challenge of promoting educational plans that ensure the country’s future competitiveness and generate talent capable of competing in a global world. At the same time, the need to work in a global environment has led to a change in skills that need to be fostered at the educational level. Aspects such as resilience, ability to adapt to ever-changing environments, ability to work in multicultural and multidisciplinary contexts, or a good level of languages become vitally important and can generate, if not fostered, adequately, a mismatch of skills that affects the ability to find employment. Additionally, the z-generation and millennials, the last generations to join the Labor Market, are generations with different values in which to participate in the project and get involved from the beginning is a value in itself. That is why entrepreneurship and intra-entrepreneurship is seen as an opportunity to develop as people within their careers.

Taken this evidence into account, a question that arises is what are the labor market prospects of the European workforce? Is the entrepreneurship opportunity, passion or a fashion movement that match with other society or cultural values? We address this topic in the next subsection.