Читать книгу Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets - Sylvia Ann Hewlett - Страница 7

The ever-expanding body of work on the “BRIC phenomenon”—exemplified by such recent publications as Imagining India by Nandan M. Nilekani, The China Strategy by Edward Tse, Billions of Entrepreneurs by Tarun Khanna, or When China Rules the World by Martin Jacques—typically focuses on individual countries and adopts a broad-brush approach to the business or economic landscape. Analyses of the talent issues that are critical to the continued growth momentum of the BRIC economies remain primarily qualitative in approach and fragmentary in scope. Most of these studies, which rely exclusively on opinions gathered through interviews, are limited to business leaders and senior managers and focus exclusively on men.⁹ Without exception, even those that spotlight the war for talent and the looming skills shortage make no reference to a key segment of the talent pool: highly qualified, ambitious women. Indeed, Nilekani, in his well-regarded book Imagining India, devotes a mere four pages to the opportunities and challenges facing women, and Khanna, in his high-profile book Winning in Emerging Markets, fails to mention women at all.

This book fills a fundamental gap in the research. It is based on a robust combination of quantitative data collection and in-depth qualitative research gathered through the Center for Work-Life Policy's proprietary multipronged methodology.

Quantitative data was gathered through surveys of 4,350 college-educated men and women in Brazil, Russia, India, China, the United Arab Emirates, and, for comparison, nearly 3,000 respondents in the United States. Qualitative data was collected through focus groups, our Virtual Strategy Session online interview tool, and in-depth one-on-one interviews involving hundreds of high-echelon men and women across the targeted geographies. The research spanned interviewees of varying levels and experience, ranging from those new to the workforce to senior managers and business leaders. Data was collected between February 2009 and December 2010 and is, to our knowledge, unparalleled in scope and scale.

In addition to the BRIC countries, the UAE was included in the research as a lens into the talent landscape in the Middle East. Despite recent economic setbacks in business hubs such as Dubai, the Emirates continue to play an important role as a gateway to the region for many multinational organizations. Insights into the specific opportunities and challenges of managing talent in the UAE add a valuable dimension to the rich and complex themes we uncover for BRIC countries.

One other key point: the managers interviewed—male and female—work at a wide range of multinational corporations, including global giants with roots in China, India, and Europe as well as the United States. The insights and advice, therefore, are aimed at all multinationals and not only established Western corporations.