LONDON, September 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The USA's status as the
world's biggest talent hotspot is under threat from the UK and China,
according to the first ever Global Talent Index (GTI).
The US will maintain its position as the world's leading country for
nurturing and developing talent over the next five years, the Index developed
by executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles and the Economist
Intelligence Unit reveals. But it faces increasing competition from the UK,
which rises to second place in by 2012, and China, which moves from eighth to
sixth.
China is set to exploit its natural advantage as the world's most
populous country by significantly improving its compulsory education system
and developing a much better environment for producing and nurturing talent.
This will enable the country to build on its manufacturing base and attract
increasing numbers of foreign-owned businesses.
Despite the strong performance of the US overall, its labor market is set
to become less open and flexible over the next five years amid fears of
terrorism. It will rank 9th worldwide on this measure -only one place above
China.
The GTI is the first survey of its kind to be undertaken. It is aimed at
providing businesses with comprehensive evidence of where talent is located
across the world. Thirty countries were chosen for the survey based on a
representative geographical spread and the quality of available comparative
data.
Kevin Kelly, CEO of Heidrick and Struggles, said: "Until now, companies
may have sensed which countries attracted and developed talent most
effectively, but objective data to support their impressions was simply
unavailable.
"If talent is the oil of our future, we need to pinpoint the hotspots,
identify the reserves and know how fast the pipelines can get up and running.
The Global Talent Index will enable us to do this."
The GTI shows that the much fabled 'BRIC' (Brazil, Russia, India and
China) phenomenon should more accurately be expressed as 'IC' when it comes
to talent. While China and India rank among the top 10 talent hotspots
worldwide, Russia will fall from sixth to 11th place by 2012, while Brazil
will slip from 18th to 19th.
Overall, the survey confirms that talent follows where money leads. After
the US and UK, the next best countries for attracting and developing talent
are relatively small but open economies of Canada, the Netherlands and
Sweden. Another noticeable trend is that several of the least promising
performers do not yet boast fully functioning democracies.
Asia performs strongly overall, with Malaysia, South Korea and Japan
accompanying China and India in the top 15 by 2012. Ukraine will overtake
Russia and Argentina will fall dramatically over the next five years.
The Index is the result of collaboration between Heidrick and Struggles
and the Economist Intelligence Unit. It measures each country's potential for
producing talent and the conditions necessary to realise this potential.
Seven separate measures were used in assessing each country: demographics,
quality of compulsory education systems, quality of universities and business
schools, quality of the environment to nurture talent, mobility and relative
openness of the labour market, trends in foreign direct investment and
proclivity to attract talent.
About Heidrick & Struggles
Founded in 1953, Heidrick & Struggles (NASDAQ:HSII), is recognised as one
of the world's leading executive search firms. With 61 offices in the
principal cities of 32 countries, it helps its clients to address strategic
issues that have human capital solutions in times of growth, turnaround,
acquisition, integration, expansion into new markets, and when responding to
economic flux.
With its executive search, leadership services and interim management
capabilities, Heidrick & Struggles can seamlessly integrate a bespoke
programme to meet the diverse leadership challenges facing its client
organisations. The organisation prides itself on its relationships with, and
immediate access to, some of the world's most talented people.
http://www.heidrick.com
SOURCE Heidrick & Struggles
09/25/2007
CONTACT: For further information please contact Andy Tannen
(+212-468-3703) or Barbara Shear (+212-468-3154) at Manning Selvage & Lee,
email: andy.tannen@mslpr.com, barbara.shear@mslpr.com, Media images are
available at http://www.heidrickone.com/mediakits/gti//
6750 09/25/2007 19:01 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
