A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY, IN AN EMERGING CRISIS

As the European economic woes continue to cause ripples in the global financial markets, the world waits and celebrates the birth of the 7 billionth baby. The crisis that started with Greece has today more or less spread like a wild fire to almost all parts of the continent and threatens to take an ugly turn if immediate action is not taken. France for one wants the developing nations to pitch in with their resources and help bail out the defaulting nations so that a bigger crisis could be avoided. Ironic isn’t it, that these nations want our monies but not our biggest asset, our people.  

Europe will need to embrace this foreign work force into its fold if they want to survive this century. How else will they carry the burden of over 71 % dependent population by 2050 which will need to depend on the age group of 15-64 for all its needs economic or otherwise? It seems that European nations have realized this fact but are wary to act on it. There seems to be no move to attract talent to their shores. As a matter of fact, if anything, they are tightening entry procedures for foreign nationals. One wonders how in such a scenario they will cope with the imminent shortfall in the productive workforce that they have. 

This situation also presents a unique opportunity for emerging markets such as India and China. Both these countries have highly trained manpower and in fact excess of it. Both these countries have economies that are running full steam currently and seem like they will continue to do so in the near future at least. I wonder if there can be a situation where these entities can collaborate and ensure a win-win situation for everyone. Or maybe I am too naïve in suggesting that it is time that we all came together to solve each others problems. International labor trends have always been an enigma to me but I surely know this that problems solved collectively often produce better results than otherwise. 

Keeping this in mind, fresh business graduates of today can also look at international careers for themselves. However before this becomes a reality, they must ensure that they develop their skills accordingly. As it is the reputation of Indians abroad is stellar and with the emergence of quite a few Indian top executives, the stage seems set for us to take the world by storm. In our cover story for this issue of CULT, we have focused on what IIPM does in terms of giving global exposure to its students. We strongly believe that students who are aware of global issues and are equipped to handle them have a much better understanding of the global business environment and can therefore help the organisations that they work for in the international markets. At the institute we have been running global orientation programs for more than twelve years and have found success in all such endeavors. Recruiters who have tasted our talent have been coming back for more year after year and alumni working on international assignments with multi national companies have done us proud and have held the IIPM flag high.