Global Skill Report 2005

Brainbench has published global skill report which is available
here

The key findings are

IT competence is on the rise worldwide and represents
a significant economic factor for countries
of all sizes. While the ability to create a
knowledge-based economy is an engine for
economic development in emerging nations, it is
also a significant growth factor in the economy in
more established nations. No matter the location,
high levels of competence are a significant factor
in the ability to realize increased profits and
economic prosperity.
• The same basic knowledge, skills, and competencies
underlie jobs across the globe - meaning that
work is starting to take on a common language.
This will greatly facilitate the development of a
more global economy in which geographic
boundaries are not limiting the
manner in which business
is conducted.
This means
that more
and
more, a competitive economic advantage requires
a global mind-set and continues to justify the
removal of geographic barriers to conducting
business.
• Effective business and economic growth requires
organizations to make strategic choices regarding
the geographic location of critical business
components (i.e., programming, customer service).
These choices are based on a combination of
trade-offs, most prominent of which are the
evaluation of available skill and knowledge levels
in a geographic area vs. the cost of obtaining
access to those skills. Areas offering a combination
of high skill levels with low costs for access
to those skills will be more likely to lead to the
outsourcing of business functions to these areas.
• Education is becoming increasingly important
especially for emerging nations that are working
to develop new knowledge and skills-based
economies. In turn, a critical factor in stimulating
economic growth will be the development of
a skilled and competitive labor force.
• Taken together, the above conclusions place an
even greater premium on selecting employees
wisely. As the overall level of competence rises
across the globe, the labor pool will continue to
become more competitive. No matter what the
situation, selecting the best most qualified
individual for a specific job provides increasing
levels of return on investment. This provides a
strong justification for the continued growth of
an assessment industry which can provide measurement
of critical knowledge, skills, and abilities.

How relevant is your B-school course?

Your perspective on what they don't teach you at B-schools really depends on how experienced you were when you began your management education.

B-schools are designed to give academic inputs -- even the case studies discussed (which are mainly from the US) have little relevance to the Indian business environment.

One reason for this, of course, is that most B-school professors are those who didn't succeed as entrepreneurs, didn't get the opportunity to set up a business or didn't climb the corporate ladder too swiftly. Consequently, there is little infusion of practical insight on the problems you face as an entrepreneur or manager.

What are the problems you are not equipped to handle? First, managing the transition of a family-owned and managed business to one managed by professional entrepreneurs and funded by venture capital.

Second, if you want to conduct business ethically, how do you handle the bribery and corruption that is endemic in our country? How do you coach and encourage those who work with you to stay on the straight and narrow path when the done thing is to be corrupt?

Our company had the opportunity to sell our products to the state-run electricity boards, and increase our size manifold. We chose to stay small, but clean. The challenge lay in choosing like-minded employees who could manage the rigours of doing business in India without resorting to bribery.

Third, how do you balance intuition and over-analysing facts when taking decisions? This comes only from experience. Which is why when an experienced manager goes to B-school, he is better able to quickly apply the decision-making theory to real problems. That also explains why many of the better B-schools prefer experienced candidates.

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