ASEAN urged to improve skills levels
Countries in Southeast Asia need to focus more on human capital development and improve skills of their workforce in order to move forward and sustain on their successful growth path, a representative of US-based think tank The Conference Board said at a joint meeting of the Makati Business Club and the Management Association of the Philippines in Manila on May 24.
Finding and retaining top-notch employees to grow businesses during the current tumultuous global economic landscape has been listed as the greatest challenge by CEOs in a survey by The Conference Board. In Southeast Asia in particular, human capital could make or break the region’s inexorable rise, Bart Van Ark, The Conference Board’s executive vice president and chief economist, remarked.
The survey questioned 750 CEOs in the US, Europe, Asia, China and India, who responded that internal business development was “of highest concern.”
“Human capital is on top. The ‘people factor’ is a key factor for CEOs nowadays,” Van Ark said.
He noted that the region’s “breakneck growth” – such as in the Philippines and Indonesia – could only ensure stability if businesses acquire and allocate talent effectively. For the Philippine BPO industry this is especially true because multinationals already list hiring rates and employee retention as top concern.
Investing in innovation and in the workforce is necessary as the region is on its way to establishing a single market under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Van Ark said. The AEC, which is expected to launch by late 2015, will bring free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, as well as free capital flow in the region which would increase competition among labourers and those with higher skills would succeed.
From June 5 to 7, 2013, the World Economic Forum on East Asia will be held in Myanmar, where key decision makers from government, industry, academia and civil society are scheduled to highlight the country’s struggle with finding a balanced roadmap that addresses the challenges of human capital in a fractious and impoverished nation.
Additionally, according to the survey, while human capital ranked highly, it was discovered that ASEAN CEOs’ concerns over global economic risk were “lower than average, speaking highly for the optimism in the region that global recovery is on the way.”
Countries in Southeast Asia need to focus more on human capital development and improve skills of their workforce in order to move forward and sustain on their successful growth path, a representative of US-based think tank The Conference Board said at a joint meeting of the Makati Business Club and the Management Association of the Philippines in Manila on May 24. Finding and retaining top-notch employees to grow businesses during the current tumultuous global economic landscape has been listed as the greatest challenge by CEOs in a survey by The Conference Board. In Southeast Asia in particular, human capital could...
Countries in Southeast Asia need to focus more on human capital development and improve skills of their workforce in order to move forward and sustain on their successful growth path, a representative of US-based think tank The Conference Board said at a joint meeting of the Makati Business Club and the Management Association of the Philippines in Manila on May 24.
Finding and retaining top-notch employees to grow businesses during the current tumultuous global economic landscape has been listed as the greatest challenge by CEOs in a survey by The Conference Board. In Southeast Asia in particular, human capital could make or break the region’s inexorable rise, Bart Van Ark, The Conference Board’s executive vice president and chief economist, remarked.
The survey questioned 750 CEOs in the US, Europe, Asia, China and India, who responded that internal business development was “of highest concern.”
“Human capital is on top. The ‘people factor’ is a key factor for CEOs nowadays,” Van Ark said.
He noted that the region’s “breakneck growth” – such as in the Philippines and Indonesia – could only ensure stability if businesses acquire and allocate talent effectively. For the Philippine BPO industry this is especially true because multinationals already list hiring rates and employee retention as top concern.
Investing in innovation and in the workforce is necessary as the region is on its way to establishing a single market under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Van Ark said. The AEC, which is expected to launch by late 2015, will bring free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, as well as free capital flow in the region which would increase competition among labourers and those with higher skills would succeed.
From June 5 to 7, 2013, the World Economic Forum on East Asia will be held in Myanmar, where key decision makers from government, industry, academia and civil society are scheduled to highlight the country’s struggle with finding a balanced roadmap that addresses the challenges of human capital in a fractious and impoverished nation.
Additionally, according to the survey, while human capital ranked highly, it was discovered that ASEAN CEOs’ concerns over global economic risk were “lower than average, speaking highly for the optimism in the region that global recovery is on the way.”
