Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/65226
Editor's Letter Hedging Against Fear It is axiomatic that no one washes a car hire. No incentive exists to invest in the absence of a long-term future dynamic. This is partly what bedevils the Western economies these days. Business leaders are caught between the fear that they ought to retrench and a desire to crack on with their plans. It has all resulted in paralysis. Not without reason. Fallout from the financial crisis continues to roil markets. That already dodgy foundation has been rocked still further in recent weeks by the bellicosity of Iran's senior clerics and an attendant sabre-rattling by some in the West. The mullah's very mention of the idea that they would close the Strait of Hormuz has pushed the cost of a barrel of Brent crude oil to near all time highs in sterling and euros. This, in turn, has resulted in a spike in the price of petrol at the pump. Although that threatens the weakest euro-zone economies the most—because they are the ones most dependent on imported energy—our interconnectedness sends ripples nerves across varied geographies. A continent unified by currency but not polity exacerbates this problem. One feels that we are a single natural or man-made disaster away from another crash. But that might not be the case. The new era of contingency, in both labour and supply chain management, has created a collective economic organism that is arguably more flexible and resilient than its predecessors. This is true even with the end of "cheap China," where inflationary pressures have dampened the prospects for wage arbitrage plays by outsourcers. A new sophistication informs labour deployments, with the portfolio diversification nowhere more pronounced than in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. What were once spokes of a wheel—Vietnam, Malaysia, the Phllipines—are becoming hubs unto themselves. This emergent reality is captured in the current cover story by our newest correspondent, Catherine Tooher. With a master's degree in business, deep domain expertise in human resources, and years of residence in China (she has Mandarin to boot), Tooher brings both experience and smarts to our broadening coverage of global workforce analysis. In this, her first piece, she slices up the APAC pie with a very sharp knife. (To read about "The Great APAC Services Shift," please turn to page 8.) In that regard, I would be remiss if I failed to focus your attention on our upcoming HRO Today Forum APAC, to be held May 16 and 17 in Singapore. There, for the third year, we will convene the region's smartest workforce thought leaders to explore how HR offices operate their global franchises. We will hold debates and help develop the networks that those executives need to succeed. It offers a unique, collaborative environment for an exclusive audience of recruitment and technology executives to discuss the future of HR operations. I hope you can join us. (For more information, please visit http://www.hrosummits.com/hrosummitapac/.) Back to the European side of the equation for a moment. It is important to note that whilst outsourcing and offshoring represent only instruments in the HR executives' toolboxes, they can offer vital precision in tight times. It has long been thus, as Oracle's director of global BPO, Henry Barenholz, explains to our man Russ Banham in "Recession Redux?" (see page 20.) "Throughout the last century," he says, "knowledge workers and entrepreneurs have always [left] Europe for opportunities in other economies." Yet the new mobility of a globalised world works both ways, or perhaps all ways. As Simon Constance, a partner at Orion Partners and sometime contributor to these pages, notes: "Demand for superior technical expertise in areas like advance engineering is continuing to suck in talent—from emerging economies to the U.S. and Europe—particularly as demand for aerospace, energy, and defense investment projects continues from those countries." As devoted as I am to Shakespeare, I am amongst those who has always doubted the bard's authorship of The Famous History of the Life of King Henry VIII for the simple reason that it is just not up to snuff when compared with the rest of his works. Yet, it offers one line that is worthy of proverb: "Things done well and with care, exempt themselves from fear." Which is another way of saying, for those who commit themselves to high-quality work in good times or bad, crack on with your plans. Dirk Olin, Editor-in-Chief WINTER 2012 | www.hroglobal.com [5]