This refers to Shyamal Majumdar’s column titled “Capitalism evolving into ‘talentism’”. The war for talent is hotting up across societies, companies and countries; it is replacing the war for capital. The report is based on a discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. In 2006-07, WEF came out with a Global Competitive Index comparing the competitiveness of different nations; this report is easily available on the internet. There were several parameters for evaluation with different weights assigned.
The report and analysis were compiled by Michael Porter of Harvard Business School. One of the important factors was financial innovation, which had a high weight. Iceland scored high on it. India did not. Later, banks in Iceland went bankrupt and had to be aided. The WEF discussions are a bit fanciful, a bit stratospheric and also a bit unfortunate since they look at the world as a manipulative opportunity. I prefer people who have their feet firmly on the ground.
Hari Parmeshwar, on email
