Global Flows of Talents

For decades, talented people born in emerging markets have moved to study and then to work in the advanced economies of the West. But lately something remarkable is happening. In many emerging countries, the brain drain has reversed its flow. The causes are fascinating, and there is reason to be optimistic that the vicious cycle… Continue reading Global Flows of Talents

Public consultation on EU Urban Agenda and the Integrated Territorial Investment platform

Public consultation is a regulatory process by which the public’s input on matters affecting them is sought. Now a new EU public consultation has been announced, that ought to help all great cities of the European Union in preparing the necessary Integrated Territorial Investment platform. Following the news from a few days ago that the… Continue reading Public consultation on EU Urban Agenda and the Integrated Territorial Investment platform

The Importance of Trust

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. – Ernest Hemingway What makes an organisation work in todays time of uncertainty? Management theorist Simon Sinek suggests it is a corporate culture of trust where the leaders make their employees feel secure. When trust exists between employees and management,… Continue reading The Importance of Trust

Place Management in Kinda

Thursday this week, I gave a speech about place management in Kinda. It is a municipality in Östergötland County, southeast Sweden, with some 10,000 inhabitants. The setting was the local business development week and we met in Kinda Folkets Hus where about 40 people from all sectors of Kinda society had gathered.  The speech was… Continue reading Place Management in Kinda

The Importance of Creating a fun Business Atmosphere

A classic quote says “Work is not supposed to be fun that is why it is called work”. But I stand to object. Give or take we spend about 2200 hours at work every year, which gives about 110 000 hours at the office during an adult life. For that reason, I have decided to… Continue reading The Importance of Creating a fun Business Atmosphere

Christmas for some – The case of high top executive pay

In recent years the pay checks for top executives have kept on increasing. What is the mechanism behind this? Economists talk about the agency problem, referring to the conflict of interest between a company’s management and the company’s stockholders. The manager, acting as the agent for the shareholders is supposed to make decisions that will… Continue reading Christmas for some – The case of high top executive pay

World Economic Forums Human Capital Index

One of the global challenges to economic growth is the expansion of talent, of human capital on a national as well as international level. Human capital is known to be the stock of knowledge, proficiencies, personal and social attributes embodied in the ability to perform work to produce economic value. In economist and corporate finance… Continue reading World Economic Forums Human Capital Index

Talent Strategies for the Post-Loyalty World

Globalisation and hyper competition brings increasing pressure on organisations in the world’s advanced economies. For years, serious forecasting institutes such as the International Labour Organisation have predicted fewer jobs and more social unrest. At the same time,  income inequalities are rising as middle-income groups are shrinking due to rising long-term unemployment, weakening job quality and… Continue reading Talent Strategies for the Post-Loyalty World

Sub-Saharan Africa Building Momentum in a Multi-Speed World

We live in a world where economic development takes place in different pace for different regions. It has always been like this, but for the first time in modern history, it is no longer western developed countries having the fastest growth. Professor Michael Spence, 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, set out… Continue reading Sub-Saharan Africa Building Momentum in a Multi-Speed World

World Economic Forum on Africa 2013

On May 8, the annual World Economic Forum – Africa meeting kicked off in Cape Town South Africa. About a thousand government officials from across Africa, as well as senior officials from the United States and other Western nations were joined by hundreds of business leaders from Africa and representatives from major international corporations, international… Continue reading World Economic Forum on Africa 2013