Position statement
The Globally Integrated Enterprise (GIE) places business operations anywhere in the world based on the the required skills, the most appropriate business environment, and best cost. The role of country borders in defining corporate thinking and practise is ever-reducing. When everything is connected on the GIE model, both computer and human work flows. It flows to where that work will be done best – most efficiently and with the highest quality and value.
What determines how and where it flows?
- Economics – getting lower costs is an important factor. However, it's not the only factor since if it were, everything would commoditize as all the work would flow in one direction. This is not what we are seeing.
- Expertise – in a world where the means of production and distribution are increasingly available to anyone, the best way to distinguish yourself competitively is through expertise and skills.
- Openness – in order to cause work to flow in your direction, you must have an appealing business environment. This involves everything from education and physical infrastructure to progressive trade, taxation and intellectual property policies. Openness allows collaboration. Collaboration fosters innovation. And innovation is what everyone wants.
Businesses and communities will benefit if their workforce has the skills, creativity, and flexibility to respond to a world of competition. Global competition, once primarily the concern of manufacturing workers, is affecting more "knowledge" and service workers. To meet this competitive challenge, countries need a flexible, highly-skilled, and technologically adept workforce that is supported by continuous learning and market-oriented transition assistance. A workforce with leading edge skills will provide a competitive advantage and help to maintain a high standard of living by attracting new investment and new customers. The public and private sector must join together to ensure the proper investment in human capital.
