The changing time part 2
Globalization is an economic process where a country’s borders are open for the free flow of money, ideas, products, and services as well as increase interaction between people, business, and culture. In the past, globalization opened doors for large companies to enter and competed in the local markets. Due to their large capital and good management systems, they often destroyed smaller local companies and eventually control the market. We can see the evidence in fast food, retail, banking, and online businesses.
However, today the key economic factor is no longer depends on large capital but shifting to the skills of the workforce. A strong or weak economy is depending on the knowledge and skills of the people of that country. Especially in this technology-driven market, having more people with technical skills could be the most powerful factor for economic prosperity. If you look at the demographics of developed countries such as France, Germany, the U.S, UK, and Japan, their population is growing older where in other places such as Asian and African countries, the population is much younger and soon they will make up more than 70% of the workforce in the world. As older workers are retiring, some countries need more workers to maintain their workforce but the current immigration trends will restrict the number of workers to enter their countries. This situation has forced many companies to open offices and factories in another country, and that could help transform the economics of some countries.
Today advanced technologies have changed the way company operate, with robotics, artificial intelligence, there will be less demand for labor workers but more for the technical workers. A technically educated workforce is a potential factor to create competitive advantage and prosperity for any country. Assume that they can be trained in high demand technologies such as information technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics they could make a major difference to the local economy. To take advantage of this, the education system must change to produce these skilled workers. Local companies also need to be aware of the potential opportunities and adjust quickly to the digital economy. Their leaders need to understand that Information Technology is no longer a support system but a strategic transformation factor driven by big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence that can raise productivity and profits to unprecedented levels. In the near future, workers must learn to collaborate using smart devices such as PCs, tablets, mobile phones, augmented and virtual reality devices etc. to provide content, services to customers all over the world.
Today every country is at an inflection point, where many things are being impacted as new technologies continue to drive more rapid changes in how people work and how businesses operate. In order to succeed in this new environment, leaders must understand this rare opportunity and invest more in education to create a highly skilled workforce to keep up with the global needs as well as future needs.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
