This week’s guest post is contributed by Terry Healey, an M Squared consultant.  He can be reached at terry@ridgeviewconsulting.com

Building a complete and differentiated go-to-market plan is something all marketing professionals strive to achieve. We typically follow a methodology to ensure that the target customer is at the center of the plan and that we have a clear and compelling value to generate a positive response.

Many of us learned about Neil H. Borden’s “The Concept of the Marketing Mix”, circa 1964.  The ingredients of Borden’s Marketing Mix centered on the four P’s – product, pricing, placement (or distribution), and promotion. But those four P’s require that the marketing professional develop the optimal mix, including market insights, developing integrated marketing/sales programs, and ensuring the necessary measurement tools and metrics are in place. Unfortunately, those actions too often become afterthoughts of building that differentiated go-to-market plan.

Assuring Success with the 4 M’s
The key to a successful plan based on the 4 P’s means starting with a framework from the outset that includes what I like to call “the four M’s”; Market Intelligence, Modeling, Mix, and Measurement. The four M’s are the marketing activities which act as the glue that binds marketing and sales together. Ensuring that sales and marketing have skin in the game motivates both teams to achieve marketing objectives with focus ultimately on revenue.

1. Market Intelligence and Analysis

Just as anyone raising money to fund a start up needs a great idea, they also need a large and growing market that they believe they’ll be able to address. In the same way, regardless of the maturity of your company, you need to develop a business case for what part of the market you intend to address, why it makes sense, and how you are going to do it. The process of researching the total addressable market for your proposed product or service is only a small piece of the analysis necessary. Identifying the viable market segments that your solution can address, along with understanding the customer profile and primary business drivers are the baseline for any plan. Whether you have a solution that requires prospecting for new customers, or perhaps you have the benefit of an installed customer base that you can cross-sell and up-sell into - the same rules apply. Do your research - analyze the data to determine what slice of the market you intend to address, what challenge you will solve, and what benefits your solution offers that are differentiating from the competition. But, once again, before you assume you have all the answers, be sure to make part of your primary research talking to your sales teams about their knowledge of the market and their customer base.

2. Modeling

·     With a lot of great data that’s been sliced and diced, you can now justify moving the plan to the next stage. Nomenclature aside, your next step is to model a “program”, a holistic set of resources, tools, and activities that enable both your sales force to be effective, and your customers to engage with your organization. The key to this is to ensure you provide sales with prescriptive instructions on how to use the resources and when to use them. And don’t think of sales enablement separately from demand generation. The two should be tightly linked. Sales enablement tools and resources you provide your sales people should be integrated with customer engagement demand generating tactics (telemarketing scripts, emailers) so that sales is part of the marketing engine and marketing is helping to drive sales funnel.

·  So that sales understands how marketing intends to create an ongoing customer experience, providing details on how the entire program or campaign will work helps everyone take ownership in the outcome. Building the marketing funnel means that marketing must invest in awareness activities (email, advertising, tradeshows, and PR), consideration activities (web/seminars, whitepapers, case studies), and preference activities (demos, ROI Tools). When sales has a window into the logic behind the marketing program, they can effectively leverage each prospect interaction and the offers that have initiated a response.

·  Close the loop with review teams that provide continual feedback on the approach, validating or invalidating the tactics themselves. The job of Program Modeling is about accelerating sales cycles, and helping sales to move customers more quickly from the prospect stage to the  propose stage.

               3. Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is not just about ensuring that you are reaching customers, analysts, and the press in a myriad of ways, but utilizing step one (Market Intelligence and Analysis) to serve as the guide to how you should focus your efforts, and with how much emphasis. If your company or product is immature, awareness is critical. If you are marketing to your installed base, your emphasis may reside more in the consideration and preference stages. After all, you are marketing to existing customers who are familiar with your brand, but may not understand why they should upgrade or build upon the solution they already have. Targeted demand generation with case study offers, whitepapers, ROI tools, or financing may prove to generate high response rates.

               4. Measure

·  You might be thinking “I cannot get the funding for a robust system to measure my marketing activities.” That may indeed be the case, but today there are great hosted solutions that enable you to have an integrated marketing and measurement system up and running in just a few days. At the end of the day, you have to justify your marketing spend, and measure your return on marketing investment.

·  As importantly, you need to measure response rates, leads, and appointments set so that you can refine, improve, and optimize your campaigns based on what prospects are responding to, what they are registering for, and what content they are downloading. And without all those measurements, good luck getting budget for next years’ marketing campaign.

Adding the four M’s is not designed to make things more complicated. The four M’s methodology ensures that the fundamental aspects of your plan and strategy are sound and can be executed and measured. As we all know, a great marketing strategy does not always translate into an effectively executed plan. And if you cannot measure your execution, you better be a great sales person, because you will be selling a new marketing approach to your leadership team every year. But don’t worry - there won’t be all that many years that you will have to sell that plan if you don’t know how to measure it.

For more information on how to better plan and execute your marketing programs, contact M Squared Consulting at 415-391-1038.

The cover story in the current issue of BusinessWeek entitled “The Permanent Temporary Workforce” is a fascinating read about the state of the American workforce.  The article describes the hardships faced by those affected by layoffs, and how many companies are turning to temporary help to protect profits in the economic downturn.

But in contrast to similar articles in recent years, the authors here point out that the current recession has fueled a “leadership on demand” phenomenon, meaning that many of the temporary workers are white-collar professionals, not “sneaker-footed admins”.  Many are seasoned professionals who relish the flexibility of a free-agent lifestyle.  “People with sought-after skills can earn more by jumping from assignment to assignment than they can by sticking with one company,” the authors write.

Déjà vu?

In her groundbreaking book, “A New Brand of Expertise: How Independent Consultants, Free Agents, and Interim Managers are Transforming the World of Work,” published in 2001, M Squared Consulting founder and CEO Marion McGovern tackled this very subject in some depth.

In particular, in the chapter about why many professionals choose “free agency”, Ms. McGovern’s writings are more relevant today than ever:

“Whether it is control over where they work, their hours, or their vacations, overwhelmingly it is a desire to make work fit into their lives and not vice versa.  One of our consultants of Dutch descent explained that she became an independent practitioner because she thought that American vacation structures were untenable; being used to at least six weeks of vacation annually, she couldn’t continue in the American mode of two weeks per year.  In today’s 24×7 world, time has a currency all its own.”

She continues….

“Some consultants want control over what they do, a sphere of influence that as a mere mortal in a large enterprise was beyond their reach.  At M Squared Consulting, we see this often with the alumni from large consulting firms.  Exposed to many types of industries and products, they may have been able to indentify the type of work they most enjoyed, but they may not have had the opportunity to do it again.  For these individuals, the type of work – the “what” – is most critical.

So in addition to being prescient, McGovern’s book illustrates that there are some long-term trends in place affecting American business, and the savvy consultant can take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves and thrive in today’s work environment.  And challenge, pay, and control are not the sole discretion of either the employer or employee.

With its collaborative approach, long-term relationships, and commitment to the success of both its clients and consultants, it’s no wonder that M Squared Consulting attracts top-tier professionals to its network.  To join the M Squared consultant community, please register on our website at http://www.msquared.com/consultants/join.html

As the holidays approach and companies finalize their FY 2010 plans, more than ever the topic of the contingent workforce surfaces in human resources discussions. While utilizing external consulting expertise such as the type M Squared provides is now standard operating procedure for many companies, other organizations have yet to realize the benefits of flexible employment solutions.

For those companies on the fence, one element of hesitation can be knowledge transfer. That is, how to ensure the institutionalization of knowledge once a project is concluded and the expert has gone on to a new engagement. In the groundbreaking book, “A New Brand of Expertise: How Independent Consultants, Free Agents, and Interim Managers are Transforming the World of Work” (Butterworth-Heinemann), M Squared CEO Marion McGovern and co-author Dennis Russell address this issue head-on, and what they penned in 2001 is as relevant as ever today.

The following passages succinctly describe best practices in knowledge transfer:

“The best way to enable (knowledge) retention is to make it part of the contract with the consultant. He or she must be able to turn over the baton to an employee; the consultant must train someone in the organization on his or her approach, constructs, and activities. Someone in the organization must be left aware of potential issues remaining from the course of the project of that could arise in the future. This should be a formal requirement; for example, a product-costing project would not be considered complete until a manager is trained on the model and all associated documentation is provided.

Beyond these types of training requirements, managers must become sensitive to expertise networks. As success in an organization becomes more dependent on project management performance, those who are best able to rapidly deploy expertise will be those most recognized and rewarded. Managers must be able to rapidly identify individuals with expertise in disciplines that may be useful in the future. They must actively and deliberately develop formal and informal expertise networks, so that when the time arises they know where the knowledge may be found. This can be as simple as creating a list of individual consultants and intermediaries to call on when the need arises, or as complicated as cataloguing in a specialized database the skills of consultants used and/or considered for projects.”

In short, within every organization are people who know and people who need to know, and the lasting value of a successful consulting project is not only performing the task at hand, but making certain that knowledge transfer is built into the process.

The book, A New Brand of Expertise: How Independent Consultants, Free Agents, and Interim Managers are Transforming the World of Work” by Marion McGovern and Dennis Russell (Butterworth-Heinemann) is available at www.amazon.com

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises above 10,000. Warren Buffett says that the economy has “plateaued at the bottom”. The rate of job cuts abates, at least temporarily. Reasons for hope for U.S. businesses and consumers perhaps, but what may put a damper on the recovery parade is the phenomenon of knowledge workers voluntarily leaving the States to return to their home countries.

A recent essay by Vivek Wadhwa, a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley and a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School, brings this critical issue to light. In “Beware The Reverse Brain Drain to India and China”, Wadhwa contends that Indian and Chinese professionals are returning to their homelands by the thousands. What this foreshadows for the skilled labor force in the United States remains to be seen, and this is a trend that M Squared Consulting is following closely.

(Excerpted from the full article.*)

I spent Columbus Day in Sunnyvale, fittingly, meeting with a roomful of new arrivals. Well, relatively new. They were Indians living in Silicon Valley. The event was organized by the Think India Foundation, a think-tank that seeks to solve problems which Indians face. When introducing the topic of skilled immigration, the discussion moderator, Sand Hill Group founder M.R. Rangaswami asked the obvious question. How many planned to return to India? I was shocked to see more than three-quarters of the audience raise their hands.

Why would such talented people voluntarily leave Silicon Valley, a place that remains the hottest hotbed of technology innovation on Earth? Or to leave other promising locales such as New York City, Boston and the Research Triangle area of North Carolina? My team of researchers at Duke, Harvard and Berkeley polled 1203 returnees to India and China during the second half of 2008 to find answers to exactly this question. What we found should concern even the most boisterous Silicon Valley boosters.

What propelled them to return home? Some 84% of the Chinese and 69% of the Indians cited professional opportunities. And while they make less money in absolute terms at home, most said their salaries brought a “better quality of life” than what they had in the U.S. (There was also some reverse culture shock—complaints about congestion in India, say, and pollution in China.) When it came to social factors, 67% of the Chinese and 80% of the Indians cited better “family values” at home. Ability to care for aging parents was also cited, and this may be a hidden visa factor: it’s much harder to bring parents and other family members over to the U.S. than in the past. For the vast majority of returnees, a longing for family and friends was also a crucial element.

Many students wanted to stay for a few years after graduation if given a choice—58% of Indians, 54% of Chinese, and 40% of Europeans. But they see the future being brighter back home. Only 7% of Chinese students, 9% of European students, and 25% of Indian students believe that the best days of the U.S. economy lie ahead. Conversely, 74% of Chinese students and 86% of Indian students believe that the best days for their home country’s economy lie ahead.

To some degree, these responses reflected the moribund U.S. economy and the rough job prospects facing students. With U.S. unemployment at 10%, who cares if we lose the next generation of geeks? There won’t be jobs for them for years, anyway, until the U.S. job market recovers. And sure, I know the xenophobes are going to cheer my findings. They believe that foreign workers take American jobs away.

But a growing body of evidence indicates that skilled foreign immigrants create jobs for Americans and boost our national competitiveness. More than 52% of Silicon Valley’s startups during the recent tech boom were started by foreign-born entrepreneurs. Foreign-national researchers have contributed to more than 25% of our global patents, developed some of our break-through technologies, and they helped make Silicon Valley the world’s leading tech center. Foreign-born workers comprise almost a quarter of all the U.S. science and engineering workforce and 47% of science and engineering workers who have PhDs. It is very possible that some of the smart Indians who sat in the room with me holding their hand up on Columbus Day will start the next Google or Apple. Many of them will build companies which employ thousands. But the jobs will be in Hyderbad or Pune, not Silicon Valley.

*Read the complete article at http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/17/beware-the-reverse-brain-drain-to-india-and-china/

I recently came across two interesting data points which provide some important clues to what the emerging, post-recession, marketplace for labor might look like.

These data points have extra significance because in recent weeks we’ve seen an increase in consulting opportunities across all our practice areas, and we’ve also begun to notice a tightening of the knowledge worker labor force.

You might ask, how can it be that we’re still hearing about the recession and unemployment almost every night in the news, yet you’re saying there is both business opportunity and a lack of talent in the market?!

Here’s my explanation.

First of all, unemployment statistics are a lagging indicator. The rate of unemployment in the market will peak long before the government agencies report it. A much more reliable indicator of labor market trends is Gross Domestic Product (GDP). When it grows, the labor market will grow.

Second, unemployment for those with a college degree or higher (i.e. the knowledge workers that M Squared Consulting depends on to deliver results for clients) remains at near historic lows. The reality is that many members of the knowledge workforce have delayed their retirement. Once we begin the post-recession economic cycle we will see an increasing number of Baby Boomers (the most educated and experienced component of the current labor marketplace) begin to retire from the workforce. I predict this dynamic will cause a renewed war for talent.

August 2009 ExecuNet Recruiter Confidence Poll

Executive hiring by healthcare companies is expected to set the pace for management recruitment across all industries now through the end of 2009, according to ExecuNet’s latest Recruiter Confidence Poll. The survey found that nearly 150 responding executive search consultants anticipate seeing the most executive hiring in the healthcare space, followed by the clean/green technology sector, energy/utilities, and the life sciences market, including companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical sectors. Senior management hiring in the publishing and media/advertising/entertainment industries is expected to be the weakest, extending a longstanding trend line.

“With the economy showing signs of stabilization, corporations are beginning to strategically upgrade their leadership teams and fill positions that were put on hold during the downturn,” says Mark Anderson, President and Chief Economist of ExecuNet. “In light of the deep cuts many companies made during the past eighteen months, the pace of job growth during the year ahead could be stronger than expected in many industries.”

In the poll a representative sample of executive recruiters are asked what industry they anticipate yielding the highest growth of management hiring in the next six months. Here are the top ten responses from the poll:

• Healthcare = 13.8%
• Clean/Green Technology = 10.6%
• Energy/Utilities = 9.1%
• Life Sciences (pharma, biotech, medical) = 8.4%
• Environmental Products and Services = 7.2%
• High Technology = 6.3%
• Tie-Business Services = 5.3%
• Tie-Government/Nonprofit = 5.3%
• Defense/Aerospace = 5.2%
• Financial Services = 5.1%

Source: ExecuNet Recruiter Confidence Poll 8/09

The Aging of the American Workforce - Pew Research Center

The aging of the American workforce has accelerated during this recession, both because older workers have stayed in the labor force longer and younger adults are staying out of it longer, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.

One government estimate forecasts that 93 percent of the growth in the U.S. labor force through 2016 will be among individuals ages 55 and older.

By a ratio of nearly two-to-one, survey respondents said they would prefer a job that offers better security (59 percent) over one that offers higher pay (33 percent) but less stability.

Yet even in the face of widespread layoffs, pay freezes and involuntary furloughs, nine-in-ten employed adults say they are either completely (30 percent) or mostly (60 percent) satisfied with their job. In recent decades, the Pew study reports, levels of job satisfaction have tended to remain stable through good times and bad.

As it turns out, older workers are the happiest workers. Some 54 percent of workers ages 65 and older say they are “completely satisfied” with their job, compared with just 29 percent of younger workers. That’s because a much higher percentage of older workers is working not because they need to, but rather, because they want to.

While we are in the midst of a recession it might seem inappropriate to bring up the war for talent. But the market reality is this: even with overall unemployment rising, employers are still challenged to find the talent they need.

As many companies are discovering, while this labor market might be flooded with job seekers, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have the needed talent. In particular, companies can’t always find people with the exact skills and experience they need, when and where they need them. Today, it’s also not uncommon to hear executives express frustration about under-skilled, inexperienced, unproductive, and even unreliable employees who will quickly jump ship for another opportunity.

As you might expect from the generation that has had such a significant impact on our society throughout their lives, the Baby Boomers will also dominate this talent market discussion for the next decade.

How can this be? Aren’t the Boomers supposed to be retiring?

Well, let’s start with the fact that they are the single largest component of the U.S. workforce, so their effect is huge. Then, layer in the fact that with the economic downturn many leading-edge Boomers who under normal circumstances might now be retired (or nearing so) must continue working in order to replenish their battered retirement savings. Finally, we must recognize that the next generation (Gen X) is half the size of the Boomers and quite simply has not had enough time in the workforce to build up the same level of knowledge and experience.

The New War for Talent

Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, which means that today they are somewhere between the ages of 44 and 63. Many worked their way up the corporate ladder - they are happy to continue working in their area of expertise, where their wisdom and experience are valued. Others are choosing to embark on second, or “boomerang” careers.

The fact is, with their decimated retirement accounts many boomers can’t afford to retire. Others recognize that in addition to the monetary rewards they receive there are many psychic rewards from their careers, so they have no plans to ever retire.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that by 2010, more than 51% of the workforce is expected to be 40 or older, a 33% increase since 1980. The number of workers aged 55 and older will grow from 13% of the labor force in 2000 to 20% in 2020.

All of this is good news for employers because most companies are operating much leaner than ever before, and they need to cost-effectively find the most experienced, skilled people they can in order to achieve their objectives.

How to Leverage the Boomers

Now is the perfect time for organizations to assess their workforce. Strategic business owners and executives should evaluate their workforce demographics and the key positions within their organizations in order to identify current and projected talent gaps. It’s also time to develop programs that will strengthen knowledge retention and sharing throughout the company in preparation for the inevitable “brain-drain” that will occur when the Boomers exit the workforce.

How can employers retain the key knowledge and information that is resident in their workforce?

First, they must recognize who has the knowledge. If they want to hold onto Boomers they must adapt to their needs. Many forward thinking organizations are developing policies and programs geared towards recruiting, retaining, and training older workers. Key options that will help attract and retain these mature workers include flexible work arrangements (such as adjustable schedules and job sharing) and should also part-time or contingent employment options. Fortunately these types of work arrangements require lots of self-discipline and maturity, which the Boomers have in abundance!

Next, companies should institute mentoring programs to help train the next generation of knowledge workers and business leaders. Companies concerned about retaining institutional knowledge can’t afford to have their older employees walk out the door with a career worth of expertise and experience.

Finally, employers must have an honest dialogue with their seasoned team members to help them plan for the next phase of their careers. Companies that demonstrate loyalty towards their older employees by offering flexible employment options, will be rewarded with loyalty in return.

Conclusion - Experience Counts

Because of their proven talent, Baby Boomers will be in high demand for the balance of this decade and beyond. They add value not only to employers’ bottom lines but also to the long-term health of our workforce and our economy.

It is a phenomenon we see every day at M Squared Consulting. When clients want experienced business professionals, those seasoned experts who have translated their knowledge and insight into consulting expertise, they call us. Our talent-on-demand business model is an enabler for companies who need seasoned experts, focused on delivering results. We also enable seasoned experts, who no longer want a full-time role, to bring their expertise to market as consultants.

In the final analysis this whole discussion can be distilled down to two words: Experience counts!

It should come as no surprise that many “older” workers are delaying their exit from the workforce. The recession has ravaged most retirement accounts, a fact that is most damaging for those nearest to retirement: the Baby Boomers.

A recent poll by Watson Wyatt, a global HR consulting firm, finds that 44 percent of those aged 50 and over plan to delay their retirement, compared with only 25 percent of those under 40. Although the average planned retirement age for all employees is 65 years old, half of those aged 50 or more plan to retire at age 66 or later.

“The economic crisis has affected many worker’s retirement plans and nest eggs, but those nearest to retirement have been especially hard hit,” says David Speier, senior retirement consultant at Watson Wyatt. “Older workers do not have the time to offset declining retirement account values. For many, the only choice is to delay retirement.”

Three-quarters (76 percent) of older workers (aged 50 to 64) cited the decline in the value of their 401(k) accounts as the most important reason why they are planning to postpone their retirement, followed by the high cost of healthcare (63 percent) and higher prices for basic necessities (62 percent).

Experience Counts

This phenomenon is a double-edged sword for employers…

It will be good news for many of the companies who in recent years have acknowledged they are unprepared to facilitate the transfer of key business knowledge to a new generation of knowledge workers. They now have more time to document critical knowledge and processes, and train the next generation. The downside is that companies will be saddled with inflated benefit costs and subsequent hiring issues once the Boomers do begin their inevitable retirement and the War for Talent again comes to the forefront.

A significant positive factor for employers is that this older talent pool has a wealth of qualities that only come from age (and the resulting workforce experience!) This wisdom is priceless as organizations continue to navigate in these uncharted economic waters and searching for the path out. There is much to learn from experienced business leaders who have confronted many economic, market, and organizational challenges in their careers.

A major part of the value proposition behind M Squared Consulting is that we deploy seasoned experts on our client engagements. These project professionals have years of industry and functional experience that they bring to each client project. Clients benefit from this consulting experience and industry knowledge as our consultants drive results on their critical business issues.

ExecuNet’s Recruiter Confidence Index (RCI), which had soared 29 points during the previous three months, remained near its recent high in June, as the executive search industry continues to see signs of an employment market recovery emerging in the second half of the year.

Introduced in May 2003, the Recruiter Confidence Index is based on a monthly survey of executive search firms conducted by ExecuNet. Designed to forecast job growth at the executive level, a reading above 50 percent indicates recruiters expect the number of search assignments in the next six months will increase. Independent analysis of the RCI has confirmed it is a leading indicator for the executive employment market.

According to June’s survey of 145 executive recruiters, 50 percent are confident or very confident the executive employment market will improve in the next six months - down from 57 percent last month, which had marked the RCI’s highest level since June 2008 - but well above a February 2009 reading of 28 percent. In the second half of 2009, these executive recruiters expect an 11 percent increase in search assignments received from corporate clients.

“Recruiters’ outlook for the executive employment market during the second half of the year suggests that the bottom of the recession is now in their rearview mirrors,” says Mark Anderson, President and Chief Economist of ExecuNet. “While recruiters are not expecting to see hiring rebound overnight, professionals seeking opportunities to take their career to the next level should have a plan in place to increase their visibility among search firms and their peers.”

Executive Search Firms Hiring Plans

The research revealed another leading indicator: executive search firms’ own hiring plans have stabilized in recent months following a precipitous drop in future staff-related growth plans dating back to last fall. In June, ExecuNet’s benchmark Search Firm Hiring Index revealed that 13.6 percent of 145 responding executive recruiters report their firms plan to hire additional professional staff in the next three months, down slightly from 14.3 percent in May.

Recruiters’ short-term confidence increased significantly in June, as 27 percent report being confident or very confident the executive employment market will improve during the next three months - up from 19 percent in May.

Our experience at M Squared Consulting is that full-time hiring trends tend to mirror demand for interim and consulting professionals. As we begin to emerge from the recession there will be many companies searching for the talent they need to grow. As a result there will be opportunities not only for highly skilled full-time knowledge workers but also a large number of interim and consulting positions.

We may be in the midst of a recession with increasing unemployment and fewer jobs, but it’s very likely to be a short-term phenomenon that will not have much of a long-term effect on talent shortages. Without dramatic action, the gap between demand and supply will very likely continue to widen.

I’ve written in previous posts about the war for talent. The aging of the U.S. population and other demographic factors which will negatively impact the supply of talent, particularly among highly educated and skilled knowledge workers. But these problems are likely to be exacerbated by our immigration policy.

Here’s why:

Competition from Europe

The European Union recently approved the Blue Card program, which was modeled on the United States’ Green Card. The Blue Card (named for the color of the EU’s flag) will allow skilled foreign workers to work and live anywhere in the EU’s 27 member countries.

Currently, 85% of global unskilled labor goes to the European Union and only 5% to the United States. In contrast, 55% of highly skilled immigrants head for the United States and only 5% to Europe. With the Blue Card, the EU hopes to dramatically change this imbalance.

Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong have implemented similar programs, following the lead of Australia and New Zealand. The goals of all these programs are the same: to attract skilled talent. These countries are also foreseeing a war for talent, and although it has not been publicly stated they are actively trying to divert some of the talent that now flows to the United States.

The EU and other countries may well succeed because their criteria for handing out permanent residency permits and work visas are much more liberal than those in the United States, and the procedures will be simpler and more streamlined. Some even allow employers to hand out residency permits along with employment offer letters.

For jobs where a citizen is not available, an immigrant to the EU would only need to show a degree and three years of experience. Recognizing the need to attract young talent to Europe, immigrants under age 30 will have even easier requirements in qualifying for Blue Card status.

H-1B Visa program

Our system of providing work visas and residency permits leaves much to be desired. It can take 5 to 10 years to get a Green Card and the system heavily favors family ties instead of skills and experience. The process is convoluted, involving multiple government agencies and arcane procedures. The number of annual work visas is still only 85,000 despite clear evidence of a shortage of skilled workers. For example, the unemployment rate in computer- and mathematics-related occupations is about 2.1%, or full employment when allowing for people in transition between jobs. The number of visas was actually lowered from 195,000 in 2004, to the current level which is the same as what existed 15 years ago.

In testimony before Congress, Bill Gates argued for elimination of the cap on H-1B visas. But in pandering to groups like FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) and other isolationists, Congress has chosen to do little about the problem.

The problem is mostly political. Anti-immigrant groups are opposed to any loosening of immigration standards, though they neglect to mention that immigrant workers make up barely 3% of the skilled labor force yet disproportionately contribute to the economy. A quarter of all Nobel prizes won by Americans have gone to immigrants, and a similar proportion of IT firms were started by Indians and Chinese.

A study by the National Foundation for American Policy found that the average S&P 500 company creates five new domestic jobs for each highly skilled H-1B visa employee it hires. By raising the H-1B cap, Congress would create more domestic jobs, allowing companies to fill vital positions and enable them to expand their operations at home instead of moving overseas.

The Future

There are glimmers of hope. Representatives Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) have introduced bills raising the cap for H-1B visas. These are the Strengthen United States Technology and Innovation Now (SUSTAIN) Act and the Innovation Employment Act.

The SUSTAIN Act would temporarily raise the cap to 195,000 for FY 2008 and FY 2009, while the Innovation Employment Act would initially raise the cap to 130,000 and allow the cap to increase the following year if it is reached.

Raising the cap is necessary, but more should be done to make H-1B visas flexible. Their number should reflect the economy’s need for high-tech workers, not arbitrary limits set by Congress.

But the prospects of satisfying the U.S. need for talent solely from increased immigration are not good. The EU hopes to attract 20 million skilled workers over the next two decades as a result of the Blue Card program. That may be overly optimistic but it will undoubtedly negatively impact the flow of talent to the United States.

Companies clearly cannot count on immigration to satisfy their need for talent. They will have to continue exploring other options, like utilizing the flexible workforce to meet their talent needs.

With the lingering effects of the recession it should come as no great surprise that the biggest worries of finance executives can best be summarized as cash, cash and cash!

This according to the latest poll of more than 1,200 senior finance executives conducted by CFO Europe, Tilburg University and Duke University. Ongoing worries about the stability of banks, scarcity of credit and health of counterparties all now rank near the top of CFOs’ top external and internal concerns in Europe, Asia and America.

Companies are tightening their grip on inventories, receivables, and credit lines. As a result, cash - making it, collecting it and hanging on to it - tops the list of CFOs’ concerns. In addition, CFOs are worrying about sputtering consumer demand, stalled credit markets, and the cost of fuel and other commodities.

For the United States the survey results were as follows (with the previous quarter’s rank shown in parenthesis):

1. Ability to forecast results (1)
2. Working capital management (NR)
3. Maintaining morale during downturn (2)
4. Balance sheet weakness (3)
5. Cost of healthcare (4)
6. Attracting/retaining qualified employees (5)
7. Supply chain risk (6)
8. Managing IT systems (7)
9. Pension obligations (8)
10. Intellectual property protection (9)

From a workforce perspective it is interesting to note that finding and retaining talent continues to be one of the CFOs’ top internal concerns. More than 60 percent of firms directly hit by the credit crunch plan to delay, reduce, or cancel hiring plans. We’re finding that many of our clients have hiring freezes or “pauses” in effect for full-time employees, yet they continue to deploy seasoned consultants to execute mission-critical projects and initiatives. The powerful value proposition of the M Squared talent-on-demand model (targeted expertise, driving results) works equally well in up and down markets!