Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution

HBS Press Book
Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution
by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Ripa Rashid
Source: Harvard Business Press Books
288 pages. Publication date: Aug 29, 2011. Prod. #: 13024-HBK-ENG

The First Review

The war for talent is heating up in emerging markets. Without enough "brain power," multinationals can't succeed in these markets. Yet they're approaching the war in the wrong way-bringing in expats and engaging in bidding wars for hotshot local "male" managers.

The solution is hiding in plain sight: the millions of highly educated women surging into the labor markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the United Arab Emirates. Increasingly, these women boast better credentials, higher ambitions, and greater loyalty than their male peers.

But there's a catch: Attracting and retaining talented women in emerging economies requires different strategies than those used in mature markets. Complex cultural forces - family-related "pulls," such as daughterly duties to parents and in-laws, and work-related "pushes," such as extreme hours and dangerous commutes - force women to settle for dead-end jobs, switch to the public sector, or leave the workforce entirely.

In Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets, Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid analyze these forces and present strategies for countering them, including:

(1) Sustaining ambition through stretch opportunities and international assignments,

(2) Combating cultural bias by building an infrastructure for female leadership (networks, mentors, sponsors),

(3) Introducing flexible work arrangements to accommodate family obligations, and

(4) Providing safe transportation, such as employer-subsidized taxi services.

Drawing on groundbreaking research, amplified with on-the-ground examples from companies as diverse as Google, Infosys, Goldman Sachs, and Siemens, this book is required reading for all companies seeking to strengthen their talent pipeline in these rich and expanding markets.

9/06/2011
Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women are the Solution
Rahim Kanani Rahim Kanani Contributor

I am the founder and editor-in-chief of World Affairs Commentary at RahimKanani.com - a knowledge bank and opinion platform for the social sector. I also frequently interview global leaders in great depth on critical international issues, such as with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on interfaith dialogue, White House Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President Valerie Jarrett on gender equality and the advancement of women, and President of Harvard University Drew Faust on higher-education in the 21st century. My column at Forbes.com, "The Common Good", is focused on leadership in the social sector, social entrepreneurship and innovation, NGOs and civil society, foundations, international development, and many related topics of interest.

The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Recently, I interviewed Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy and Ripa Rashid, executive vice president at the Center for Work-Life Policy, co-authors of Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women are the Solution.

Describe a little bit about the motivation to write and origins of Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution.

The idea sparked a few years ago, when one of the members of our Hidden Brain Drain Task Force, a consortium of 67 global corporations and organizations focused on talent innovation around the world, suggested that we explore the issue of underutilized female talent in India. Then, as the recession stalled growth in developed markets, it became clear that multinational corporations everywhere are pinning their hopes for expansion on emerging markets, especially the four largest: Brazil, Russia, India and China.

These BRIC markets together represent 40 percent of the world’s population and have accounted for 45 percent of global growth since 2007, compared with 20 percent from G-7 economies. But there is a critical obstacle to their continued expansion: a cutthroat war for top talent.

To meet the talent shortage, multinationals have long followed the same well-trodden path: sending homegrown managers overseas, looking for (mostly male) foreign nationals educated in North America and Europe, or playing musical chairs with top-quality local talent. None of these options is sustainable in a growing market.

The answer, however, is hiding in plain sight. Across the developing world, women are increasingly outperforming men in the tertiary education system: In Brazil, 60 percent of college graduates are women; in China, 65 percent. In the U.S., 58 percent of university graduates are women.

Educated and ambitious, these women are determined to put their credentials to work. Over 80 percent of women in India aspire to top jobs; in Brazil and China, the figure is over 70 percent. In the United States, by comparison, a mere 36 percent of highly qualified women are shooting for top jobs.

We tend to think of Third World women as oppressed and impoverished, a story compellingly described in Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book, Half the Sky. But there is another narrative that demonstrates the new clout of highly qualified women in emerging markets. As we enter the second decade of a new millennium, the face of top talent in emerging economies is most likely to be that of a woman.

With respect to women, paint for us a more thorough picture of the labor dynamics in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

Women are among the biggest beneficiaries of the expansion in emerging markets – and one of its key engines.

Brazilian women are being hired for corporate senior management positions in far greater numbers than in the United States. In 2009, Brazilian women held about 40 percent of all jobs, leading South America in share of female workers in the labor force, with 45 percent of managerial titles and 30 percent of executive positions, compared to 20 percent in the U.S. Some 11 percent of companies in Brazil have female CEOs, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2010 Corporate Gender Gap Report, making Brazil one of the top five of the 34 countries surveyed, after Finland, Norway, and Turkey.

The Soviet Union, for all its flaws, indoctrinated the country with the idea that women should work. For the 70 years of the Soviet system’s existence, “it was considered bourgeois for a woman not to work,” as one management consultant who grew up under Communism recalls. Similarly, under Communism, girls were given the same educational opportunities as boys, and the precedent continues – although women take greater advantage of those opportunities: 86 percent of Russian women aged 18 – 23 were enrolled in tertiary education, as opposed to only 64 percent of the men. They want to use their degrees to do something more than quote Pushkin. As a female senior executive at a Russian-based company told us, “A woman wants to have a career because otherwise she wouldn’t be interesting.”

"For ambitious, educated women in emerging markets, the future has never looked brighter. new opportunities beckon, calling for and reward their skills and their determination to use them. Employers who cultivate their talent find their efforts reciprocated with impressive levels of loyalty", write senior executives from the Center for Work-Life Policy, Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid, in their groundbreaking and eye opening book Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution. The authors describe how, in the high stakes competition for talent in the developing world, companies are overlooking the vast talent pool of highly educated and motivated women who already live in the major developing market countries.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid recognize how the tremendous growth explosion in emerging markets has resulted in talent shortages of highly skilled employees. For multinational corporations competing for skilled employees in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and in the United Arab Emirates, the solution is readily at hand through the talented, well educated, and very ambitious female population. These local women are overlooked currently, often in favor of local males or imported expatriate employees. For the authors, these corporations are missing a golden opportunity to hire these educated women. The authors dispel the myths and stereotypes that have persisted about educated women in these rapidly expanding economies. For the authors, women are the best prepared employee group in these nations.

Ripa Rashid and Sylvia Ann Hewlett understand that women in developing economies face unique challenges that must be addressed to open the talent pool more widely. Women in the developing world are often caught in between the pressures of employment, and the traditional expectations of what comprises the role of women. For the authors. these critical issues require solutions that are different from the programs utilized in developed economies. To attract and retain the highly educated and ambitious women of the developing world, companies will need to create and implement unique and innovative solutions.

The authors outline a number of proven corporate sponsored programs that have worked in the developing world:

* Become a talent magnet by building a solid reputation as a company that hires and provides opportunity for talented women.

* Claim and sustain ambition by helping women build networks and interconnected relationships that boost self confidence and personal value.

* Address the pushes and pulls that can prevent women from achieving success through flexible policies and programs that overcome obstacles and conflicts.

For me, the power of the book is how Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid present a powerful case for attracting, hiring, and providing opportunity for the talented and well educated women of the developing world. With so many multinational corporations competing for limited male talent, the authors provide overwhelming evidence that hiring and retaining women is the solution. The authors address completely the usual objections, made by companies for not hiring women, and dispel the myths, stereotypes, and misinformation about women in the developing world.

Through insightful studies of women in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the United Arab Emirates, Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid offer evidence of the high educational levels and ambition of women and their potential. The authors bolster their case by sharing some real world innovations and flexible policies that have worked effectively for some leading corporations. The authors also provide an overall framework for creating workable policies and programs to ensure that women are recruited, retained, and offered real opportunity within companies. The future of developing world companies is one of intense competition for talent. The smartest of these corporations, will discover the huge national talent pools of local women, that are ready and willing to accept the challenge.

I highly recommend the thought provoking and well researched book Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid, to any business leaders who are actively recruiting and hiring talented employees in the developing world. This book demonstrates the competitive advantage that any company will discover by hiring and retaining the highly educated and ambitious women of the emerging economies.

Read the important and company building book Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid, and instead of lamenting the tough competition for finding talented employees in the developing economies, discover the game changing skills and potential of the female employees in the emerging nations. The hiring of women in developing countries will provide the competitive edge that will place your company well ahead of the competition.