Taiwan fell one place in the annual International Institute for Management and Development (IMD) world talent ranking, moving from 23rd last year to 24th, but remaining fourth in Asia.
Published yesterday, the report assesses the ability of 61 economies to develop, attract and retain talent for enterprises operating in those countries or areas.
The ranking is based on three factors: investment and development of home-grown talent; appeal — a country’s ability to tap into the overseas talent pool; and readiness — the availability of skills and competencies in the talent pool.
In the three main categories, Taiwan fell 10 notches to 28th in terms of investment and development, the report said.
While Taiwan again ranked 26th in appeal, it slipped one place to 26th in readiness, it said.
In Asia, Taiwan was behind only Hong Kong (10th), Singapore (15th) and Malaysia (19th). Japan ranked 30th, followed by Thailand (37th), South Korea (38th) and China (43rd).
The top one to nine in this year’s rankings are Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Austria and Luxembourg, the report said.
Arturo Bris, director of the IMD’s World Competitiveness Center, which publishes the talent report, now in its third year, said that “talent is one of the competitive pillars of Europe.”
Europe generally continues to face a number of problems, such as poor economic growth, declining momentum and negative expectations, Bris said in a statement.
“But the quality of its education systems and its commitment to developing talent from a very young age to retirement should preserve its long-term competitiveness,” he said.
As for Asian countries, Bris said they might be “amazing” in attracting foreign talent, “but they don’t invest enough in nurturing local talent.”
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