Uncertainty about the exit of the financial and economic crisis is rising due to a loss of confidence and debts fears in 2011. A double dip is looming on the world economy with a flattening GDP in developed countries and with a slowing growth in emerging and developing countries.
Globalization is still creating a lot of opportunities for French companies investing abroad to develop their activity. A lot of mergers & acquisitions took place in 2010 and the trend is the same for 2011.
Many companies have reduced their costs, shifted their investments and are preparing for a difficult time. However these short term difficulties should not hide the many changes and challenges of the beginning of the 21st century. Protecting the environment has risen as one key issue for advanced economies (sustainable development); the responsibility of these companies is extended to all social domains (employees, environment…) and requires new products (or services) and a new communication policy; regulations are also getting tighter and imply radical process updates in companies in developed countries for most of the industries (energy savings for buildings, finance regulation, IFRS, Bale III…).
The working environment and the workforce are undergoing major modifications. New technologies allow and accelerate the adoption of remote work, mobility, virtual teams in a more and more globalized company context. With the baby boomers retiring and being replaced by the so-called Gen Y, the workforce is evolving with radically different expectations: on the one hand a “life-long“ job in the same company with a clear balance between office and home, and on the other hand, a job hopping behavior with the objective of getting a pleasant and interesting position with no clear physical and temporal separation between office and home.
Companies do not always have the workforce or the knowledge to handle all these issues. CAIRNBRIDGE helps its customers to succeed by together identifying priorities, by providing its expertise to define tailored and operational solutions.