Productivity & Trade Briefs

C-suite executives are taking notice of global talent shortages. Attraction and retention of top talent was the top ranked internal hot button issue by CEOs in every region of the world. At the same time, wage increases are ranked among the bottom of the hot-button issues across regions. This is in line with current wage data for most regions, but with the wage acceleration in recent quarters in many parts of the world, we do expect this to change in 2019.

Key trends related to the corporate disclosure of environmental and social practices in Europe

Sophie L’Helias, a senior fellow with The Conference Board Governance Center and founder of the LeaderXXchange, was named to Global Proxy Watch’s “2018 GPW 10” list.

Inflationary pressures will rise in the coming year even though we project the US economy to slow down in 2019. Rumors that the Philips Curve (low unemployment rate = faster inflation) is dead have been greatly exaggerated. A continuing tightening of the labor market and further demographic slowdown will result in higher producer prices and wages. The likelihood for above two percent inflation rate is higher in 2019 than at any other time in the past 25 years.

For most businesses in China, including foreign firms, directly addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is unchartered territory. Many companies are still in the early stages of their sustainability journey in China, and existing programs often lack strategic intent or deep commitment. We see a tremendous opportunity for foreign firms to exploit areas of Chinese policy and SDG alignment to raise the impact and relevance of their sustainability programs in China.

Alex Goryachev, Cisco System’s Director, Innovation Strategy and Programs, shares the most common mistakes he has seen at companies working to build a culture of innovation. The key concept tying together Goryachev’s observations: the need to focus on the people innovating, not the “innovations” themselves. Goryachev will be speaking at The Conference Board Innovation Master Class this December in Palo Alto.

Technology is forcing corporate executives to work harder than ever, so it’s important to understand that sometimes work commitments need to take a back seat. There’s a strong chance that colleagues (or you) are facing a personal crisis and it can be hard to know what to do to support them. Being there to support them in whatever way they need it is a good start.

Institutional investors should always be in a position of making an informed vote, whether or not a proxy advisor can help in making them informed.

During the last three months, the Governance Center released four pieces of research that cover CEO and executive compensation practices, CEO succession practices, the Delaware bench and bar perspectives on the job description of a corporate director, and an analysis of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.