International CEO Panel

Panel:

David Arkless – President of Corporate and Government Affairs, Manpower

Elena Panaritis, MBA'03D – CEO and Founder, Panel Group

Markwart von Pentz – President, Agriculture and Turf Division -

Europe, CIS, Northern Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Global Harvesting, Crop Care, Hay & Forage Products, John Deere

Moderator:

Marcus Mabry – Editor-at-large, International Herald Tribune and The New York Times

Elena Panaritis

Europe's advantages are in its human capital - probably its most well defined asset - but in order for growth to take place we need ideas. This is hindered by very high transaction costs and administration costs... we are also in an aging trend so it's more difficult to get to the next level of competitivity; we need to create new ideas. 

David Arkless

When asked about Europe's pros and cons, David Arkless explains the Chinese point of view based on his first-hand insight as his company was asked to participate in the elaboration of China's 5 year plans as well as the Chinese 7 year "Going global" plan. This is the Chinese view in regard to Europe's global competitiveness....Europe's weaknesses are:

1. A lack of progress on environmental issues....

2. Weakness from a "people" point of view - demographically Europe will lose a high percentage of workers due to demographics but has very high restrictions on immigration. That having been said,  China values European talent and wants to access it.

3. Weakness in  European education and integration of technology. The Chinese cannot understand how Europe has such high unemployment and yet so many jobs that go unfilled... This is an example of the skills gap.

4. That European social fabric - such as the right of workers to strike -  is damaging  to efficiency 

5. Under-investment in Europe is affecting productivity.