Thu, March 17, 2011
Juan Luis Goujon

Juan Luis Goujon is the CEO and president of the global management and human resources firm BPI Group, North America, an important subsidiary of a company headquartered in Paris that has 2,000 employees in 40 countries.

Based in Chicago, he visits Atlanta periodically. Last year BPI purchased the Atlanta-based firm, Executrack Inc.

The company was a finalist in the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s international awards competition earlier this month, and Stephen Spires, head of its local office received the Atlanta Award of Excellence from the French American Chamber of Commerce here in February for his contributions to the organization.

Mr. Goujon was back in town Thursday, March 17, for a conference organized by the Georgia Institute of Technology titled “Models for Preparing the Global Workforce.” The conference featured senior executives and academics in panels focused on the human resource needs of global companies.

There’s no questioning that Mr. Goujon has his finger on the pulse of the global economy and its emerging competitive forces.

In 2010, he said, U.S. companies were responsible for 1.4 million new jobs abroad, while at home they only created 1 million.

BPI Group helps companies find the right employees. It puts together global teams, who despite their different national origins, must work together harmoniously.

“With cultural diversity, we are not trying to make everyone the same,” he said during a luncheon presentation at the Hotel Palomar on West Peachtree Street. “We leverage diversity.”

The results are mostly positive, he added. Global teams enhance company reputations, and they increase innovation and creativity. They also improve efficiency, competitive advantage and marketing opportunity.

He also advised that it’s better to be equipped with an open mind when entering the workforce today and to be prepared for an overseas assignment.

According to Mr. Goujon, 39 percent of U.S. companies plan to increase their overseas staffs in the next five years, and he referred to a recent poll of executives that says overseas experience improves chances of career promotion.

Among the forces propelling globalization, he cited outsourcing, immigration, technology and foreign direct investment.

And as an insight into the world’s emerging markets, it was interesting that he mentioned National Geographic’s recent study to determine who best represented the “average human being.”

After a multimedia-driven investigation, the magazine determined that the 9 million, 28-year-old Han Chinese men alive today were the most representative.

They soon, however, are to be overtaken by counterparts from India.

But Mr. Goujon predicted that it would be Russia’s youth, who soon would astound the world.

“The Moscow of today is like New York in the late 1980s,” he said. “The energy is breathtaking. The young Russians speak English; they want to travel, more so than the Indians. They have passed through a strong educational structure and they want to learn more.”

After his formal remarks, he told GlobalAtlanta that Russia’s large, educated population, its natural resources and the attitude of its youth, would be responsible for its emergence as an important global power.

Related Countries: China, India, Russia
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