The War of Talent

While still subject to some debate, it is largely acknowledged that human capital will be the decisive factor in the competition between corporations as well as between global economies over the next several years. The quality of human resources available in each country (and within each corporation), will be the determinant of financial success and more broadly, of global leadership.

With this knowledge, both corporations and countries throughout the world are investing in education, with the long-term goal of fostering the creation of the highest quality human capital. At the same time, we are currently in the midst of a genuine "talent war". This term describes the ubiquitous and fierce competition among the leading companies on an international basis to hire young, highly-qualified employees with great potential ("talent"), and then nurture and retain these individuals in order to reap the long-term corporate benefits. Among the top-ranked sources for such talent are the post-graduate degree programs from the world's most prestigious universities. An MBA, a Masters of Business Administration, offers such a degree.

MBA programs originated at, and have become entrenched at the leading U.S. universities, including Harvard and MIT in Boston, Columbia University and New York University in New York, Stanford University in California, Kellogg of Northwestern University in Chicago and the University of Chicago. As of the past several years, MBA programs have been offered in Europe, including the London Business School in the U.K., Insead in France, IMD in Switzerland, and at Bocconi University in Italy.

NOVA's Mission
As the global competitive landscape surges ahead, it is imperative that Italy positions itself to succeed at the talent war, particularly with respect to the world's most powerful nations. Italy must invest in education as well as create compelling opportunities for such 'talent'.

The mission of NOVA, the Italian MBA Association, is to support this effort. NOVA aims to encourage Italian students to participate in leading international MBA programs, to motivate these students to return to Italy upon the completion of their degrees, and to create a network for communication and personal contacts within this Italian MBA community. NOVA intends to achieve these objectives through a series of concrete initiatives, including:

• Foster access to MBA programs by Italian students.
  Specifically, NOVA aims to:
  
  
  • Create improved and more accessible finance options for students through the following efforts:
    
    
    • Encourage Italian banks to offer lines of credit with funds that are more in line with the actual cost of MBA programs, and which take the form of special student loans
    • Give rise to the establishment of a financial aid fund which would be created by companies seeking to hire Italian MBA graduates
  • Improve the information available on MBA programs to students in their final years at leading Italian colleges. A strong MBA candidate must have numerous qualifications, many of which require a great deal of advance planning; (for instance, fluency in English, appropriate work experience, etc.).
• Encourage Italian MBA students to return to Italy.
  With this goal, NOVA aims to:
  
  
  • Foster contact between Italian corporations and MBA students. To attain this goal, it is necessary to instill among Italian corporations a greater appreciation of the value that an MBA graduate can bring to an organization and towards satisfying corporate goals.
  • To secure a greater tax deduction for the cost of attending an MBA program, contingent upon the student returning to Italy upon the completion of the degree. At present, there is some tax deduction available, but this is limited to the price of equivalent courses in Italy, and actually amounts to but a small fraction of what an MBA program costs.
• Create a network comprised of all Italian MBA students and alumni. An Italian MBA network is so utterly important that it is surprising that one does not exist already. To build this network, NOVA intends to:
  
  
  • Create a virtual online community comprised of every individual who is currently enrolled in an MBA program, who has completed an MBA, or who plans to get an MBA. This community will take shape primarily through a specifically dedicated Website, which will include, as a starting point, profiles and resumes of Italian MBA students and graduates.
  • Organize annual meetings of all Italian MBA students. This will initially be limited to business schools within the U.S., but will expand to include all of the leading schools around the world.