The Most Attractive Employers in 2016 According to Students Globally

Last week, we posted about the “The Most Attractive [U.S.] Employers in 2016.” Today’s post focuses on Universum’s 2016 survey of college students around the world about the most attractive employers for those interested in business careers. The 2016 rankings are compiled from student surveys in the world’s 12 largest economies: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, and USA:

“The World’s Most Attractive Employer companies, must rank in the top 90% of employers within at least six regional markets. If an employer is not listed or is ranked outside the top 90% in a market, it gets a default ranking which is equal to the position of the last company in the top 90% for that market. Results are weighted by GDP, so that a high ranking position in the U.S. has a greater influence than a high ranking position in India, for example.”

Here are the 2016 global top ten most attractive employers for business:

1. Google
2. Apple
3. EY (Ernst & Young)
4. Goldman Sachs
5. PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers)
6. 6Deloitte
7. Microsoft
8. KPMG
9. L’Oréal Group
10. J.P. Morgan

Interested in more global insights? If yes, click here to download the PDF report.
 
Interested in a regional or country ranking? If yes, click here and scroll down the page for “Choose region” or “Go to country page.”
 

 

The Most Attractive Employers in 2016

Each year, Universum publishes the results of its extensive surveys in various fields and countries/regions. This post covers Universum’s 2016 survey of more than 72,000 U.S. students (more than 20,000 business majors) at 359 universities and colleges about the most attractive employers for those interested in business careers.

For job candidates, the benefits of these surveys is obvious. But they are also essential for potential employers too. According to Universum:

“Today’s businesses operate in a highly competitive employment landscape, and you can gain valuable insight into how your organization is perceived by tomorrow’s workforce with the results of Universum’s 2016 Most Attractive Employers ranking based on student talent in the USA.”

Here are the top most attractive employees, based on Universum’s U.S. survey. [Number 10 is an especially interesting choice]:

1. Google
2. Walt Disney Company
3. Apple
4. Nike
5. EY (Ernst & Young)
6. J.P. Morgan
7. Goldman Sachs
8. Deloitte
9. Amazon
10. FBI

Click the image to read more.

 

On the 15th Anniversary of 9/11/01

It has now been 15 years since one of the worst days in American history. It is a tragedy that many of us will remember forever, and one that claimed the lives of several members of the Hofstra family (including the Zarb School). On this anniversary, it is a good time to reflect.

Each year on this date, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum has a “Tribute in Light”. This is

“an [iconic] art installation that is produced annually in New York on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Tribute in Light illuminates the New York City sky just south of the Memorial site. On 9/11, the 9/11 Memorial plaza is open to the public from 3 p.m. to midnight for the viewing of Tribute in Light.”

 
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum also has available online multimedia information about an incredible exhibit called “Rendering the Unthinkable: Artists Respond to 9/11.” Click on the preceding link to see the summary.

If you click on this link, you can see a video clip about one of the works of art. It is very moving. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum says the following about the clip:

“Papers, letters, business forms, and personal notes flutter through the air in this film by the creative collective, Blue Man Group. Inspired by the scraps of paper that blew from the World Trade Center into the yard of their rehearsal space in Brooklyn on Sept. 11, the members of Blue Man Group wrote the song, “Exhibit 13,” featuring spoken recitations of the papers’ contents, and created the accompanying video, both named after one of the scorched pieces of paper they found. Blue Man Group members Chris Wink, Matt Goldman,and Phil Stanton are New York residents and were in various locations in Manhattan on 9/11. The performance group is based in New York.”

 
 

Anything About Economics Funny? Come to Zarb Event on 9/12/2016

You are invited to what promises to be an informative and entertaining session on economics — is it ever funny?

 

How Scenario Planning Aids Our Decisions

Note: This post applies to both (a) business planning and the firm’s flexibility to change as needed and (b) personal planning and YOUR flexibility to change as necessary. In either case, we must be able to adapt to an uncertain future.

Scenario planning involves planning for the future by understanding that different marketplace outcomes may occur in response to any strategy and that each possible marketplace outcome must be planned for to avoid the worst case scenario.

Here’s a simple example: Suppose that a major soda company introduces a new non-carbonated cola beverage into the marketplace. These are just a few scenarios that are possible:

• The sales of the new beverage meet expectations and do not cannibalize the sales of other company products. Overall company revenues and profit rise.
• The sales of the new beverage meet expectations, but slightly cannibalize the sales of other company products. Overall company revenues and profits rise slightly.
• The sales of the new beverage meet expectations, but greatly cannibalize the sales of other company products. Overall company revenues stay the same, and profits fall somewhat due to the investment in the new item.
• The sales of the new beverage do not meet expectations and do not cannibalize the sales of other company products. Overall company revenues rise very little, and profits fall a lot due to the investment in the new item.

The premise of scenario planning is to anticipate the possibility of each of these outcomes occurring and have in place a pre-planned framework (contingency plan) to deal with each scenario.

Recently, Shardul Phadnis, Chris Caplice, and Yossi Sheffi wrote an article for the MIT Soan Management Review titled “How Scenario Planning Influences Strategic Decisions.” The authors reached three major conclusions:

1. “The use of multiple scenarios is not necessarily an antidote for overconfidence. One should not assume that simply using multiple scenarios to evaluate a long-range decision will help alleviate the negative effects of decision makers’ overconfidence in their own judgment.”
2. “Scenarios influence judgment — and their content matters. More than half the judgments in our studies changed after single-scenario evaluations. Scenario users became more favorable of investing in an element — either by increasing confidence in their original recommendation to invest, decreasing confidence in their original recommendation to not invest, or changing their recommendation to favor the investment — when they found the element useful in a scenario.”
3. “The use of multiple scenarios can nudge executives towards more flexible strategies. Executives often choose strategies optimized for a particular environment. While such strategies may perform well in the environment envisioned at the time of their implementation, they may not be easily adaptable to new opportunities or in response to unexpected threats.  Under such circumstances, evaluating strategic decisions using multiple scenarios can help executives appreciate the importance of choosing more flexible assets or approaches — even if doing so is not the most optimal choice for present-day conditions.”

Click the image to access the article.