The beginning of the 21st century features the ever increasing globalization, rapid technological and demographical shifts, and numerous mergers and acquisitions. All of the above factors heavily impact organizations forcing them to compete more intensely, to devise new strategies, and introduce new approaches to their operations and customer relations. Globalization offers foreign companies a chance to become local market players and thus pose a serious competitive threat to local operators. Technologies that replace each other at a fast pace make organizations to review their attitude to customers and consumers, and continuously look for new ways to meet their changing demands. Such demographic trends as aging populations and falling birth rates, particularly telling in Russia, are already ringing alarm bells of work force reduction, which triggers tough corporate competition for qualified personnel. All of these phenomena are already visible in Russian and international markets, including the oil industry: nowadays, companies have to fight for best human resources; the time it takes to headhunt world-level technical experts has increased to 12-18 months; and ever more sophisticated methods are used to recruit personnel. In addition, as quality of education offered by Russian petroleum universities deteriorates and the qualifications of their graduates decline, companies have to launch in-house training programs for young specialists.
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