The last 30 years of technological advances fuelled a restructuring of the global economy and the distribution of wealth. In retrospect, the net gain from globalisation appears less dazzling than generally assumed.

One variable contributing to large variation in economic integration across countries and organisations, relate to the ability to distil a diversity of root levelled ideological “-isms” (capitalism, socialism, nationalism, whatever-ism…) into that healthy dose of pragmatism required to stimulate entrepreneurship, enhance disciplined economic development and to branching out to likeminded organisations in the rest of the world. A further variable observed in examining successful emerging economies, is the ability to sustain the critical mass of medium to highly skilled employees required to raise productivity and GDP growth. This observation is evidenced by the global war for talent in both advanced and emerging economies. Consequently, job creation, youth unemployment and sustainability dominate the agendas of both emerging and advanced economies. In claiming a role on the global stage, most emerging economies are forced to make sense of a rather contradictory reality. On the one end, economic growth is outpacing high-end talent development. On the other end, far too many unemployed, especially youth who lack the skills to escape poverty and inequality, have become grave political concerns.

The 30th Pan-Pacific Business Conference, co-hosted with the University of Johannesburg, aims to explore how a wide range of public and private organisations have succeeded and failed in their attempt to foster globally sustainable trade over different economic sectors. The exploration of key success variables driving the legacy of emerging economies will be organised in four themes i.e. (i) Developing global leaders, (ii) Dovetailing economic development and workforce development, (iii) Winning the war for talent and (iv) Flexing technological muscle on the global stage.