In the wake of financial turmoil, the globalization of research goes on. IBM is set to open a major new research center in China, while Microsoft plans three new research centers in Britain, France, and Germany. The global serach for talent continues. My hunch is that the combination of financial and economic instability plus immigration restrictions will make the U.S. a slightly less attractive or viable location for global talent. Even though the effect is likely to be modest, companies will continue to redeploy where the talent is or wants to be.

BusinessWeek writer Stephen Baker has an intriguing new book out, Numerati. First there was Taylorism – scientific management, then the Fordist assembly line, Deming and quality management, the Toyota Production system, now IBM is working on statistical tools that essentially match people to tasks. I was astounded by how far this has progressed. Click here for the excerpt.

Do you think these tools will actually work to increase productivity and performance in the creative economy? And even if they do, what is their impact on creative workers and on work-life?