Competitiveness is measured by the ability to offer better products, more attractive prices or greater efficiency. Talent was important, but it was generally seen as a resource available in the job market. Today, this reality has changed: more and more organisations are discovering that the biggest obstacle to growth is not the lack of demand, but the difficulty in finding qualified professionals.

In a growing number of sectors, the scarcest resource is no longer capital or technology. It has become talent. This trend is confirmed by PwC's latest study on managers' expectations for 2026: although most companies predict growth and maintain investment plans, the availability of talent remains among the main concerns of business leaders, along with technological transformation, competitiveness and international instability.

The economy has changed profoundly in the last two decades. In many sectors, competitive advantage no longer depends only on physical assets or productive capacity, but above all on knowledge, innovation and the speed with which companies can adapt. At the same time, the job market has become global: an engineer in Lisbon can now work remotely for a company in London or New York, and a Portuguese company no longer competes only with other national companies when looking for experts in technology, engineering or data science.

Artificial intelligence has accelerated this transformation. Although it allows many tasks to be automated, the demand for professionals capable of integrating technology, interpreting information and leading change processes is also increasing. Human skills become more valuable precisely because routine tasks are now performed by intelligent systems.

This reality also forces us to rethink people management. It is no longer enough to recruit when needs arise: the most competitive companies are those that are able to develop talent internally, invest in continuous training, create attractive career paths and build organisational cultures capable of retaining qualified professionals.

Portugal faces particular challenges. The ageing of the population, the reduction of the active population and the departure of many qualified young people make the competition for talent even more demanding. At the same time, the country continues to attract technological investment and international companies, increasing the demand for highly specialised profiles. The answer is not just to hire more people; It involves better qualifications, retaining talent, strengthening the connection between companies and the education system and creating conditions to attract international professionals.

For a long time, it was said that companies competed for customers. They continue to compete. But before that, they need to conquer who will make that growth possible. In the knowledge economy, talent is no longer just a factor of production. It has become the main strategic asset of organisations. And it will increasingly be this ability to attract, develop and retain people that will distinguish leading companies from the rest.