Triumphant companies have recognized the role of HR in appropriate selection of employees. World economy has shifted from manufacturing to service and knowledge. The new role of HR is to determine the perfect skill essential for the employees to accomplish the organization's strategy.

In their book Managing Radical Change, Sumantra Ghosal, Christopher Bartlett and Gita Piramal have clearly stated and provided examples of how US, European, Japanese and Indian companies have moved successfully beyond strategy, structure and systems towards purpose, process and people. In fact, they argue that in today's dynamic business environment the competitive advantage of a company does not emanate from securing a `position' in the market or industry but through proper alignment of broad corporate purpose with its people, held in position by its processes. It is the same viewpoint that Kenichi Ohmae, in his book, The Mind of the Strategist, talked about`hito-kane-mono'.

Successful companies the world over have fully understood the critical role, which their HR can play. Let us imagine a situation. Say that your company is a market leader with 45% market share. You also have a follower with 35% market share. Your company is planning to build up sustainable competitive advantage that would be immensely difficult, if not impossible, for your competitor to imitate. Your competitor can also purchase the new process technology you buy, the dealer network you build and your critical suppliers will also be tapped by him. He will closely follow your price mechanism. There is only one thing your competitor will never get. And that is your highly committed and motivated employees. Truly, employees `are' your greatest and inimitable assets.