In the information age, the value of hard assets has deceased relative to the value of an organization’s intangible assets like reputations, innovative ideas and proprietary intellectual capital.

Talent management is undoubtedly one important part of them. In the current recession period, the need for effective talent management has been further prioritised (CIPD, 2009). Some organizations have to reduce the recruitment activities and make effort on retaining valued employees.

Some other organizations would fire normal employees in order to get the space and let talented people in. However, they are holding a same aim which is for increasing the organizational capability with the help of talented employees to cope with the difficult time.

At its heart, talent management is simply a matter of anticipating the need for human capital and then setting out a plan to meet it (Cappelli, 2008). The people are the main source of competitive advantage can be seen to emphasize the need to carry out a strategic approach to talent management to ensure that the organization has the ‘right people in the right place at the right time’ to fulfil its strategic goals (Beardwell and Claydon, 2010).

A better talent is what will separate the winning companies from the rest (Mckinsey & Company, 2001). Organizations having excellent talent in key positions are able to create huge improvements in performance.

The talent would become the competitive advantage of an organization and produce great competitive power makes the organization develop continually in the downturn.

A number of organizations’ learning and development budgets are under attack in the downtown. It forces them spend less and seek to ways of delivering internally. They need to review their current talent management systems and processes for the cost-effectiveness, as well as ensuring as much as value and return on investment as possible.

Talent management is a long-term growth strategy and a way of achieving future sustainability. In the research of CIPD, for two-thirds of organizations, the main objectives of these talent management activities are to develop high-potential employees and to grow future senior managers. The third main objective is to meet the future skills requirements of the organization (CIPD, 2010).

The present uncertain economic climate makes the effective and strategic talent management more important. It is likely that whatever the economic backdrop, organizations will continue to prioritize recruiting, identifying, developing and managing talented employees throughout the business (CIPD, 2010). On the other hand, despite facing the challenges of the economic conditions, the vast majority of organizations have maintained budgets for training and development.