The Hindu Business Line : Dressing up for Davos

DAVOS is the cold snow-bound Swiss town where the annual World Economic Forum, which is "Committed to improving the state of the world," brings together everybody who is anybody in global politics, global business and global do-gooderism.

Over the course of the five-day Meeting of the World Economic Forum, this year beginning today (Wednesday) , more than 2,250 participants from 96 countries will convene in Davos.

This gathering will include more than 20 heads of state or government, 70 cabinet ministers, 26 religious leaders, 15 union leaders and more than 50 heads of non-governmental organisations.

Nearly half the participants are business leaders drawn principally from the Forum's members — 1,000 of the foremost companies from around the world and across all sectors.

The theme for the 2005 Forum is to reflect on aspects of "taking responsibility for tough choices". About half of the sessions at the Annual Meeting would address the many aspects of the global agenda. The special emphasis on tough issues include China, climate change, equitable globalisation, Europe, global economy, global governance, Islam, Middle East, poverty, United States leadership, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and world trade.

For 18 hours a day over the five days, the participants will sit through 260 sessions on business, economics, geopolitics and governance, including 55 sessions on `values' to plumb the world's problems.

The opening session of the 2005 meeting will be a major innovation in the form of the Global Town Hall, which is to be an interactive plenary designed to bring diverse people, voices and viewpoints together around the theme.

The objective is for participants to focus on the toughest challenges facing humanity and to prioritise the six issues that should be at the top of the global agenda in 2005.

This list reflects a mixture of the timely and the important; each issue in turn is presented in terms of a complex set of topics, challenges and tough choices

Mr N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor and board chairman, Infosys Technologies, will be the only Indian CEO toco-chair one of the six theme sessions, in the august company of Mr William H. Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation; Mr Lubna S. Olayan, Chief Executive Officer, Olayan Financing Company; Mr Charles O. Prince, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup; Mr John A. Thain, Chief Executive Officer, New York Stock Exchange; and Mr Daniel Vasella, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Novartis.

As always, India will have a strong presence at the annual meeting.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has sent a 40-member CEOs' delegation, under the CII President, Mr Sunil Kant Munjal. Besides the CII Chief Mentor, Mr Tarun Das, the delegation will include such key industry leaders as Mr Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, and Nikhil Meswani, CEO of Reliance Industries Limited (incidentally Reliance is a "strategic partner" of the WEF); Mr Rahul Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Limited; and Mr Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Industries.

The official Indian team will be led by the Minister of Commerce, Mr Kamal Nath, and include Ms Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister of Rajasthan; Mr Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ocean Development; and Mr N K Singh, Former Member, Planning Commission.

One common mal de tête all participants face at Davos is the "dress code". Five years ago, when the equity markets were surging and the hi-tech boom was nearing its peak, the attire of choice for the attendees was casual winter wear. Corporate executives, academics, even heads of government left their jackets and ties at home and wandered around the Congress Centre in open-neck shirts or baggy sweaters. It was the New Economy look!

In 2003, dark suits and crisp white collars were back with a vengeance. Three years of stock market turmoil, economic gloom, and corporate scandal had clearly put the crème de la crème of the international economy in a sombre mood. Everyone wanted to look responsible and serious again. Instead of the `jamboree look', the unspoken dress code at Davos was underscoring the theme of that year's event: "Restoring Trust".

In 2004, a sign near the main entrance of World Economic Forum read, `Ties Forbidden'. A fine of CHF 5 was collected if they failed to subscribe to the groovy zeitgeist and the proceeds went to Unicef!

Curiously, rather than cough up for Unicef, most participants meekly complied with the order and left their office uniform in the hotel room wardrobe.

I recall the toothsome, pugnacious chairman of the $ 12-billion Sun Micro, who hosted a reception at one hotel, was clad, uncharacteristically, in a dress shirt, tie and blazer, though this was accompanied by his usual faded blue jeans.

Apparently, the dress-down era of central banking had arrived. Gone were the three-piece suits and the silver cufflinks.

Gone too was the monetary orthodoxy to which earlier generations of central bankers had pledged their allegiance. Orthodoxy was out; expedience was in. That was 2004.

Mostly, official dinners are dark suits and ties. For the Saturday night gala — the traditional social highlight of the meeting where delegates are invited by WEF founder and President, Dr Klaus Schwab, to a lavish reception — tuxedo or dark suits and black tie is de rigeur.

This year, 2005, it is hard to know whether it will be an open-necked Davos or the attempt at Richard Branson-style cardigan capitalism is down to simple parsimony or a strong urge to conform. The official view is that after some tough years, the buzz is back. Share prices are up, order books are looking healthier.

Do not be surprised if the conference centre is full of people with ties. And then, the security team for a truly important person arrives. Now they too wear a tie! Davos is all about "dressing-up".

(The author, a former Director of CII, is now Chief Representative of Reliance Europe, Cologne, Germany.)

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