Re: [Article] Wanted: Chinese talent for China
- From: "Loganathan" <loga@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 11:59:08 +0800
It is already there, and we saw it emerged 5
years ago.
"Tweety" <birdman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:45q8avF81ea3U2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 14:02:14 +1030, The
Bishop <gado_gado@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Within twenty years or less, you will see a
giant emerge from the East.
19 February, 2006
Wanted: Chinese talent for China
Multinational companies are no longer
readily 'parachuting' Western
execs into China. Instead, they are
battling for overseas Chinese to
go home to fill top positions in a brain
drain reversal, reports Amy
Yee
THE China of the early 1980s was not a
place Mr Gong Li imagined he
would return to for more than a brief
visit.
It was emerging from the dark days of the
Cultural Revolution and
though Mr Li was a student at one of the
country's best universities,
Shanghai's Fudan University, he decided to
grasp an opportunity to
leave the country and study in the United
States.
After completing his studies in Houston, he
joined Andersen Consulting
(now Accenture) in 1985. Partners there had
high hopes for him.
Mr Li says: 'They told me, 'You will be
ideal to go back to China.
There will be a market out there, but we
don't know when'.'
Today, he has come full circle. The
48-year-old is chairman of
Accenture in Greater China, where he leads
2,400 consultants.
Mr Li is an example of a hai gui, or 'sea
turtle', the Chinese term
for those who left China to study and work
overseas but are now
'swimming home' to take up high-level
positions at multinational
companies.
These 'returnees' are sought after by large
companies not only for
their fluency in Mandarin, but also for
their understanding of China's
complex history, political system and
cultural and social mores -
which can mean the difference between
success and failure in one of
the most important markets.
In contrast to the days when multinationals
parachuted Western
expatriates into China on packages that
cost as much US$1 million
(S$1.6 million), they have been
aggressively filling top management
posts in China with 'local' talent.
This broad term includes mainland China
returnees, ethnic Chinese from
places such as Taiwan and staff hired and
cultivated in China.
The task of hiring top Chinese executives
is made more challenging by
a dearth of qualified candidates.
A report from executive search firm
Heidrick & Struggles gives several
reasons for this: Education and work
opportunities for many now aged
50 to 60 were disrupted by the Cultural
Revolution, the local talent
pool was depleted by the 'brain drain' of
the 1980s and 1990s, there
are few strong business schools in China
and local Chinese executives
often lack global know-how.
The 'war for talent' in China reaches to
the highest management
levels. Morgan Stanley this month poached
Ms Wei Christianson from
Citigroup to head its China business.
Microsoft sued Google when its senior
researcher Lee Kai-Fu defected
in 2004 to head the search engine's
research and development centre in
China.
Executive search companies are using
unconventional means to identify
qualified Chinese who are not well
documented in formal company
rosters.
Heidrick & Struggles 18 months ago began
building a database of
potential candidates by tapping networks
used by Chinese emigres, such
as alumni associations of Chinese
universities, civic associations,
churches and recreational clubs.
Ideal candidates often attended university
in China and graduate
school in the West, have five to 25 years
of career experience
overseas and hold senior mid-management to
executive-level positions
in multinationals.
This group is the cream of the crop: Just
after the Cultural
Revolution in the late 1970s, less than 1
per cent of Chinese high
school students were admitted to
university.
And of those who graduated, only those with
the strongest academic and
political connections went abroad for
further studies.
As a result, the lucky few can command
sky-high salaries. Pay packages
for top-level managers in China are
comparable to those of their
counterparts in the US, easily running into
hundreds of thousands of
US dollars.
Even when qualified candidates are located,
it is not certain that
they would be willing to return to China.
But in the past five years, there has been
more interest from overseas
Chinese as big potential for career
development in China beckons.
Mr Haoyu Shen, a 35-year-old vice-president
at American Express in New
York, feels the allure of China's boom. He
was born in Shanghai,
attended Renmin University in China and
received his MBA from the
University of Iowa.
After working for McKinsey, the management
consultancy, as well as
Amex, he says: 'There is much more
excitement in China and more upside
than working in the US, but there is also
more risk.'
In response to demand for executive
recruitment in China, Korn/Ferry,
a recruitment firm, moved its Asia
headquarters from Singapore to
Shanghai last year.
Mr Charles Tseng, president of Korn/Ferry
in Asia, says the ideal
manager can bridge the cultural gap between
local Chinese and Western
managers - but this requires understanding
of their different
leadership styles.
According to a study conducted by
Korn/Ferry and Beijing University,
Chinese leaders are more inclined to use
'task-oriented' and
'intellectual' management styles than their
Western counterparts.
These styles focus on 'rules and
procedures' and 'demanding goals and
strong opinions supported by data'.
By comparison, Western managers and leaders
from Asia's 'four dragons'
- Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South
Korea - emphasise
'participative leadership' which relies on
consensus, team-building
and 'social leadership', or engaging others
in a positive way.
Managers typically adopt participative and
social leadership as they
move into more demanding roles, while task
and intellectual styles
tend to be found at the entry level, says
Korn/Ferry.
When these conclusions were shared at a
conference attended by
mainland Chinese business leaders last
year, 'they were totally
astounded there was this difference', says
Mr Tseng.
Also recognised is the need to develop
local people who have not lived
outside China.
'The mindset needs to be less about
acquisition,' says Mr Andrew
Grant, a director who leads McKinsey's
Greater China practice. 'It
needs to be more about commitment to
building your own talent.'
But recruitment firms and consultancies
also warn against assuming an
ethnic Chinese background equals success in
China.
Highly Westernised mainland Chinese
returning to China may be less
successful than an adaptable, resilient
Westerner.
'It is dangerous to say there is only one
way in China,' says Mr
Grant.
.
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