It is a topic that has been debated in many a bar, and on many a blog.

The quality of Chinese management.

The Institute of Leadership & Management has just release a very interesting report (PDF Here) on Western and Chinese managers. Specifically, they set out to see just how far back Chinese managers were relative to international perceptions, and they found some interesting things.

Throughout the report, what I find most interesting is just how different the west sees the east vs. what the east really represents. Perhaps it comes down to where the interviews take place, or perhaps they just reached out to the saltiest of old China hands, but as you will see in the 15 page report, there is a huge gap.

For my part, everything is a work in progress, various industries are bound to see different levels of talent, and with almost 7 years of working in China with a wide variety of Chinese staffers, analysts, managers, and others, I have come to understand that there are always going to be a percentage (large or small) that will fit into any bucket.

That goes for the foreign talent as well.

In the end, the authors have 4 suggestions for western managers:

• Know the competition: Our perception of Chinese managers remains rooted in the past.
• Get your priorities right:It seems that we do the less important things well, and the most important things less well.
• Invest in development: The Chinese managers we surveyed come across as well educated and far more ambitious than those in the West – although we seem happy with mediocrity, they are not, and they are doing something about it.
• Get ready for a new style of Asian management: We will need to learn from their different perspective and also to understand the potential impact this will have on future economic relationships.

Solid advice.

Read the report and tell us what you think.

Are the Chinese managers improving? Are they underestimated? Or is this just another study playing the statistical bell curve to its advantage?

Last week while sitting around my mom’s table in Portland, I picked up an article in the local paper (The Oregonian) and had a bit of a laugh when reading the article
More firms hire snoops to get edge on rivals

Speaking about this growing industry in the U.S., the article looked at just what competitive intelligence professionals were doing to learn about new product launches, staff sizes, and other nuggets of data…. and what made this story interesting to me, after doing a lot of competitive intelligence in the U.S. and China, was (1) that the author made it seem very cloak and dagger and (2) the consultant interviewed showed just how fun the job could be

Competitive intelligence analysts like Neubauer collect inside information by simply talking to people who work for or are associated with companies that his clients want to learn more about. At the top of the list, firms want to know what products or services are in their rivals’ pipelines, so that they can plan counter moves.

The article makes out CI to be 100% about collecting insider info, and developing strategies to do so:

Competitive intelligence analysts like Neubauer collect inside information by simply talking to people who work for or are associated with companies that his clients want to learn more about. At the top of the list, firms want to know what products or services are in their rivals’ pipelines, so that they can plan countermoves.

What I have always found interesting about doing “competitive intelligence” is that I would say only 25% requires a different tool set than your average market researcher or consultant. Assuming that market researcher or consultant are (1) knowledgeable of the industry and (2) are in regular contact with others in the industry. In fact, if a researcher is both, then it is really a matter of reframing and redirecting their attention and data to form many of the opinions on an industry, or specific player.

Continue reading »

Heidrick & Struggles and Fudan University have just put out what is one of the best pieces I have seen on corporate governance and boards of directors in China. Part of its Asia Pacific Thought Leadership Collection the Benchmarking Corporate Governance in China report (PDF Here) highlights findings of more than 100 companies in China (State-owned, private, and foreign invested)…

The motivation for the study:

Corporate governance is a hot topic in China. As the nation opens to foreign investment and privatizes industries that used to be solely under state control, investors around the world are placing large bets on the country’s future. As the influx of capital grows, so does the pressure on Chinese corporate boards to make sure those investments pay off.

And like other markets worldwide, China has had its fair share of corporate scandal in recent years. Despite the growing importance of corporate governance, so far there has been little investigation into how Chinese corporate boards are formed and operated. A review of existing studies on Chinese corporate governance revealed little about the actual makeup of company boards among state-owned, private and foreign-invested companies.

So we decided to find out for ourselves.

and what they have found is very interesting.

One of the first things that caught my eye (see from the above image) is the underlying criteria by which boards are evaluated have some big differences. for SOEs, the primary measure of performance is return on assets/ equity where as both private and FIE are judged on profitability and market penetration… . More interesting than that though is the fact that while 50% of private enterprises are evaluated on public comments, SPE and FIE are in the 20s.

Continue reading »

Moving to China for many rests on their ability to save money, and as we all know the cost and availability of labor have been one of the key considerations for investing in China.

So, when the new labor law drafts were being reviewed, managers up and down the east coast began to sweat bullets…

For Beijing is not middle managers who are working a few extra hours, but college students who are paid less an a pittance in foreign fastfood retail shops, child slaves working in the mines of Shanxi, migrant workers who build China’s glimerring buildings without pay, and others.

According to Eric Ardnt’s post on Crossroads:

If appropriately enforced, the LCL will help reduce the abuses that are leading to labor unrest such as that which recently resulted in the deaths of migrant workers at the hands of strikebreakers. However, as with so many laws in China, enforcement of laws is far more challenging than enacting them. Only time will tell if the LCL is able to help curb the many problems plaguing labor relations in China.

However, up and down the east coast, there are still a lot of concerns about how this new law will impact operations, and as such I would like to open the floor to readers.

1. Will the new law have a significant impact on the operations of your firm?
2. What are the three biggest issues for your firm?
3. What did you do to prepare for the passage of the law?
4. Will the new law prevent further investments, or catalyze your exit?
5. Will these laws be enforced evenly across China’s regions?
6. Do you think that foreign firms need to be more careful and protect themselves more than they used to when documenting hiring/ firing and employee performance?

Leave your comments here

Originally hailing from Turkey, Devrim came to Shangahi via Phoenix and New York and has been in town for the last 2 years with a global logistics company (current assignment opening branch in Urumqi). Right now, the plan is for another 2 years, but his relationship with China has been “Love – Hate”, so sounds like anything is possible,

An active member of the AIESEC , Devrim is well traveled (over 50 countries under his belt), and was dropped into China with a corporate parachute

Continue reading »

HR in China is always a hot topic among myself, clients, friends, & employees, and it has been for everyday of my 5+ years in China. Last week, Shaun Rein of CMR expressed his opinions in the article How Multinationals Err In China

The essentials of the article are best summarized by Freight Dawg’s Eric Joiner

The article highlights three main reasons why multi-national firms have such difficulty in finding, attracting and keeping local talent.

1. Two Tiered Pay Systems with Little Opportunity for Advancement. There is a perception that a glass ceiling exists for local Chinese staff – Western companies often import senior managers from the head office or from Hong Kong or Taiwan to run their operations in China.
2. Younger Chinese workers have experienced three decades of Chinese economic explosion. As a result they want many of the same trappings of a comfortable life that those in the West enjoy.
3. Chinese employees want and need more advanced education that prepares them for the dynamic pace of business

Continue reading »

Brian has spent the last seven years in China, and is currently the Managing Partner of the Executive Search Group Orion China

Originally coming to China for business opportunities, he sees no end in sight to his stay in China… Defaintely a good sign for his business. He already has a significant amount of experience (10+ Years), and decided to take the leap without a parachute.

Continue reading »

With 1.3 billion people in China, it is hard to imagine that there could ever be a shortage of labor in China. just think about that… 1.3 billion people.

How can you run out of people?

Well, for some industries, finding people is becoming a huge problem, and more and more I am being exposed to this. To be honest, if you had asked me 6 months ago if there would be ever be a shortage of labor in China.. I would have laughed. Middle managers sure… but labor?

However, over the last year there have been signs of this, and it was in a place I never thought I would find it, and it wasn’t until this weekend that I recognized that the canary in the mine was on a respirator…

Continue reading »

Originally hailing from Sydney Australian, Kimberly has spent the last five year in Hangzhou (studying) and Shanghai (working), and recently took a new job with an event management firm (Account Manager).

Another member of the ORIENTED crew, she originally came to China as part of a language & culture university program, she came back looking for work and adventure (She jumped without a parachute)

Getting involved with organizations like ORIENTED early, Kimberly’s first jobs in Shanghai were in interior design, trade, and events management. Continue reading »

For those of you that remember the lengths it took to circumnavigate the long shoreman stike at LBC… get your planning books out.

A couple weeks ago while meeting with MAx from the Supply Chain Council, he mentioned that he had see news of a strike in the south (see Crane operators end strike at major southern Chinese port). To the best of his knowledge, it was not an event that had hit the domestic press and had gone on for a few days… and this was following a strike by container operators at the same port (Yantian International Container Terminals – a Hutchinson Whampoa joint venture).

Following that, and prior to that, all was clear sailing.. but AP is now reporting that there has been another strike by crane operators and truck drivers at the Shenzhen Chiwan Container Terminal – a Kerry Holdings joint venture (see Dockers Strike at Major Chinese Port)

Continue reading »