Archives August 2007

Chinese happiness at work

Employers in China who are fretting about surging salaries on offer to talented staff may be encouraged by evidence that employees are looking for more than a fat pay packet.

While job-hopping is rampant amid a talent shortage, there are growing signs that many mainlanders would be happy to stay with an employer if staying meant career development and a good working environment.

“Clearly the China market is hot and people are changing jobs for better pay. But pay is not the be-all and end-all,” said Gary Burnison, chief executive of U.S.-based recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International.

“People want to feel they are treated well and that they belong.”

In China, people often leave a company because they cannot get on with their immediate boss or feel they have no role to play, Burnison said.

Now some companies are making employee relations a big priority.

Nanfang Lee Kum Kee, maker of sauces and health products in Guangdong province, has introduced a “happiness index.”

Any time a manager meets a member of staff he’ll ask how happy the employee feels on a scale of one to 10. “If the number drops the supervisor needs to find out why,” said Sammy Lee, managing director of Nanfang.

“We want to make sure everyone is happy.”

This approach may be unusual in China but Nanfang enjoys a staff turnover rate of less than 10 per cent — in manufacturing where turnover rates of 50 per cent are not unusual — and was voted among the 10 best employers in Asia this year by global human resource company Hewitt Associates.

“Pay is not the key issue,” said Lee. “You’ve got to pay the market rate if you want to be competitive, but you also have to encourage staff to engage in their work and be happy.”

In a Hewitt survey, conducted every two years, career prospects replaced pay this year as the top motivation for employee engagement at 154 foreign and local companies in China.

“Compensation is critical in attracting staff but in terms of retaining people in China other things such as working environment, training and career opportunities become more important,” said Heather Wang, head of human resources for General Electric in China.

As a global company, GE can offer long-term careers in a variety of industries and countries but says it faces a challenge in developing staff quickly to keep pace with business expansion in China.

“We want people in China to get to the next level a year earlier than we would in more mature markets,” Wang said.

Career development requires investment in personal skills because Chinese workers often are held back by a rote-learning-based education system that stifles creativity, employers say.

GE says its China leadership program puts more emphasis on training in negotiating skills and working on projects outside an employee’s normal sphere of business.

A survey of multinationals by Korn/ Ferry shows a lack of innovation and creativity as the biggest challenge to finding leadership talent in China, after lack of international experience and poor ability to adapt to Western corporate culture.

Lee at Nanfang advocates “invisible leadership” that forces staff to take initiative.

He says he probably spends more time on the golf course, where he can think about strategy, than at work; delegates staff to deal with his e-mails; and does not possess a Blackberry or a computer, even in the office.

If the company is entertaining clients or holding events, staff decide how it will be organized.

“In most companies managers make the decisions and employees follow. We try to turn that upside down,” Lee said.

Investors cut risk, bet on booming global

SHANGHAI: Wall Street bank JPMorgan said on Monday that it had won final approval to set up a wholly owned unit in China to strengthen its wholesale banking business in the world’s fastest growing major economy.

This move will make JPMorgan the second US bank to incorporate in China, after Citigroup did so early this year, while more than a dozen foreign banks queue to secure regulatory approval for their China-incorporated units.

Most foreign banks choose to incorporate in China because they want to tap the country’s retail banking sector through fast branch expansion across the country. Local incorporation makes it much easier for foreign banks to apply, to open new branches and offer a full range of local currency-denominated retail banking services to Chinese customers.

However, JPMorgan said it would still focus on its wholesale banking business — such as trade finance, cash management and financial derivatives — but may tap the retail market when it finds the right opportunity.

“We do see that China’s consumer banking and card markets have great potential for growth and we are very optimistic on the future growth of the market,” Charles Li, JPMorgan China chairman, said. “We would like to consider exploring the opportunities if we could find the right approach.”

Besides expanding the wholesale banking business in China, JPMorgan is making efforts to win underwriting deals for Chinese companies’ overseas listings. Currently, JPMorgan does not have any retail business outside the United States. China fully opened its banking markets to overseas lenders late last year, as part of Beijing’s commitment to the World Trade Organisation, which it joined in 2001.

Foreign banks not incorporated domestically are not allowed to issue bank cards independently and are required to impose a minimum deposit of 1 million yuan ($1,32,200) on retail customers. “The local incorporation won’t immediately accelerate the pace of growth and lead to aggressive recruiting of branch expansion,” said Mr Li.

“However, there is no doubt that the incorporation will form a strong foundation for progressive and long-term expansion.” JPMorgan will locate the headquarters of its China-incorporated subsidiary in Beijing, making it the first foreign bank to incorporate in China’s capital instead of Shanghai, the country’s financial hub.

JPMorgan currently operates three branches in first-tier Chinese cities including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. “After local incorporation, all the three branches will be fully licensed for local and foreign currencies and products, and all branches will have a derivatives licence,” Carl Walter, JPMorgan China’s chief operating officer said.

40% top Chinese students choose to study abroad

About 40 percent of the top students in college entrance examinations have chosen overseas universities for their postgraduate studies, according to a survey.

Most of them have stayed overseas after finishing their intended courses, showed a survey that tracked 130 top performers in college entrance exams from 1977 to 1998.

Dubbed zhuangyuan, which means top contestants in the imperial examinations in feudal China, these students have been lauded by the media as examples for their younger peers.

The survey, released on the China Alumni Association website, found it worrying that many of the top students would not stay in China for higher studies despite the country’s rapid development in the past few decades.

The government should find better ways to hold back talented students, said Cai Yanhou, a professor with Central South University in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province.

UNESCO figures show Chinese students comprise 14 percent of international students, the highest in the world. Their favorite destinations for higher studies are the US, Britain and Japan. Some experts said handsome scholarships, better job prospects and more opportunities to pursue further studies are the main attractions of foreign universities.

But Cai, who also led the survey team, said “top in exams” does not necessarily mean “top in career” because the study found none of the top students at college entrance exams had become a top Chinese expert or academic.

The entrance exam is just one of the numerous exams a person will go through in his life and that can’t foretell his future achievements, said Wang Xuming, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education. He criticized the media hype over the so-called zhuangyuan.

Some of them are just more adaptable to exam-oriented education than their peers, experts said.

The media fill pages and time slots with their “success” stories to gain wider readership and viewership. High schools promote their former students proudly to attract new ones, and universities want to show their superior status by recruiting them, they said.

Wang hoped future reforms would do away with the score-oriented method so that students can be judged from all aspects.

China Daily – Xinhua

51job and Japan’s Recruit to form coupon advertising company in China

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – China’s 51job Inc, a Nasdaq-listed provider of human resource services, and Recruit Co Ltd, an information services company in Japan, said in a joint statement that they have signed an agreement to establish a new company to provide coupon advertising services in China.

The company will be independently incorporated and is expected to have a total capitalization of up to 82 mln yuan provided over several years.

Recruit is expected to provide 60 pct of the funding in cash, up to 49.2 mln yuan, and the remaining 40 pct will be financed through convertible bonds of up to 32.8 mln yuan to 51job (nasdaq: JOBS – news – people ).

The zero coupon convertible bonds will include conversion rights for 40 pct of the share capital of the new company.

In April 2006, 51job and Recruit entered into a business alliance to form a corporate planning group to assess opportunities in the human resources industry and other new businesses in China.

51job operates 23 editions of 51job Weekly and distributes several mln copies each week throughout China.

Recruit, a printer and distributor of free coupon magazines, publishes Hot Pepper, which was launched in 2001 and has expanded to 49 area-specific editions in Japan.

(1 usd = 7.56 yuan)

Taikang to set up pension unit

According to China Times, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission has approved the establishment of Taikang Pension Insurance in Beijing this September.
The pension insurance firm, founded by Taikang Life Insurance and Taikang Asset Management and headed by Ma Yun, vice president of Taikang Life Insurance, has a registered capital of 200 million yuan (US$ 26.4 million) and mainly focuses on group pension insurance and enterprise annuities.

Sources from the new company said currently the company has decided upon its management while the process of recruiting talent is still underway.

China’s Misguided 3G Mobile Strategy

In July, reports surfaced that China’s two mobile telecoms giants had hit upon a novel marketing strategy. In the east China city of Suqian, China Mobile and China Unicom were giving away cases of local beer to new subscribers.

An analyst quoted in the Financial Times noted that, although a duopoly, the two companies were competing to lure subscribers as though there were “10 competitors fighting it out.”

As effective as beer-driven marketing may be during a sweltering summer, if this is what passes for innovation in mobile telecommunications then the nearly 500 million Chinese mobile phone users might want to reach for something stronger.

The problem is that while China’s two mobile phone operators might market with a competitive verve, they behave like the government-managed duopoly they are when it comes to technical innovation.

Wireless value-added services (WVAS) are largely limited to the standard 2G diet of ring tones, ring back tones and text-based gimmicks. Many of these come from small, third-party providers over which the operators maintain rigid control. This has generated more controversy than innovation as WVAS providers have struggled with shady customer recruiting practices, the duopoly’s financial demands and wide-ranging content restrictions. Revenues are declining across the board and many WVAS providers are teetering on the brink of failure, let alone dreaming up exciting new products.

As a result, the largest mobile telephone market in the world is a technological desert overshadowed by far more fertile territories in Korea and Japan.

A MISGUIDED STRATEGY
Don’t be misled. China’s telecommunications regulators are committed to domestic innovation. Unfortunately, they have chosen to focus on the development of a domestic 3G standard, TD-SCDMA, rather than using a foreign equivalent.

This is exactly the wrong the approach.

The lesson of the internet’s success is that the underlying network is just the starting line. The great explosion in innovation and wealth creation has been in the services and applications that run on the network. That’s why Google is worth US$160 billion less than 10 years after it was founded.

What is more, TD-SCDMA is stuck in the starting gate and China’s telecoms regulator refuses to issue licenses for it or any other standard until it is ready. Licensing has slipped from 2004 to “early 2006” to “late 2006 or early 2007” to “before the Olympics” to “we’ll get back to you.”

For Chinese users, this means continued reliance on creaky “2.5G” data networks and the same moldy basket of uninspiring services.

What’s heartbreaking is that in the years China has dawdled over TD-SCDMA, all the ingredients that would have enabled it to be a global leader in mobile applications have come together.

Global 3G standards and technologies have improved and are beginning to live up to early expectations. Handset technology has also matured to the point where real web browsing, IP telephony and even Chinese handwriting input are practical. Motorola’s Ming and the turbo-hyped Apple iPhone, a sleek mobile PC cunningly disguised as a phone, are signposts to the future.

ENGINE FOR GROWTH
With the largest mobile user base in the world, China is in a perfect position to be the mobile application laboratory for Asia, if not the world.

While many of China’s mobile phone users are low-revenue customers content with basic services, there is an increasingly affluent, mobile and internet-addicted youth generation already pushing the current services to the limit. Mobile internet access could have a much broader impact in China than PC-based access has ever had.

China could exploit this potential by swallowing its pride, accepting a proven global 3G standard and ordering mobile operators to open their networks and support third-party IP-based services. That could spur real innovation and make this the golden age of mobile services in China.

But as long as the state-owned enterprise mentality and top-down technical policy making prevail, that golden age will remain elusive. Instead of being the innovation leader it should be, China will remain the world’s largest mobile telephony backwater and 500 million mobile phone users will be left treading water.

City’s job market expands 20%

THE number of job vacancies and job seekers in Shanghai’s second quarter have risen about 20 percent compared to the first quarter this year, according to a job market report issued yesterday.

The report, released by the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau, said 20,000 enterprises registered with the Shanghai Job Placement Center’s Website (jobs.12333sh.gov.cn) and other job Websites, offering a total of 390,000 vacancies, a 20.7-percent rise from the first quarter.

A record of 419,000 people applied for jobs at public job placement centers across the city, rising by 23.2 percent from the first quarter, with most job seekers being 25 to 34 years old.

The report said the average age of the job seekers was 32, and 80 percent were under 35, while only 10 percent of the total were older than 45. The number of applicants over 45 decreased by 8.3 percent from the first quarter and 22.5 percent from the same period last year.

The city’s key sectors, such as medicine manufacturing, chemical and logistic industries, attracted the most job seekers, with the employment demand-to-supply ratio at about 0.3.

According to the report, a total of 1,009 people applied for 273 medicine manufacturing jobs, putting the demand-to-supply ratio at 0.27, the lowest in the top 10 industries.

The center’s career information analyst said the strong competition was due to job seekers following growing industries.

But some occupations are suffering a shortage of qualified staff.

Only 35,402 applications were received for 48,467 sales positions posted during the second quarter.

Jobs in securities investment companies also faced a shortage of staff with the bullish stock market generating a huge demand.

Only 1,189 of the 6,578 jobs in securities firms were filled, giving a demand-to-supply ratio of 5.53.

Finance Process and Control Team Leader

Purpose & general responsibilities of the position:
1. To lead and manage the Process and Control team in SHANGHAI, develop the Process and Control team a strong organization in terms of professional knowledge and core competency.
2. To be in charge of the Key Data Structure management, Finance User management and other master data management
3. To be in charge of the finance KPI follow up and drive the KPI improvement
4. To execute global and area policies and control procedures in SHANGHAI Cluster and ensure the compliance.
5. To drive the process improvement and best practice sharing in SHANGHAI cluster, drive the productivity improvement.
6. To drive the organization development in Cluster Finance.
7. To be in charge of the fraud detection and prevention for SHANGHAI cluster.
8. Other assistance to SHANGHAI CB Cluster Finance Manager as required.

Specific responsibilities of the position:
• To lead and manage the Process and Control team in SHANGHAI, develop the Process and Control team a strong organization in terms of professional knowledge and core competency.
a) Build, maintain and develop a strong Accounting team and cooperate with team members to create open communication environment.
b) Ensure the subordinates are sufficiently trained.
c) Establish and implement career development plans for team members, to meet the requirement of business development.
d) Reinforce company culture, vision, mission and values among all group staff.

• To be in charge of the Key Data Structure management, Finance User management and other master data management
a) For Key Data Structure maintenance and improvement based on the business management requirement or business development requirement.
b) Finance user management and control
c) Key financial master data maintenance including review and approval of vendor bank data
d) Other key master data for finance.

• To be in charge of the finance KPI follow up and drive the KPI improvement
a) To be the owner for finance KPI including the definition explanation and compliance with area requirement
b) The Finance KPI and Competition at cluster level
c) Drive the Finance KPI improvement initiative at cluster level and ensure the KPI improvement.
d) Drive the monitoring tool for Cluster or Sub-Cluster / Branch finance manager to create visibility for management.
e) Financial data quality control.

• To execute global and area policies and control procedures in SHANGHAI Cluster and ensure the compliance.
a) Ensure that the execution of all the policies, control procedures and regulations issued by the Board of Directors, Area CFO and local governments.
b) Ensure the compliance to the global and area level policies and procedure, ensure compliance with local regulations.
c) Organize the self audit at cluster level to ensure the compliance.
d) Be the owner and coordinator for the audit findings clean up, ensure clean bill of health for the SHANGHAI cluster finance.
e) Maintain good relationship with all parties relating to Accounting group, including BU associates, customers and other external parties.
• To set up procedure and process, drive the process improvement and best practice sharing in SHANGHAI cluster, drive the productivity improvement.
a) Drive the financial SOP set up and maintenance, ensure the SOP complete and updated, drive the communication of SOP to cluster finance.
b) Drive the process improvement and best practice sharing among SHANGHAI cluster finance.
c) Evaluate the procedure and process at cluster finance, drive the procedure and process improvement, and improve the productivity based on GCA target.
d) Coordinate with business for procedure and policy sharing, coordinate for the service level agreement with business partners.
e) Manage and follow up of exceptional handling.

•To drive the organization development in SHANGHAI Cluster Finance;
a)Support SHANGHAI Finance manager, identify the organization development areas, and drive the organization development with the support HR, Cluster, Sub-cluster / branch finance manager.
b)Drive the financial competition for SHANGHAI Cluster finance group, build up the creative and motivate working environment.
c)Drive the organization effectiveness and improve the OEP result.

•To be in charge of the fraud detection and prevention for SHANGHAI cluster:
a)To be in charge of the fraud detection and prevention for SHANGHAI cluster
b)To corporate with area relevant party for fraud protection education.

•Other ad hoc assistant to SHANGHAI Cluster Finance Manager as required.

Specific requirements for the position:
1.Strong accounting knowledge in terms of accounting procedure and policy.
2.Strong control sense and knowledge in tax / statutory requirement.
3.Internal / statutory audit knowledge.
4.Tax laws, regulations and practice.
5.Excellent communication and coordination skills and capability of exerting strategic influence.
6.Result and quality orientation with high sense of urgency.
7.Willing to work under pressure & passion to take challenges
8.Good performance monitoring and people management skills
9.Fluent in both written and spoken English.

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_mn171sh#dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)

sales manager- a leading global supplier

Company Introduction:
Our client is the leading global supplier of systems to make the handling of bulk materials cleaner, safer, and more productive. Since its founding in 1944 in America, the company has grown dramatically through the development of solutions to help the solids-handling industries around the world.
Location: KunShan,Jiang Sun Province

Reports to: General Manger
Dot Line: Sales VP

BASIC FUNCTION:
The Sales Manager is responsible for developing, promoting, selling and increasing gross sales and profits domestically, through all appropriate Sales Channels. This role will exploit markers with maximum growth potential realize return on investment goals.
SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1.Manages domestic direct sales personnel including sales training, performance management, promotions, disciplinary actions, salary and compensation decision. Assists field technicians on administrative issues, direction and utilization.
2.Manages sales and profit margins (price) for all accounts, documents sales records and information; calculates sales figures and forecasts annual sales volume of assigned accounts.
3.Builds working relationships with sales distribution channels on a daily basis, to promote the Martin brand and increase market share.
4.Develop sales channel strategy that maximizes sales penetration and market share in all territories.
5.Travels to key accounts and directly assists sales fore at all levels in the sales and promotions of products; documents on-site customer problems and assists sales force in the resolution of those problems.
6.Drives culture change to instill focus on Lean Enterprise and continuous process improvements throughout the sales areas.
7.Implements domestic sales strategy so that sales force and manufacturing/engineering support obtains new business in targeted markets.
8.Documents and analyzes competitor and market research data.
9.Reviews and evaluates requests for proposal (RFP).
10.Promotes Martin engineering solutions directly to decision markers in target industry on a daily basis.
11.Analyzes product/service improvement opportunities monthly; works with service and technical personnel in developing new ideas and innovations to meet ever changing customer needs; write and updates assigned sales manuals.
12.Maintains accurate reports of sales expenses continually striving to operate within established budgetary guidelines.
13.Initiates procedures which comply with Industrial requirements regarding safety issues, use of safety equipment, material safety data sheets, etc.
14.Directs sales meetings as required.
15.Established individual and team goals which are aligned with the Company¡¯s business strategies and objectives.
16.Functions as a contributing member of the department¡¯s team and other teams, as assigned.
17.Assists the department in the accomplishment of the team¡¯s goals.
18.Assists employees in the development of their individual goals and monitors their performance towards the accomplishments of those goals; ensures individual¡¯s goals are aligned with the business strategy of Martin Engineering.
19.Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirement:
1.Four-year college degree in business administration, marketing, or related field.
2.Three or more years of prior work related experience.
3.Three or more years of supervisory experience.

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_mkt202ks#dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)

Online leaks anger job seekers

RESUMES for job applications are believed to be the biggest source of Internet privacy invasions.

A survey of 300 people by 1010job.com, a city-based online human resources agent, revealed that 75 percent of the respondents complained that personal information from their resumes had landed in the hands of unauthorized companies.

Insurance companies lead the list of the most unwanted recipients of this information, followed by real estate agents and investment companies.

But the majority of the respondents (most of whom live in Shanghai) agreed that they did not mind if employment agencies or head hunters obtained the information.

“Insurance companies are really annoying. They keep calling my cell phone asking me to buy all sorts of insurance,” said Jiang Wenwen, a graduating college student.

As a student, Jiang said that she had tried to restrict the amount of information she provided on the Web, except for the resumes she sent to employment agencies.

“My resume is probably the only way companies can get information about me,” she said.

Jiang is not alone. More than half the respondents believed that online resumes were the source of the leaked information, although a quarter said that hard-copy resumes handed out at job fairs were also a likely source.

A few suggested that employment agencies themselves sold the information to companies.

In 2005, Xinhua News Agency discovered insurance companies buying university graduates’ resumes at job fairs for one yuan (13 US cents) each.

Last year, law makers began drafting laws to protect personal information, including the possibility that employers who carelessly discard resumes might face legal action.

While most of the surveyed applicants wanted some protection of their privacy on the Internet, two-thirds agreed that it would be difficult to prevent personal information being leaked because of the demand for employment.