Archives 2007

Wonderful wisdom of Wong winning through

Eva Wong, chairperson and president of Top Human Technology Limited, is to meet me at her office on the 58th floor of Plaza 66. The office exudes a confident, plush Oriental modernism and, with the view clouded, I absorb the rarified atmosphere as I wait.

The motto of Top Human is this: “Re-engineering the talent of people.” Lofty or what! Wong’s slight delay is due to her having just flown in from Canada, yet there’s not a trace of long haul about her. As fresh as a daisy, Wong has the air of someone who has just enjoyed a good joke.

“I’ve been living out of my suitcase for years now. I’m always traveling, I love it,” she laughs. One wonders how big her suitcase is.

Wong’s new book “The Power of Ren – China’s Coaching Phenomenon,” co-written with Lawrence Leung, outlines her unique philosophy for business management and coaching. As the name suggest, her philosophy puts people at its core.

The Hong Kong native’s approach involves elements of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, and more than 100,000 top Chinese business people have benefited from the wisdom of Wong over the last 12 years.

My question as to how much she reckons her advice has added to the Chinese economy in total is met by knitted brows, followed by another heartfelt laugh. She turns to her able and attentive assistants, saying: “We should find out that sort of thing,” before exploding into laughter again. The answer is a whole lot, by the way.

Mystical might be over-egging it a little but there’s something about Wong that’s hard to fathom. Captains of Chinese industry, a demanding lot to be sure, pay handsomely for Wong and her colleagues to tell them how to improve their businesses. “Most of our business comes through word of mouth,” says Wong.

“I retired in 1990 and from then on I’ve been making my vision come true – of Top Human and of teaching people how to live their dreams and live their lives,” says Wong, President of China Coach Association.

Having formulated her vision, strategy and philosophy, she started out coaching just one student in Hong Kong in 1995.

She’s still the chief trainer, although now Top Human has offices in Vancouver, San Francisco, Singapore and in 10 major cities in China employing 500 staff. It’s one of the biggest coaching companies in the world. Preparations are well underway for public listing next year. Soon Top Human will occupy all of the 58th floor of Plaza 66.

“The coaching concept came from the States and from the sports field, so that management executives become the coaches who treat the staff like their athletes,” says Wong.

Top Human coaching, the power of Ren, is based on a nine-point plan in this order: Passion, commitment, responsibility, appreciation, giving, trust, win-win, enrollment and possibilities.

This point system stems from Confucianism, with two key points at its center: “Only when a man lives in accordance with his knowledge of both nature and people and becomes a well-learned person, can he manage his country and the world,” from “The Doctrine of the Mean.” From “The Great Learning” comes: “From the Son of Heaven down to the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything else.”

“We have two main roles,” says Wong. “Firstly we coach senior business people, helping them improve their management style and their business. The other is to train people to become coaches.”

“In China, business is inextricably linked with personal relationships which is quite different from the West,” says Wong. “Entertaining business contacts out of the work environment is much less common in the West. Colleagues’ trust must be earned in China – then they will go the extra mile.”

The coaching takes the form of a two-hour one-on-one session where the client’s needs are determined. There then follows a six-month course with regular evaluations and team teaching, where those being trained can compare notes.

Courses cost 30,000 yuan (US$3,860). Courses mostly take place in Mandarin just now but moves are afoot to extend Top Human offerings to Westerners. See www.tophuman.com for details.

The book is a must-read for those doing business in China, particularly those who have found their Western- style approaches frustratingly ineffective. It’s a well-presented book that’s accessible, readable and packed with interesting case studies.

It can be bought at the Shanghai Foreign Language Book Store (tel: 6322 3200) priced 180 yuan (US$23).

CEO oustings on track for record

NEW YORK (CNN) — With an average of about seven chief executive officers departing per business day, 2006 is poised to be a record-breaking year for ousted CEOs, according to data compiled by CNN and a study conducted by Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

If the trend continues at its current rate, more than 1,570 CEOs will lose their titles by year’s end, up more than 200 from last year’s record number of 1,322.

In just the first 11 days of October, the corporate world has seen a turnover of 36 CEOs, including the resignations announced Wednesday at Internet media company CNET (Charts), software maker McAfee (Charts), and Sovereign Bancorp Inc. (Charts) During the first 12 days of September, the boards of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (Charts), Ford Motor Co. (Charts) and Viacom Inc. (Charts) elected new CEOs to lead the corporations.

Former CNET CEO Shelby Bonnie resigned while former McAfee CEO George Samenuk retired, but both left their posts in relation to stock options back-dating probes, a growing trend in recent months. Earlier this week, Monster Worldwide Inc.’s (Charts) CEO Andrew McKelvey, a 39-year veteran with the company, resigned from his leading post, pinning partial blame for his move on an investigation into the company’s stock options practices.

Since Oct. 1, five company executives – three CEOs, one chief financial officer and one president – have either resigned, retired or were fired from their posts after reports of option grants irregularities. Preliminary data compiled by Challenger, Gray and Christmas show nine companies entrenched in back-dating options scandals have lost their CEOs since January 2005.

According to the study, 32 CEOs have been fired from their jobs since the beginning of 2006, a third of them in September alone.

“It is rare for a CEO to be officially fired,” said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray and Christmas. “Boards may apply pressure or force a chief executive to leave, but they often allow the executive to announce his resignation, thus sparing his or her dignity. It takes a major infraction for a CEO to be publicly fired.”

After more than 1,100 CEOs departed companies in 2000, the year the tech bubble burst and dot-com companies began imploding, the number of CEO turnovers began to gradually decrease year-by-year, dropping to 663 in 2004, but then jumping back up in 2005 setting the record to beat, according to CGL spokesman James Pedderson.

New firm to tap forex reserves

The government will set up a company to manage its hefty foreign exchange reserves, according to an influential newspaper.

China Securities Journal, which is owned by Xinhua News Agency, quoted unnamed “authoritative sources” as saying that the establishment of the State Foreign Exchange Investment Company would represent a major initiative to better utilize the country’s huge foreign exchange assets and to address the issues brought up by their accumulation.

China has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, which amounted to a whopping $1.07 trillion at the end of 2006, and are poised to swell further.

Premier Wen Jiabao said at the National Financial Work Conference last month that the country should “explore new means and extend channels” for the use of the money.

The assets are currently managed by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). A considerable part of the money is believed to have been used for the purchase of United States treasury bonds.

Economists have said that the reserves far exceed the amount needed for their main purpose international trade payments, paying back external debts and contingencies.

Lin Yifu, an economist at Peking University, said any excess should be allocated for better returns.

In late 2003, SAFE transferred $45 billion to Central Huijin Investment Co Ltd, which used the money to recapitalize State-owned Bank of China and China Construction Bank. The injection of the funds was a crucial step for the restructuring of two banks and their eventual listing.

Huijin has also invested in dozens of other State-owned banks and brokerages.

The China Securities Journal said the new investment company would raise funds by issuing renminbi bonds and use the money to purchase foreign exchange reserves from SAFE.

This will help reduce excessive money supply, which is created by the huge amounts of renminbi that the central bank has to put into the market when it buys foreign exchange from enterprises to maintain the stability of the currency.

Excessive money supply is partly responsible for the country’s high fixed asset investment growth in the past few years. Fixed asset investment growth, which stood at 24 per cent last year, has in recent years been deemed a major threat to the health of the economy.

10 Things That Will Get You Fired

After spending weeks — or months — diligently looking for the perfect job, the last thing you want is to be forced back onto the job market.

A few wrong steps, however, and you might see a pink slip before a paycheck. If you want to guarantee your spot in the unemployment line, try some of these moves:

1. Don’t bother learning what’s expected of you.
Sit down with your manager and make sure you understand exactly what your job entails, your deadlines and any relevant department policies. This eliminates ambiguity and ensures you’ll know how your performance measures up.

2. Learn to say, “That’s not part of my job description,” and use it frequently.
Everyone needs to set limits, but doing only the bare minimum sends a clear message that you’re just interested in a regular paycheck. Sooner or later, your boss will start looking for someone willing to take more initiative.

3. Go shopping in the supply closet.
While you’re at it, run a few errands with the company car and pad your expense report. Stealing from the company is one of the best ways to guarantee your immediate dismissal.

4. Abuse company technology.
Think your boss won’t notice that you spend more time instant messaging your friends than you do working? Think again. Most companies monitor all their employees’ e-mails and Internet usage — and that includes what you do with your laptop after hours. Never use your company computer for anything illegal or X-rated.

5. Complain about your job to anyone who will listen.
Whether your pay is too low, the work is drudgery or you think your boss is an idiot, be careful of who hears you complain. If it gets back to your boss, she may just put you out of your misery.

6. Forget teamwork — look out for No. 1.
No one wants to work with an arrogant employee who steals ideas or an egotistical worker who demeans others. Helping your co-workers doesn’t make you a pushover, it makes you smart. Likeable employees move up the company ranks more quickly, and your colleagues will be more likely to help you find leads when you launch your next job search.

7. Bring your personal life to work.
It’s inevitable that personal business is going to pop up during work hours. But keep in mind that cubicles don’t lend any privacy, so the whole office can hear — and are distracted by — you making that appointment with your waxer. Keep personal calls and errands to a minimum during work hours.

8. Consistently work “abbreviated” workdays.
Want to show your boss how little you care about your job or career progress? Regularly come in late and leave early. After all, if you can’t be trusted to show up on time, how can your boss trust you with more responsibility?

9. Treat deadlines more like guidelines.
When you procrastinate, everyone suffers. Your missed deadlines reflect poorly on you and your boss, and they delay everyone else on the project, since they can’t finish their work until you do yours.

10. Operate the gossip mill.
While you can’t avoid office gossip completely, don’t get caught spreading it. Think about it: Do you really want hurtful or untrue rumors to be traced back to you? And remember: A few martinis are no excuse for getting loose-lipped.

Subcon Manager, resident representative

A Top semiconductor Company
Location: shanghai, suzhou

Report to: Reports directly to COMPANY Penang subcon ops, dotted line to COMPANY Sunnyvale assembly engineering and COMPANY Suzhou

Description of Duties:
1.To be the ears,eyes & spokesman of company in Amkor Shanghai C4 assembly operations for COMPANY products.
2.Monitor assembly performance based on major and critical process performance indices
3.Monitor logistics performance ¡­ weekly assembly out commit, cycle time & product security requirements
4.Supervise periodic crushing & disposal of assembly rejects.
5.Monitor performance of AATS-assembled lots at COMPANY test operations and feedback to AATS on a timely basis
6.Conduct weekly review of the above performance indices with AATS
7.Coordinate quarterly business review schedule and agenda
8.Coordinate timely disposition in case of maverick lot/s
9.Help create/foster an atmosphere of win-win & long-term relationship between COMPANY and AATS.
10.Update your knowledge of C4 assembly process and technology roadmap by attending periodic AMP’D tutorials and relevant engineering conferences.

Acdemic Achievements:
Bachelor’s degree in engineering,preferably in electrical/electronics or materials science

Personal Qualities:
1.Fluency in the English language, both in oral and written communications.
2.Basic computer knowledge and use of Microsoft office suite.
3.Must be able to travel outside of China. Job requires traveling, but not limited to, the Asia Pacific region and North America.

Work Experience:
At least 5 years experience in Integrated Circuits / semiconductor manufacturing and test, preferably with experience in flip chip assembly process.
8-10 years experience is preferred.

Competence
Able to interact and contribute positively in a cross-functional environment.

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_eo076sh#dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)

Sales Manager – China

Company introduction: Our client a US wholly owned subsidiary of one of the largest manufacturers of interconnect products in the world. The Company designs, manufactures and markets electrical, electronic and fiber optic connectors, coaxial and flat-ribbon cable, and interconnect systems. As a subsidiary of this group, they are an acknowledged leader in designing and manufacturing mobile telephone antenna, hinge, and other wireless products¡¯ relevant components. Their Customers are mainly mobile phone manufacturers in China, Taiwan, Europe and North America, as well as mobile phone platform vendors. In light of their business expanding, they are now looking for a Sales Manager – China to join their team.

Job Description:
Report To:Asia GM (A US People)
Location:shanghai

Responsibilities:
1.Execute sales strategy to capture growing demands for products with maximum profitability
2.Develop and implement growth strategies and action plans to enhance greater market share in China
3.Business Development Planning in China:
4.Development of plans and implementation of initiatives to support client development activities across practice areas in China
5.Preparation of market and competitive analysis and advising the legal teams on positioning and “go to market” strategies that differentiate the firm.
6.Preparation of action plans/budgets and provision of support to track activities against objectives.
7.To provide marketing information and input for the budget process
8.Quotation system Set up and Maintenance
9.Set up and maintain the quotation system
10.Client/competitor and industry analysis research.
11.Client Care/Client Development
12.Identify and develop action plans and visit schedules for strategic client development and relationship management.
13.Preparation of action plans for key clients and coordination with them to facilitate implementation.
14.Development of Corporate Hospitality Programmed.
15.Co-ordination and management of client extranet sites.
16.Archiving and provision of feedback to SAA internal in relation to information gathered during client visits and development of follow up action plans.
17.Internal coordination with all departmental managers, like RD, Customer Service and external coordination with customers and suppliers.

Requirements:
1.Degree in Engineering (Electrical, Electronic) or related major
2.Experience in similar sales and managerial position for at least 3+ year and preferably in a industrial product industry.
3.5+ years experience in sales, preferably in the mobile industry
4.Account management experience is added advantage
5.Knowledge of Sales Management / Selling Techniques preferably in the component product industry
6.Very strong interpersonal & communication skills, Read/write/speak English, Able to operate MS office, Hands On Approach to the job, Team Player, People Oriented, Computer literate, Customer Oriented, Managerial skills, results oriented
7.Fluent in English and Mandarin
8.Ability to work independently and travel

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_mkt172sh#dacare.com’(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject MUST you plus the position name in either En or Ch.

20 Bad Workplace Habits

Marshall Goldsmith is a famous executive coach, who has worked with more than 80 CEO¡¯s in the world¡¯s top corporations. He has a fabulous new book out called What Got You Here Won¡¯t Get You There. Actually, the title is not very descriptive, but the subtitle says it all: 20 workplace habits you need to break. It¡¯s a content-rich, well-written book.

While Goldsmith warns against self-diagnosis, I found the list incredibly helpful (even though I am not and never will be a CEO.) The practical, real world advice he provides for conquering these bad habits is immensely useful. Here¡¯s his list of bad habits:

1.The need to win each time
2.The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion
3.The need to pass judgment on others
4.Needless sarcasm and cutting comments
5.Starting with ¡°no¡±, ¡°But¡±, ¡°However¡±
6.Need to show how smart we are
7.Speaking when angry
8.Negativity: the need to share negative thoughts even when not asked
Withholding Information
9.Failing to Give Proper recognition
10.Claiming credit we don¡¯t deserve
11.Making excuses
12.Clinging to the past
13.Playing favorites
14.Refusing to express regret
15.Not listening
16.Failing to express gratitude
17.Punishing the messenger
18.Passing the buck
19.An excessive need to be ¡°me¡±: exalting our faults as virtues simply because 20.they¡¯re who we are

Survey: Job Seekers are Stretching the Truth

There’s marketing yourself on your r¨¦sum¨¦, and then there’s flat-out lying. Many job seekers are crossing the line.

Although just 5 percent of workers actually admit to fibbing on their r¨¦sum¨¦s, 57 percent of hiring managers say they have caught a lie on a candidate’s application, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey. Of the hiring managers who caught a lie, 93 percent didn’t hire the candidate.

When r¨¦sum¨¦ inconsistencies do surface during background checks, they raise concerns about the candidates’ overall ethics. Forty-three percent of hiring managers say they would automatically dismiss a candidate who fibbed on their r¨¦sum¨¦. The rest say it depends on the candidate and situation.

Stretched dates to cover up employment gaps is the most commonly-caught r¨¦sum¨¦ lie, with nearly one-in-five hiring managers saying they have noticed this on a candidate’s application. Other top r¨¦sum¨¦ lies include:

Past employers (18 percent)

Academic degrees and institutions (16 percent)

Technical skills and certifications (15 percent)

Accomplishments (8 percent)

Reasons for lying range from the innocuous (not being sure of the exact employment dates) to the more sinister (intentionally being deceitful to get the job). To ensure your r¨¦sum¨¦ is accurate but still portrays you in the best light, heed these tips:

If you don’t have much formal experience… Highlight any activities or coursework that could be relevant to the position. Volunteer activities, part-time jobs and class projects can all provide transferable skills and training.

If you didn’t quite finish your degree… Do not indicate on your r¨¦sum¨¦ that you graduated. Instead, name the university and list the years in which you attended.

If you were out of work… Don’t stretch the employment dates to cover the gap. Instead, keep the dates accurate and address the gap in your cover letter. Be sure to mention any classes you took or volunteer work you performed during this time to keep your skills up-to-date.

If your company uses unfamiliar titles… This is one of the only circumstances in which it’s acceptable to change your title to something more recognizable. For example if your title was “primary contact,” and you performed the duties of an administrative assistant, you can clarify your title by writing “Primary Contact/Administrative Assistant.” Giving yourself a promotion to “office manager,” however, crosses the ethical line.

Engineering Manager–Shanghai

A top European optical and semicon manufacturing company
Superior authority – Reporting to Head of Optics China

Main tasks
1.Plans and directs all aspects of engineering activities within Optics ensures all engineering projects, initiatives and processes are in conformance with the organization¡¯s established policies and objectives.
2.Develop engineering organization that benefits the site, SBU and division
3.Establish, improve Engineering capabilities in process design, process development, product application, product development and production system improvement;
4.Set SMART goals and objectives of the Engineering department supporting the goals from Optics Business Unit and SH manufacturing site
5.Lead and manager engineering team, organize Engineering resource to achieve the set goals and objectives
6.Establish, optimize and execute engineering processes to ensure all the engineering activities are carried out in a systematic way and properly documented
7.Ensure processes are well designed and implemented so that products are produced with high, stable yield and high efficiency
8.Manage large projects (including production transfer from the parent companies, setting up production of new products)
9.Ensure subordinates are properly trained, assessed and developed
10.Motivate subordinates so that they are working in a high morale.
11.Direct the behaviour of department with the Corporate Value
12.Responsible for engineering budget
13.Identify technical capabilities of Engineering Team required to support strategy on SH Site
14.Communicate, keep good relationship with Engineering teams in Europe and US facilities to get timely and effective engineering support when needed
15.Work closely with business functions, such as Product Management, Sales, Product Ling Management, to support business development and customer satisfaction.
16.Work closely with Supply Chain Management functions provide technical support to ensure suppliers are properly defined, monitored and developed, and material provided by the suppliers are always with required quality
17.Work with all other department and management to continuously improve performance and processes of SH Site as well as Optics BU

Qualifications
1.Must know ( or have the ability to quickly learn ) all Optics products, their markets, and their technology. Must have a ¡°head for business¡± and understand how all product aspects (delivery, quality, etc) influences customer satisfaction.
2.Must understand manufacturing and manufacturing costs to develop effective
3.engineering projects. Must have extensive understanding of financial statements.
4.Must have excellent communication skills to convince personnel that are not
5.direct reports to maintain performance levels. Ability to escalate problems for
6.quick resolution.
7.Must understand the fundamentals of statistics.
8.Masters degree or above in engineering or science
9.min 6 years of professional experience in engineering and/or R&D, preferably with multinational companies
10.preferably experience in one of the following fields: thin film, optics, coatings, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering
11.Preferably knowledge in production requires clean room environment
12.Strong ability to manage people who have high intelligence and different personalities
13.Good coordination and project management skill
14.Good organizational skill to identify resource needs, and to properly allocate workload
15.Excellent time management skill and being result oriented
16.Willing to accept different opinions
17.Excellent problem solving skill
18.Excellent communication skills
19.Excellent organisational skills
20.fluent in written and spoken English
21.Good critical thinking and systematic thinking

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_eng038sh#dacare.com’(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject MUST you plus the position name (in either En or Ch)

Hiring Marketing Executives With Substance

If you’re a senior executive looking to add a key member to your marketing staff, but you’ve never hired marketing people before: buyer beware! Why do I say this? While there are a lot of talented marketing executives out there with an excellent repertoire of skills and experience, there also are marketing people who lack the substance, the training, the skill sets, and the understanding of marketing dynamics in order to really have a positive impact on your business.

What is the profile of an empty marketing suit? Well, typically it’s somebody who dresses well, is very polished, speaks nicely, and uses all the latest fancy buzzwords, but who has little/no track record of actual execution or success. This person is great at “wowing” a CEO through the interviewing process, but that’s about all they’re good at.

What you should be looking for is a marketing executive who’s got true substance and capabilities.

What I want to outline here are some of the key hiring criteria when you’re looking for a good marketing executive:

• They should have outstanding quantitative training with a strong background in mathematics, which translates into being able to do budgeting, forecasting and tracking.

• They should have proven analytical skills that are used to survey and analyze complex sets of data, do market segmentations, sizing, competitive analysis, etc.

• They should have strong strategic thinking skills and a strong grasp of marketing strategy, as evidenced by previous challenges they have faced and dealt with in their career.

• They should have formal training in strategic marketing planning, product planning, new product development, etc.

• They should understand the modern methods for marketing communications for both awareness building as well as lead generation. In particular, a marketing executive of today needs to have a very strong grasp of Internet marketing since that¡¯s how so much of today¡¯s successful marketing gets done.

• A marketing executive needs to be able to lead. That means they have to have very strong collaborative and influencing skills, that can be brought to bear on setting a direction for an executive team. They also need to know how to instill good marketing discipline.

Today’s “best in class” companies are both market and customer driven. The marketing leader needs to be the voice of the customer and the marketplace as it relates to setting strategy on target markets, new product development, gross margins, sales channels, messaging, etc. ¨C the list goes on. Given this level of complexity in skills and experience, making a good hire can be a real challenge for the untrained eye. This is why bringing in a recruiter or executive search firm which specializes in marketing is so important for many firms who lack this expertise in-house.

If you are in the process of looking for a member of your marketing team, make sure that you follow a rigorous process to clearly understand what’s under the hood with the people who you are interviewing. If you don’t, and you end up with an empty marketing suit, it’ll cost you tremendous amounts of money, lost market share, and lost opportunity.