Job hopping up, pay rises likely to be slower

Job hopping rose in 2014 as companies face challenges to their business, and the not-so-good news is that salaries are expected to rise slower next year, recruitment portal 51job.com said in a report yesterday.

The overall job hopping rate was 17.4 percent this year, 1.1 percentage points higher than that in 2013, the website said in a report covering 3,217 employers and 4,138 employees.

The report attributed the higher rate to employers failing to meet staff’s salary expectations and more companies involved in mergers and acquisitions.

Employers said they have raised salaries by 8.1 percent in 2014, down from the 8.3 percent in 2013, the report said.

They expect salaries to rise 7.9 percent in 2015.

“The economy in 2014 was relatively weak and investment slowed down especially in the real estate, manufacturing, energy and chemical industries,” it said.

“These factors made companies cautious about their salary strategy. We expect economic uncertainties will remain in 2015 and salary increase will further slow down next year.”

The high-technology sector will lead the salary rise with 9.4 percent projected for next year, followed by finance firms as they expand to new areas such as the Internet, the report said.

Hebei in need of Beijing talent

About 50 key enterprises and government institutions are planning to recruit more than 4,500 talented students from 15 academic institutions based in Beijing, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

More than 1,700 gifted students with Master’s or PhD qualifications attended the recruiting conference held by Hebei Province’s government in Tsinghua University on November 16, and about 900 students were recruited. The enterprises and government institutions are recruiting talented students from 12 different fields, with the average annual salary being offered mostly above 100,000 yuan ($16,333). In recent years, the Hebei Province government has issued many new policies to introduce highly talented students with high paying jobs and good welfare.

More and more shoppers are going mobile

The retail data on both Black Friday in the US and the 11-11 “Valentine’s Day” shopping spree in China show that a sizable number of the transactions were completed through handheld devices and the Internet, a trend that retailers and e-commerce enterprises might want to keep an eye on.

This year’s holiday shopping season got an earlier than usual start as a number of retailers launched online sales on Thanksgiving Day or even earlier. Luxury retailers like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales started offering deals a week early on their websites and the strategy seemed to work well.

ChannelAdvisor, an e-commerce company based in North Carolina, said roughly 2,700 online retailers had witnessed in general a 20 percent growth in Thanksgiving holiday sales volumes over last year, with Amazon leading the pack with a 25.9 percent growth year-on-year.

According to IBM’s Benchmark data released on Nov 30, mobile played a bigger role this year especially on Thanksgiving Day when mobile and online retail accounted for 52 percent of all online traffic. By 6 pm EST on Black Friday in the US, mobile traffic accounted for up to 46.7 percent of all online traffic — an increase of 24 percent over the same period last year, said the report.

Hand-held devices such as smartphones are noted to have played an increasingly important role on this weekend, but all did not go well everywhere.

According to Cathpoint Systems, a web performance monitoring company, Best Buy had undergone three crashes after its Thanksgiving sales began. The first outage took place from 5-6:30 am (EST); the second was 8-9:30 am, both on Thursday. On Black Friday, the company’s website crashed again at 10 am.

Market observers also noticed that despite retailers running early sales, Black Friday still generated the biggest online sales volumes, which were up 8.5 percent over the same period last year, according to IBM.

Meanwhile, though mobile on Black Friday didn’t claim over half of online traffic as it did on Thursday, the percentage of online sales steadily increased. Mobile sales accounted for 26.1 percent of all online sales on Black Friday, an increase of 24.7 percent over last year.

For China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba, which reported a record high of more than $9 billion in sales within 24 hours on Nov 11, the story was similar.

Alibaba’s researchers found that 43 percent of sales on Nov 11 were generated through mobile devices and the Internet.

Li Jingming, president and chief architect of Alipay US, told China Daily that the company had prepared to cope with the increased online shopping population, and has tailored their services and tools to better meet clients’ needs. In October, Alipay launched ePass, a new service that will help US and European retailers sell products directly to Chinese shoppers.

By integrating into Western retailers’ websites as an alternative payment solution like eBay’s PayPal, ePass is expected to help overseas merchants tap into China’s rapidly growing online shopping community without actually expanding their presence in the Chinese market.

Through ePass, American and European merchants would enable Chinese shoppers — with a good command of English — to have access to foreign retailer’s websites and buy directly online, Li explained.

“It functions like a combination of cross-border foreign currency settlement with overseas delivery solutions from Alibaba’s Smart LogisticsNetwork in China, also known as Cainiao,” Li said.

“We are trying to make it easy for Western merchants to reach Chinese consumers without actually being present in China,” Li said, noting that with ePass, retailers can save themselves the headache of establishing bricks-and-mortar warehouses or hiring staff in China.

Lenovo to build 50 cloud computing hubs in China

Lenovo Group Ltd will invest 300 million yuan (US$48.7 million) to build 50 cloud computing centers in China as the world’s biggest personal-computer manufacturer makes its latest move to tap the booming enterprise service market.

Lenovo also aims to establish the centers in some overseas markets like the United States and Germany. It will also train more than 1,000 experts in cloud computing, data analysis and storage and backup services.

Lenovo, which just completed the US$2.1 billion acquisition of IBM’s low-end server business, wants to help firms do “business transformation in cloud” through the new united end-to-end services covering both Lenovo and former IBM services. The enterprise services are expected to be adopted in all industries especially in finance, education and health care sectors, said Ye Ming, former IBM executive and now Lenovo’s vice president.

“Enterprise is a core place for Lenovo to explore in its PC Plus strategy in long-term development,” Ye said yesterday in Shanghai.

The new CEMS (cloud, enterprise, mobility and services) business now accounts for 15 percent of Lenovo’s total revenue, up from only 3-4 percent last year, according to Ye.

In October, Lenovo’s Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said the company aims to generate a revenue of 10 billion yuan in enterprise services in the near future after acquiring IBM X86 server business.

Ford planning more SUV traction with the all-new Everest

Ford unveiled the all-new Everest in early November in Beijing.

Ford unveiled a seven-seat SUV in early November in Beijing in response to the growing consumer enthusiasm for large sporty vehicles.

Chairman and CEO of Ford China John Lawler said target customers of the powerful offroad SUV are those “who love life, have dreams and boast an adventurous spirit” in emerging economies like China and India.

Lawler said the model was designed at Ford’s design center in Australia with “the Asia-Pacific region in mind” following extensive research into markets and consumer preferences?the most research ever conducted for a vehicle developed by Ford in the region.

“Customers told us they wanted an SUV that balances off-road toughness with a refined, comfortable interior, and we listened,” said David Dewitt, exterior design manager, Ford Asia Pacific. “This vehicle reflects what the consumer wants, inside and out.”

Highlights of the new Everest include best-in-class 225 mm of ground clearance and its ability to forge through water as deep as 800 mm, deeper than any competitor.

It also has several powerful and efficient engine options: the latest generation of Ford’s tried-and-tested four-cylinder 2.2-liter and five-cylinder 3.2-liter Duratorq TDCi diesel engines, and a new 2.0-liter EcoBoost petrol engine.

The new Ford Everest also offers a number of segment-first features including a curve control technology to help drivers maintain control when approaching turns too quickly.

The latest generation of Ford’s in-car connectivity solution, SYNC 2, lets drivers use natural voice commands to control the car’s entertainment system, climate controls and connected mobile devices more easily than before.

In China, the SUV will be produced at Ford’s partner Jiangling Motors Co and is expected to hit the road in 2015.

“Things are going as scheduled at our Xiaolan plant,” said JMC Chairman Wang Xigao at a press conference after Everest’s launch ceremony.

The Xiaolan plant has a production capacity of 300,000 units. In addition to Everest, it is producing the Ford Transit light commercial van.

JMC President York Chen said the production of the Everest marks the beginning of JMC-Ford cooperation in the passenger vehicle segment, adding other models will come in the future, but the agreement does not include cars.

Chen added that JMC will expand the number of its dealerships by 40 percent to ensure it will make the SUV accessible across the nation.

Lawler said he is optimistic about the performance of the model but said he has not set a sales goal for it.

Ford sold 813,412 vehicles in the Chinese market in the first three quarters of the year, a 26 percent surge from the same period in 2013. Its share of the SUV market grew from 0.3 percent in 2012 to 4.5 percent in 2013.

Wal-Mart axes senior jobs, stores

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world’s largest retailer, has dismissed around 20 mid- and senior-level executives and closed stores in China as part of a restructuring aimed at countering growing pressure from local rivals and online retail sales.

The company said the measures will optimize the organization.

“As we have previously stated, we are transforming our business to meet the needs of a rapidly changing market and customers. Reorganization has been a necessary business reality,” it said in a statement, adding that the jobs cuts have been agreed by mutual consent, with the company paying compensation in line with the laws and regulations.

The retailer also said it had shut some outlets and was remodeling dozens more as the overhaul continues.

It insisted, however, it was making “good progress” toward opening around 110 new stores across China between now and 2016, within a plan that also includes new distribution centers, and creating what it called “a highly efficient supply chain and enhanced compliance process”.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, is facing stiff competition in China, and earlier this year also had to withdraw donkey meat products from sale in its stores after they were found to contain fox DNA.

Among the executives being sidelined are vice-presidents from its hypermarket business Wal-Mart China and its wholesale arm, Sam’s Club China, according to two Wal-Mart China employees, who asked not to be named. Others have been removed from divisions including merchandising and innovation, they said.

Many of the dismissed have at least 15 years’ working experience, according to local media reports.

“This is a sign that Wal-Mart is facing more competition as well as cost pressures,” said Ben Cavender, principal of the Shanghai-based China Market Research Group.

“This looks like an attempt to streamline their operations, to cut costs and become more efficient.”

The current overall economic climate as well as the fallout from bad publicity from its own and other food safety scandals are also hurting the brand, said Cavender, while at the same time competitors are becoming more efficient and competing more aggressively.

Jason Yu, general manager of consumer information organization Kantar Worldpanel China, said the US retailer has seen a relentless growth in competition from local retailers as well as from e-commerce.

He said e-commerce now accounts for a 3 percent share of total fast moving consumer goods sales and continues to record incredible growth.

“This is achieved at the expense of modern trade retailers, especially in the first- and second-tier cities,” he said.

Other Wal-Mart restructuring efforts included its integration of nearly 30 purchasing offices into eight regional purchasing offices in November 2012.

The company reported a 0.8 percent fall in China sales during the quarter to Oct 31, which it attributed to government austerity measures and deflation.

Net group urges operators to step up controls on apps

Mobile network operators and smartphone application providers in Beijing drew up an agreement on Wednesday to enhance internal controls, improve supervision of the content of apps and keep the industry in good order.

The growth of mobile technology has brought a great deal of convenience for users who surf the Internet or keep in touch via social media networks while on the move.

However, smartphone applications with security gaps, or that are used to spread rumors and pornography, have created problems, according to the Beijing Internet Association.

The association, in an effort to tackle such problems and clean up the industry, has urged 50 mobile network operators and application providers across the capital to sign the agreement.

The document calls for stricter inspections of apps before they are uploaded to online stores.

Zhang Yuejin, director of the association’s information security committee, said the agreement is intended to maintain a fair competitive environment in the industry, while encouraging Internet giants to behave in a more socially responsible way instead of focusing only on earning money.

Net group urges operators to step up controls on apps

China had 632 million Internet users at the end of June, including 527 million who access the Web from mobile devices, and the total is expected to rise to 850 million next year.

“Smartphone applications represent the most advanced Internet technology, so the information they carry and the degree to which they are safe will affect the future development of the industry and people’s lives,” Zhang said.

Xu Xiaolong, deputy manager of the app store run by smartphone maker Xiaomi, said his team spends a considerable amount of time removing applications with unacceptable content every day.

“Apps with pornographic content are the ones our inspection team deletes most frequently, followed by ones that steal money from users,” Xu said. At least 200 requests for apps to be removed from the store are received every day, he added.

“If we find someone who uploads unacceptable apps five times, he is put on a blacklist,” he said. “Some apps are found to have problems after they pass through our inspections, which requires us to increase checks on the updated contents.”

Yu Dan from search giant Baidu said he supports the improvement of internal controls by mobile network operators, and added that the agreement is timely.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the nation’s Internet watchdog, said at the beginning of the month that it is working on guidelines for smartphone applications to ensure that the industry develops in line with the law.

Tong Liqiang, director of the authority’s Beijing branch, said then that the guidelines were among a number of rules for the Internet that the organization is studying.

Yu said, “Wednesday’s agreement is a timely measure that can be said to echo the decision to draw up app guidelines.”

Yang Hongpeng of security software provider Qihoo 360 said stricter inspection of apps by companies could reduce security risks online. However, he said the city’s government should establish uniform standards for the removal of apps.