Archives January 2007

Premiums follow boom times

CHINA mainland’s insurance market expanded 14.4 percent to 564.1 billion yuan (US$73 billion) last year as the world’s fastest-growing major economy generated more demand.

Insurance companies’ total assets rose by 29 percent to 1.97 trillion yuan, according to documents issued at the China Insurance Regulatory Commission’s annual conference in Beijing yesterday.

The premiums on property and casualty cases jumped 22.6 percent to 150.9 billion yuan, while life premiums rose 10.7 percent to 359.3 billion yuan, the regulator’s chairman, Wu Dingfu, said at the conference.

China Life Insurance Co, Ping An Insurance (Group) Co and other insurers are benefiting from economic growth to sell more protection and investment products.

Government efforts to dismantle the cradle-to-grave welfare system are also spurring sales.

“The insurance industry’s growth is likely to be faster in coming years, as economic expansion will make the Chinese more willing to spend on insurance products,” said Tuo Guozhu, an insurance professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business.

Gross domestic product expanded 10.5 percent in 2006, down from a 10.7 percent pace over the first three quarters, National Development and Reform Commission head Ma Kai said on January 12. Still, the growth is the fastest among the world’s biggest economies.

The mainland’s insurance market may grow about 20 percent this year and in 2008, Tuo said.

Rapid premiums growth has made mainland insurers more attractive to investors. Shares of China Life more than quadrupled in the prior 12 months for the biggest gain among insurers worldwide, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Ping An more than tripled and PICC Property & Casualty Co doubled in the same period.

China Life’s yuan-denominated shares on January 9 more than doubled on their first day of trading on the Shanghai stock exchange, making the company the world’s second-biggest insurer by market value. The surge gives Beijing-based China Life a market value of US$128 billion, surpassing ING Groep NV, Allianz SE and Axa as the biggest insurer after American International Group Inc.

China Life raised 28.3 billion yuan selling 1.5 billion shares, or 5.3 percent of its enlarged capital, on the mainland last month.

Health and accident premiums rose 19 percent to 53.9 billion yuan, Wu said.

Insurance companies’ total returns on investment were 5.8 percent last year, 2.2 percentage points higher than 2005.

The changes in mainland’s health and pension systems to encourage consumers to spend more and save less have also helped to boost the insurance industry, Tuo said.

Mature Workers Not An Option in China

Expatriates are a big part of the business life in China. They have brought a good amount of technology, management and practical knowledge to bear on the challenges that face China¡¯s industrial base. In many ways you could say that they brought a new manufacturing platform to China and the economy has been at least partly built around it.

Unfortunately, expatriates tend to bring both the good and the bad with them. It cannot really be any other way, and it¡¯s not in any way a criticism.

For expatriates holding recruiting or HR positions in China this means that they bring the processes and models that relate to the hiring of staff in their home country. They hold these models in their head and they often try to apply them to the market here. Sometimes they know they are doing it, and try to minimize the damage. At other times they are not even aware that their assumptions are not valid.

In China, like much of the world, we are currently experiencing a ¡®War for Talent¡¯. It would actually be more accurate to say that this war continues to rage, but let¡¯s not split hairs. It¡¯s been going on for about 20 years but it ramped up significantly after China acceded to the WTO in 2001. One thing that caught my attention recently was a throw away line by an expatriate workforce development professional that companies around the world are solving their War for Talent, to some extent, by tapping into the pool of mature workers in their country. The suggestion was that this would work everywhere because, obviously, ¡®everywhere¡¯ is suffering from the retirement of the post-War Baby Boomers.

The reaction here in China was a kind of embarrassed incredulity, and a degree of irritation at such a lack of understanding of the market. So what was the basis of this lack of understanding?

Exponential Growths
First a little background material. Without laboring the point too much, demand for skills is a direct result of expansion in industrial production or increased demand for services. There is a lag in this demand but it can be shown that the overall demand has a direct correlation to the GDP growth of the country. Broad GDP growth leads to a broad growth in demand for skills and people.

In China things are a little different. The typical scenario for the growth of a particular industry has been that the government liberalizes the industry and it takes off fast, within a very short time. Latent demand kicks in and the sheer scale of opportunities causes an inrush of suppliers and manufacturers.

Simply put, the government gets out of an industry and allows private players to take the lead. Foreign players then form joint ventures with the local players and the quality and quantity of product increases. Meanwhile, the introduction of newer manufacturing methods drives the price down and this in turn drives more demand.

The problem is that this growth tends to be massively exponential. So what you see is a series of exponential growth curves that represent the take off in telecommunications, automotive, banking, shipping and so on.

If you remember anything about your high school mathematics courses you will see instantly see that it is very difficult to look back through the skills pipeline to find strong skills going back to the time before the market was liberalized. The available skill set for a given age group tends towards zero very fast.

So you are going to find it extremely difficult to find a 20-year veteran in any given industry in China coming to you with a real understanding of modern production methods. And of course you won’t find the depth of experience in the younger professional who does have the understanding of modern production methods.

Salary surge expected to continue this year in china

Salaries in China surged last year and are expected to increase further this year, according to a survey conducted by global human resources firm Mercer Human Resources Consulting.

The survey showed wages in China rose an average 7.94 percent year-on-year in 2006. And Mercer estimated salaries would continue to increase by 7.7 percent in 2007.

Wages in China’s oil and IT industries saw a substantial increase of 8.3 percent last year.

The survey covered 1,800 domestic and foreign enter-prises in industries including high-tech, IT, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, retail, auto, oil and finance.

Shanghai saw the strongest pay surge, with average wages increasing 7.7 percent. Guangzhou and Beijing followed at 7.6 percent and 7.2 percent respectively.

For the high-tech industry, salaries increased in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing 7.3 percent, 6.9 percent and 6.5 percent respectively.

Car industry wages climbed 8.3 percent, 7.9 percent and 7.8 percent respectively in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing.

Mercer’s survey was carried out in 13 Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and second-tier cities such as North China’s Tianjin Municipality, Nanjing and Suzhou in East China’s Jiangsu Province, as well as Dalian in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

The survey also showed that salaries of mid-level managerial staff climbed 8.5 percent, much higher than the average of all employees interviewed.

Middle managers’ pay increased 8.7 percent, 8.6 percent and 8.4 percent in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing respectively last year.

But despite higher pay, middle managers preferred to job hop according to the survey, indicating they were the most sought-after employees in the job market.

Salary and remuneration packages have become a key factor for employees, said Brenda Wilson, managing director of Mercer China.

“Employers are faced with two great pressures the drain of excellent employees and increasing salary costs,” said Wilson.

Analysts said that given the competitive employment climate, employers needed to find more efficient tools to retain high-caliber staff. A decent salary and attractive remuneration package were considered the most common measures.

“Employers realize they should adopt a new talent introduction and retaining mechanism,” said Wilson. She said this would involve recognizing outstanding employees by widening the salary gap, formulating a quick-response pay adjusting system, and providing good conditions such as flexible working hours.

A reader’s toolbox:

You can use your credit card to apply for personal loans as well as business loans. However the sanctioning depends upon your use of creditcard as well as payment routine of life insurance. The company usually wants to confirm if you will or will not be applying for debt help eventually.

Asia Sales Manager

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 an Asia Sales Manager to join their team.

Report To: Asia GM (A US People)
Location: Shanghai

Responsibilities:
1.Budgets & Sales Plans – establish strategic business plans covering sales (Asia, Europe and North America), marketing and price in line with business objectives, set and manage local sales and profit budget and allocation of resources for the development of the business.
2.Generate business with existing and new accounts in Asia region, Include China, Taiwan, Europe and North America.
3.Achieve your sales target for your region by selling Shanghai Airwave antenna products and related professional services.
4.Drive the sales process from starting point to a closed deal. Have an outstanding sales track record to show
5.Need to relocate to Shanghai Airwave
6.Team Management, Lead a sales team with more than ten people
7.Forecasting and Long-term Planning
8.Department budget and financial controls

Requirements:
1.Degree in Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical) or related major
2.10+ years experience in sales, preferably in the mobile industry
3.5+ years experience in managing a sales force
4.Experience in negotiating sales contracts
5.Fluent in English and Mandarin
6.Ability to work independently and travel
*The candidate should be confident in driving business deals himself/herself, as well as being a strong team player when needed. He/she must be a self-starter able to work in an environment with limited supervision and a lot of freedom.

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_mkt165sh#dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject MUST you plus the position name (in either En or Ch)

Lack of risk management awareness

CHINA’S chief executive officers are more concerned over finding qualified managers but they lack awareness about risk management compared with their global counterparts, an industry report said.

About 46 percent of CEOs who took part in the survey put “finding qualified managerial talents” and “acquiring and developing the right talent” as issues of greatest concern, the Conference Board and Ernst & Young said in a recent report.

In Europe and the United States where the talent market is more matured, CEOs there do not need to put “finding talents” as a major challenge.

In comparison, the pool of talent available in China is growing and evolving, making it one big headache for the bosses.

But a similarity exists in all top management globally, namely a focus for sustained and steady top-line growth and profit expansion.

“CEOs in China place the need for sustained and steady top-line growth and seizing opportunities for expansion and growth in China at the top of their list of challenges,” said the survey.

The top concern for CEOs worldwide is sustained and steady top-line growth, with 37.5 percent of those surveyed naming it their top challenge. In China, 53.8 percent put it as their top challenge, tied with seizing opportunities for growth in China.

Meanwhile, despite risk management being an increasingly predominant global business issue, it is still not regarded generally as one of the top challenges by CEOs in China.

“CEOs in China are now only beginning to examine, understand and implement risk management as a business tool,” said Eric Chia, an Ernst & Young partner. “This lack of focus on risk management can present challenges for many Chinese companies and we strongly advise CEOs to better prepare themselves.”

The China study is an extension of a survey of 658 global CEOs from 40 countries. The number of managers in China who took part was not given.

Breaking Down the Recruiter Bill of Rights

Change must be on our minds this week. In our last glimpse at Talent Force we explored the ever-changing job market and how it affects both companies and top talent. Today, we¡¯re going to look at the fourth right in our Recruiter Bill of Rights, which centers on a very different type of change:

4.Change: Candidates shall be willing to listen to advice given by the recruiter when advice is given in an honest attempt to help. Candidate will also be willing to make the changes necessary to make themselves a better candidate for the positions they¡¯re interested in obtaining.

We might have easily labeled it flexibility. It¡¯s about a candidates¡¯ willingness to take good advice and do the things necessary to make themselves as appealing as possible to the companies they¡¯re interested in:

¡±Faced with stiffer competition and tougher hiring requirements, companies of every sort are becoming single-minded about productivity and bottom-line performance. Consequently, competition for jobs is increasing as management seeks and hires only those persons who appear to have the most potential for helping to boost the company¡¯s profits.¡± (From Guerilla Job Hunting)

We know that candidates have their own unique skills and qualities to bring to the table, but we also know that great recruiters have insight into what else is needed to get the right candidates into the right positions. Career coaches and resume experts are quick to point out situations that most of us have faced at one time or another:

¡±You find a promising job listing online. Excited, you send a well-crafted cover letter and resume and wait for a response. Six weeks later, you¡¯re still waiting, your enthusiasm has waned, and you¡¯ve concluded your resume has fallen into a black hole.¡± (From ResumePower)

They often suggest tweaking your resume or committing more time to making quality contacts. Both of these steps can give you a leg up in your search, but there are times when it takes more than that. Recruiters can point out where skills and experience are lacking, and they can point candidates in the right direction to help rectify those weaknesses. However, the advice only works if candidates are willing to listen and willing to make changes when necessary. The task becomes easier for both recruiter and candidate when they can both look at a concrete breakdown of how the candidate stacks up against others who are vying for the same types of positions.

We know that change isn¡¯t easy and that not all advice is good advice, but top recruiters can help you transform into top talent if you¡¯re willing to listen and willing to use all of the tools at your and their disposal.

SAIC and GM plan to raise JV output

THE Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp and partner General Motors Corp plan to invest US$650 million in their Chinese joint venture to expand production and increase market competitiveness.

The capital injection is part of SAIC’s 9.2 billion yuan (US$1.15 billion) investment plan to introduce new models, add capacity in its joint ventures and boost research and development of its self-branded vehicles.

As part of the plan, SAIC and GM intend to spend a combined US$217 million to increase the registered capital of their equally owned Shanghai General Motors Automobile Co Ltd, according to a statement from Shanghai Automotive Co Ltd, the listed unit of SAIC.

General Motors Corp and SAIC will retain their existing shareholdings under the deal.

Communications officials did not provide details on the capacity expansion. But a company source said the investment would be used to upgrade existing assembly lines for future products rather than build new plants.

GM said earlier that the company plans to launch production of a hybrid vehicle that uses gas and electricity next year at Shanghai GM.

Shanghai GM is also expected to roll out a new version of the Buick Regal and other models under the Chevrolet brand.

SAIC also announced a series of investments in auto parts makers as well as a research and development institution to support the development of Shanghai GM and its self-branded models.

SAIC, the Chinese partner of GM and Volkswagen AG, ranked first among Chinese car makers in sales last year.

Baidu gains partner as EMI chases ad revenue

EMI Group Plc, which lost a copyright lawsuit against Baidu.com, has agreed to work with the Chinese search engine to distribute streaming samples of its music online and share advertising revenue from the service under a “strategic partnership.”

The two companies will also explore advertising-supported music download services that will be free of charge for all users of Baidu, the world’s fourth most visited site and whose MP3 search function already contributes to 14 percent of its online traffic.

“It’s a landmark revenue-sharing arrangement between an Internet search engine and an international music company in China,” said a joint statement by the two companies yesterday.

Beijing-based Baidu will set up a special EMI Music Zone in its music search channel that will stream all of EMI Music’s Chinese language music. While users listen to the music for free, they will be exposed to online ads.

“It provides an efficient digital distribution platform to reach Chinese consumers, allowing fans to listen to EMI’s latest quality music immediately on the Internet,” said Norman Cheng, chairman of EMI Music Asia in the statement.

Sales of search engines in China last year rose by nearly 50 percent from a year ago to 157 million yuan (US$20 million), at a much greater growth pace than Web portals.

Based on ratings of the commercial users that paid for advertising on the search engines, Baidu.com topped the market with a 39 percent share of the China market, followed by Google Inc’s 20 percent and Yahoo’s 12.6 percent.

Meanwhile, sales of online advertising excluding ads revenue by search engines in the past year in China also soared by 51 percent to nearly five billion yuan.

EMI was one of seven record companies that filed an infringement lawsuit against Baidu in September 2005, claiming the Website violated copyright by providing links to illegal music on non-affiliated sites. A Beijing court ruled in Baidu’s favor.

Quality Assurance Manager

Company introduction: Our client is a famous American company distributes replacement parts, supplies, and accessories for recreational vehicles (RV) and boats in North America. It offers a line of RV, supplies, and accessories that include antennae, vents, electrical items, towing equipment, and hitches; appliances, such as air conditioners, refrigerators, ranges and generators, LP gas equipment, portable toilets and plumbing parts, and hardware and tools; specialized recreational vehicle housewares; chemicals and supplies; and various accessories, such as ladders, jacks, fans, load stabilizers, mirrors, and compressors. The company also provides boating and marine products, such as boat covers, stainless steel hardware, depth sounders, anchors, life jackets, and other marine safety equipment and fishing equipment. In addition, they offer various other products, including trailer hitches, plastic wastewater tanks, vent lids, stabilizing jacks, and battery boxes. Their customers include RV and boat dealers, RV and boating parts¡¯ supply stores, and service centers, who resell the products at retail to consumers that own or use RVs and boats. It operates 13 regional distribution centers in 12 states in the United States and 4 regional distribution centers in Canada. They have offices in Mexico City Mexico, Tinan, Taiwan, Wuxi and Hangzhou China.

Location: Hangzhou

Responsibilities:
1.Direct daily the QC on site.
2.Communicate with US HQ ongoing basis on product issues concerning quality, engineering and other production related issues.
3.Resolve technical issues with the suppliers to ensure the product quality is meeting or exceeding the company requirements and consumer¡¯s expectations.
4.Monitor the quality inspection process and actively create solutions to problems.
5.Responsible for new project development, planning and management.
6.Work with existing and potential suppliers located in other areas of the China for new and on going projects.
7.Provide training to office staff, suppliers and quality inspectors on demand.
8.Plan and handle other projects as required.
9.Perform on-site physical inspection of the products at every production stage to ensure the final product quality.
10.Identify product defects during inspection and report the defects to the supervisor.
11.Study and analyze defect modes and assist in effort to resolve the issues.
12.Identify defect pattern and provide feedback to the supervisor.
13.Monitor the process to ensure only qualified products are accepted and shipped.
14.Monitor QC supervisor on other assignments as needed.

Requirements:
1.Strong hands on mechanical background
2.Good analytical skills to resolve problems
3.Strong understanding of welding, bending and powder coating
4.Good communications skills

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_eo074hz#dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject MUST you plus the position name (in either En or Ch)

Scheme Manager

Company introduction: It is a leading business services provider to organizations worldwide.The Group has branches in 86 countries, providing: 1) independent certification of management systems and products; 2) product testing services; 3) the development of private, national and international standards; 4) management systems training and 5) information on standards and international trade.

Job Description:
Location: Shanghai or Eastern China
1.Analysis business requirements and propose with the senior management of client companies in understanding their business problems and providing solutions to meet business needs
2.Advocate company¡¯s business improvement solution, technology and services to targeted clients.
3.Build and maintain professional business relationships with clients
4.Develop necessary user documentation and coordinate or conduct user training
5.Promote or create company¡¯s capabilities in the marketplace

Job Requirements:
1.At least 4 years experiences in advisory, consulting or training areas; sales or marketing management experience in bank, telecom, logistic and electronic industry are preferred.
2.6 sigma, risk management, business process management or second assessment experience are preferred
3.Candidate must be a fast learner with clear logical mind
4.Candidate must be comfortable in a strong service environment, with excellent interpersonal and written and general communication skills
5.Strong advisory skills and ability to deal with senior executives of MNCs
6.Strong facilitation & presentation skills are required
7.Self-motivated, independent with effective execution power
8.Good business acumen
9.Excellent communication skills including in written and spoken English and Chinese
10.Strong capabilities in MS power point, excel and word are mandatory
11.Willing to travel and work outside office hours

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to:
‘topjob_mkt163sh#dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject MUST you plus the position name (in either En or Ch)