Recruiting in China

Graduation season is upon us, and everyone from President Obama to John Grisham is delivering commencement speeches across the country. TIME looks at some of the most successful people to never receive their sheepskins.

1. Bill Gates

The Harvard Crimson called him “Harvard’s most successful dropout” — the rest of the world just calls him ridiculously rich. For more than a decade, Bill Gates has been one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest, men in the world. The son of an attorney and a schoolteacher, Gates entered Harvard in the fall of 1973, only to drop out two years later to found Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen. In 2007, more than thirty years after he left Harvard, the co-founder of Microsoft would finally receive his degree (an honorary doctorate) from his alma mater. At the commencement, Gates said, “I’m a bad influence. That’s why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.”

2. Steve Jobs

The Mac, the iPod, heck, even Buzz Lightyear probably wouldn’t have existed had Steve Jobs stayed in school. The future wizard of One Infinite Loop dropped out of Reed College after just six months because of the undue financial strain it placed on his working-class parents’ savings. He would go on to eventually found Apple, NeXT Computer and Pixar, becoming an instrumental force in shaping the landscape of modern culture. However, his brief tenure in academia was not for naught. In a 2005 commencement speech he gave at Stanford University, Jobs credited a calligraphy class he took at Reed College with forming the basis for the typography used in the first Macintosh computer.

3. Frank Lloyd Wright

America’s most celebrated architect spent more time designing colleges than attending them. Frank Lloyd Wright was admitted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1886, but left after only one year. He would move to Chicago and eventually apprentice under Louis Sullivan, the “father of modernism.” By the time of his passing, Wright’s resume included more than 500 works, most famous of which are Fallingwater and New York City’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

4. Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster Fuller — architect, thinker, inventor, futurist, college dropout. Expelled from Harvard not once, but twice, Fuller’s post-dropout period was anything but successful. He suffered a string of bad business ventures and years of anguish following his daughter’s death. While Fuller could have settled for a less than extraordinary life — he even contemplated suicide — he refused to buck to the bevy of bad breaks. At the age of 32, Fuller set out on a one man quest to change the world for the better. His unorthodox ideas such as the dymaxion (a portmanteau of dynamic maximum tension) house and dymaxion car captivated the nation, while his iconic geodesic domes would bring him international fame and recognition.

5. James Cameron

The Academy Award-winning director followed a circuitous route to Hollywood. Born and raised in Canada, he and his family moved to Brea, California in 1971. It was there that the young Cameron enrolled in Fullerton College to study physics. His academic life did not last long. He would drop out, marry a waitress and eventually become a truck driver for the local school district. It was not until he saw Star Wars in 1977 that Cameron would trade his blue collar career for one creating some of the late 20th-century’s most stunning (and expensive) science-fiction movies.

6. Mark Zuckerberg

Most college students use their dorm rooms to sleep, study, or do things their parents probably don’t want to know about. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in his. Originally meant only for Harvard students, the popular social networking site quickly spread to the rest of the Ivies and other colleges across the nation. As Facebook’s popularity exploded, Zuckerberg packed up his bags and relocated the fledgling company to Palo Alto, California, forever leaving behind Harvard’s hallowed halls. So far, the decision has worked out pretty well for the twenty-something. According to Forbes, Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in the world, with a 2010 net worth of $4 billion.

7. Tom Hanks

TIME has called Tom Hanks America’s chronicler in chief; Sacramento State can call him their most famous dropout. The storied actor left college to intern full time at the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. There, he learned various aspects of theater from lighting to set design, laying the foundation for his Hollywood career as movie star, producer, director and writer. Not one to forget his own past, in 2009 Hanks helped fund-raise money to help renovate the Cleveland theater where he got his start.

8. Harrison Ford

Apparently a college degree isn’t a prerequisite for flying the Millennium Falcon. Harrison Ford, of Star Wars and Indiana Jones fame, majored in philosophy at Ripon College, but dropped out shortly before graduation. He subsequently landed several small parts in Hollywood productions, but unhappy with such minor roles, turned to a career in professional carpentry instead. Almost ten years later, he would co-star in George Lucas’ 1973 graduation night comedy American Graffiti and subsequently joined Lucas in a galaxy far, far away in the 1977 blockbuster Star Wars.

9. Lady Gaga

Before she was a Gaga, she was a Germanotta. Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, the artist better known as Lady Gaga attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, but dropped out after just a year to pursue her music career full time. She broke onto the New York club scene with her burlesque performances and was signed to Interscope Records by the age of 20. Her 2008 debut album, The Fame, has had the world going gaga for Gaga ever since.

10.Tiger Woods

In a world where prodigious sports talents tend to forgo higher education altogether for the pros, Tiger Woods chose to continue playing amateur golf at Stanford University as an economics major. Perhaps it was in Econ 101 that he learned the term “opportunity cost,” because his time at Stanford was not long. After two years there, Woods turned pro with his “Hello world” announcement, officially ending his collegiate career. He would go on to become one of the highest paid athletes in the world, earning more than $100 million annually at the height of his career. How?s that for economics?

Time

Job prospects for executives at multinationals in Greater China and Singapore have improved sharply in the past three months amid growing optimism that Asia's recovery from the global recession will be sustainable, a quarterly survey showed on Thursday.

'Asia is the first region to emerge from the global recession, causing employers to revise their hiring expectations sharply upwards,' said Mike Game, chief executive of executive recruiters Hudson Asia.

In China, hiring prospects picked up for the first time in more than a year. The proportion of employers in China, Hong Kong and Singapore who plan to cut headcounts within three months is less than half that in a similar survey taken in May. The latest survey was taken in August.

Hiring expectations have increased most in Hong Kong, where 35 percent of companies say they expect to recruit staff within three months, up from 22 percent in May. In media, public relations and advertising, 69 percent of companies said they would be hiring, compared with 28 percent in the previous survey.

In China, 39 percent of employers said they planned to add staff, up from 27 percent in the May survey, with companies in banking and finance most bullish about hiring.

Hong Kong and Singapore pulled out of recession in the second quarter while China on Thursday announced an 8.9 percent surge in third-quarter GDP, putting it easily within reach of its 8 percent growth target for this year, economists say.

WAGE GROWTH

Salaries are set to accelerate across Asia next year as business conditions improve: a survey by U.S. HR consultants Hewitt Consultants forecasts salaries in China will jump 6.7 percent next year after rising only 4.5 percent this year. Pay rises in Hong Kong and Singapore will be more modest at just under 3 percent.

In Singapore, 34 percent of companies in the Hudson survey said they would be hiring soon, up from 26 percent in the May survey, and only 5 percent said they would cut staff, compared with 14 percent in May. The healthcare and life sciences sector continues to offer the best hiring opportunities in Singapore with 44 percent of companies preparing to add headcount, while the consumer sector has seen a slight fall in hiring expectations since May.

Singapore employers were most willing to hire candidates who had been unemployed for more than a year, or an extended period of time, while employers in China were least willing to do so, according to Hudson.

Previous experience and specialist skills were cited as the main reasons to hire the long-term unemployed across the region but, in China, stopping work to obtain a higher qualification was also seen as a valid reason.

The quarterly survey covered responses from nearly 2,000 managers at multinational companies across industries in the three markets.

China International Capital Corporation (CICC), the leading international investment bank in China, is hiring for its asset management department and retail group in second tier cities.

Recent recruitment activity indicates that the firm is trying to fill positions such as investment consultant, channel marketing and sales, and retail customer services in order to develop and maintain relationships with local distribution-channel customers, institutional clients and high-net-worth individuals.

Headquartered in Beijing, CICC also has offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Much of its recently posted recruitment, however, is for its expanding business in cities such as Chengdu, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing.

Considered an elite employer within the Chinese banking sector, on a par with major international banks, CICC sets a high threshold for applicants, even in these second-tier centres.

According to the firm’s website, for an entry level position of investment consultant at its retail group in Chengdu, candidates must have “solid sales-related experience in multinational companies, preferably having been involved in securities sales,” as well as a “master degree in relevant majors, preferably an MBA from renowned universities”.

And these aren’t just paper promises. A new recruit to CICC’s asset management department in Shanghai, who asked not to be named, says most of his colleagues are graduates from leading MBA schools, such as CEIBS, and top universities like Fudan and Jiaotong.

CICC defines itself as a "meritocracy”, which means that ability and talent are rewarded above all. Hiring falls into three main categories: lateral (experienced professionals), campus (fresh graduates) and summer internships.

“For senior level positions, CICC prefers hiring those who have work experience at well-known investment banks, such as Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan. CICC is also hiring overseas returnees for specific positions such as fixed income and structured products,” says Stephen He, a banking and finance division senior consultant at Randstad China.

Around the world over the past couple of years, the pharmaceuticals industry has been slashing jobs at a rapid rate, beset by expiring patents on important drugs and slowing growth in rich country markets.

The lost jobs have included sales representatives and back office staff, but also the once ring-fenced jobs in drug development, the lifeblood of the industry.

Against this somewhat grim backdrop, however, Shanghai has managed to cement its position as one of the drugs industry’s most important hubs for research and development.

Many of the industry’s premier companies, including Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and AstraZeneca have opened new research facilities in the city and some of them are already looking to expand them.

Novartis, the Swiss group, said in November it planned to invest $1bn in its Shanghai laboratories, which would employ 1,000 people in five years’ time. Shanghai would become the third pillar in the company’s global R&D, alongside Basel and Boston.

Amid hype about corporate research moving to China and overinflated figures about how much real innovation is taking place in the country, the rapid emergence of pharmaceuticals research in Shanghai is a strong demonstration that the city can actually build a genuine corporate research base.

How has it managed to flourish while the industry as a whole is struggling?

The principal draws are the market and the pool of talented scientists.

While OECD healthcare markets are languishing and the industry is trying to come to terms with the impact of US healthcare reform, emerging markets are flourishing, none more so than China.

IMS, the consultancy, believes the country will see sales increase by 17 per cent this year.

Most companies are working on the assumption that China will be one of the three biggest markets in the industry in five years, alongside the US and Japan.

Although industry executives say there is no direct link between where research is conducted and sales in that country, there are plenty of subtle advantages to having labs in important markets – from currying favour with regulators to establishing links with the doctors and scientists who are leaders in their area.

AstraZeneca says that its research arm in Shanghai is mostly focused on trying to learn more about patients in China and the country’s medical needs.

When the company launched its Iressa drug for lung cancer seven years ago, it quickly found that Asian women who were non-smokers responded much more strongly than western patients. One of the genes that the drug targets appears to mutate much more frequently among Asian women, making the treatment more effective.

The initial focus of the facility has been to try to understand more about these differences, first in cancer and now in respiratory diseases.

“The Iressa case will not be an exception. It will happen again and again, so we are here to study the differences between patients in this part of the world,” says Zhang Xiaolin, head of AstraZeneca’s Shanghai research facility.

“All of this will have a profound effect on drug development and on the prospects for personalised medicine.”

The other driving force for drugs companies is the relatively untapped ranks of smart young Chinese scientists.

Novartis says this was the main reason for its decision significantly to expand its research arm in Shanghai. Six years ago, it moved the headquarters of its research operations from Basel to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Daniel Vasella, chairman, says the experience in the US “taught us that you have to go where the talent is rather than getting the talent to come to you”.

The gap in the local talent pool is that, while there are plenty of excellent scientists, there are few people with extensive experience in drug development – an area that is still in its infancy in China.

That means that multinationals have needed to recruit a significant number of overseas Chinese from labs in the US and Europe to take leadership positions – something that nullifies much of the cost advantage there might be to conducting research in China.

At a time when the industry struggling elsewhere, there is no shortage of overseas Chinese scientists wanting to come back.

At first, it was quite hard work to lure back talented researchers, says Mr Zhang at AstraZeneca, but now there are no problems.

Because of the large number of drug research facilities established in Shanghai, there is also now a critical mass of suppliers of the instruments and chemicals that are vital for research.

There are some obstacles, however. Drug companies experience considerable problems shipping biological samples while the regulatory environment for early-stage clinical trials is also extremely complicated.

The purchase of China’s WuXi PharmaTech Inc. will give Charles River Laboratories International Inc. the ability to offer drug makers one-stop shopping for preclinical drug development and testing, executives of both companies said yesterday.

Charles River Labs, a drug testing contractor based in Wilmington, agreed to acquire Shanghai’s WuXi (pronounced who-shee) in a cash and stock deal valued at about $1.6 billion.

The alliance is a good fit because the two companies serve a similar client base of leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the United States and Europe but provide different services, said James C. Foster, chief executive of Charles River, who will lead the combined company.

While the Massachusetts company conducts animal tests for drug developers before clinical trials, its new Chinese partner, among other things, manufactures the primary ingredient in drugs — known in the industry as the API, or active pharmaceutical ingredient, the substance in drugs that is biologically active.

“We’re doing this because our clients, particularly large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, want to buy an increasing number of services from a smaller number of providers,’’ Foster said in an interview. “We want to be one of those providers.’’

Edward Hu, the WuXi chief operating officer who oversees US operations, said the deal will allow his company to expand faster, and serve a broader customer base, than it could have on its own.

“It creates a formidable company in the early development space,’’ Hu said in an interview, citing the ability to handle a range of services for clients, from designing molecules to safety and animal testing. “No other service provider has this capability today. This is going to reshape the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.’’

But investors apparently thought WuXi stockowners got the better part of the deal, which the boards of both companies have approved. Shares of Charles River tumbled $6.22 (15.6 percent) to $33.55 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, while WuXi shares vaulted $2.84 to $19.41, a 17.1 percent gain.

Charles River agreed to pay $21.25 a share for the Chinese company. That includes $11.25 in cash and $10 in Charles River common stock. The deal represents a more than 25 percent premium over WuXi’s closing stock price Friday. It is expected to be completed some time before the fourth quarter.

The merger reflects a consolidation trend among both drug makers and the companies that provide services to them.

Increasingly, many drug makers have been outsourcing development and testing services to contract research organizations, such as Charles River and WuXi, and focusing their own efforts on clinical trials and marketing. The outsourcing business, which allows drug makers to cut costs and increase their speed to market, has been growing by an estimated 30 percent annually.

“This is another way of reducing risk,’’ said Harry Glorikian, managing partner at Scientia Advisors, a Cambridge consulting firm that focuses on life sciences. “It’s less risky for large pharmas to outsource their drug development functions and become marketing shops pushing these drugs onto consumers. When you think about it, this is similar to Procter & Gamble or Dell outsourcing component design.’’

Under their definitive agreement, the combined company will retain the name Charles River Labs and its global headquarters in Wilmington. The Chinese operation will continue to be called WuXi and be run by its existing management team of mostly Chinese-born, US-educated executives.

WuXi was one of the companies visited by Governor Deval Patrick on a trade mission he led to China in 2007. The company currently serves about 20 customers from Massachusetts, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge.

While the deal helps to cement the role of China as low-cost venue for drug development, Charles River’s Foster said he expects operations in Wilmington will expand as the company grows. Charles River also plans to reopen in 2012 an animal testing site in Shrewsbury where it suspended operations early this year because of a slowdown in business from its customers in the Boston area, Foster said.

“Our footprint will get larger in Massachusetts,’’ he said.

Charles River, which had $1.2 billion in sales last year, employs about 8,000 workers worldwide, including more than 800 in Massachusetts. The company was founded by Foster’s father, veterinarian Henry Foster, in 1947. It went public on the Nasdaq exchange in 1968, and was purchased by medical technology company Bausch & Lomb in 1984.

A management group, led by James Foster, repurchased the company in 1999 through a leveraged buyout and took it public again in 2000, this time on the New York Stock Exchange.

WuXi, a 10-year-old company that posted revenue of $270 million last year, is the largest Chinese maker of chemical compounds for the pharmaceutical industry. It acquired three US research sites in 2008 when it bought Minnesota-based AppTec Laboratory Services Inc. WuXi employs about 4,000 workers worldwide.

Substantial challenges exist identifying and recruiting the right high-tech telecommunications staffing talent in the Chinese market. In fact the need for high tech telecommunication leadership talent, for example, has produced a staffing gap in China that no longer remains balanced. Many view China's immense market as the long-unchanging high tech industry's biggest promise for growth. "Therefore it is critical that companies have a full understanding of their particular stage of globalization and seek to recruit the right leadership talent for that stage" (Luo, 2007, p. 1). Different needs develop at different stages of globalization. A comprehensive strategy for the acquisition of a company in China will prepare the expected audit of HR systems. "I define 'strategic staffing' as the process of identifying and addressing the staffing implications of business plans and strategies, or better still, as the process of identifying and addressing the staffing implications of change, " (Bechet, 2000, p. 1). Challenges to the strategy might arise because of this acquisition--that include unequaled cultural and regulatory factors. This prepared staffing strategy should help make the Chinese acquisition a flourishing investment undertaking for each entity.

It is imperative to associate the company objectives with the globalization concept when considering a staffing strategy. Objectives will prove easier since China has entered the World Trade Organization in 2002. Plus, its continued liberalization of rules governing foreign investment can ease the transition. A difficult challenge remains comprehending exactly where Chinese operation stands according to corporate evolution; then, staff must be recruited to match. Awareness of this fact will prevent detrimental stumbles. A lot of companies in China's market today find themselves at this beginning development stage. "Indeed, with surprising frequency, foreign companies operating in China have tended to make identical hiring mistakes at each stage of evolution of their operations there" (Luo, 2007, p.1). The company must deliberate if a candidate succeeded at a company at a like developmental stage. The company realizes a general manager candidate must do what it takes to close a deal. Human Resources must also realize that present relationships a general manager candidate might bring to the job might not be of much value. Much of this results from important clients altering their inner decision-making dynamics. At a testament to this realization, three major Chinese telecommunications companies replaced CEO's in 2004 (Luo, 2007). This fact, alone, could cause middle management modifications. Another consideration includes, "general manager candidates who are accustomed to working in a multinational environment with far more advanced supporting infrastructure and whose core competency is to mange resources may find it a stretch to produce results-oriented, hands-on salesmanship" (Luo, 2007, p. 1).

While recruiting and staff of employees proves challenging in any market, it proves especially so in China since there is a deficit of management and executive talent (much of the labor shortage due to the lack of pragmatic training). "Under the pressure to move quickly in China, companies must resist the temptation to hire leaders who appear to be candidates generally but who lack the specific skills required for success at the company's particular stage of globalization" (Luo, 2007, p.1). The management of human resources and incorporating the present talent from the two companies in the acquisition might prove challenging. Without a doubt, ineffectual management consolidation may significantly influence the company's vision. Human Resources must reduce the distance between gaps in the two companies, both culturally and geographically. The merger will realize the challenge of differences in business cultures and practices. Realizing all these factors, HR strategy employs a sponsored-mobility approach. When considering staffing, career, and succession systems in respect to "sponsored versus contest mobility norms" Rosenbaum found a "sponsored-mobility approach stresses the early identification of talent. Firms following this norm attempt to benefit from the efficiencies of specialized training and socialization by providing high-potential candidates with challenging assignments and other opportunities believed to be conducive to employee development" (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001, p. 25). China creates a great challenge since the cultural differences (language, particularly) obviously remain immense. Additionally, interaction with leaders in China proves limited.

Not uncommon in other countries (like Czechoslovakia; for example), the Chinese people see those they work with as part of the family—extended. The "personal" element comes much more into play: the manager finds himself (or herself) looked up to like one would an older brother or sister; sometimes giving guidance on personal matters (even performing personal "undertakings." In contrast, this type of behavior in America may be construed as "playing favorites" or unjust exaction. The complexity of this personal employee relationship in conjunction with the context of the workplace must remain at the forefront of Human Resources staffing considerations. In reality, this sort of workplace extended-family culture often precipitates business agreements. Additionally, though, this type of employee/employer relationship construction may produce organizational structure changes.

In the vein contrasting cultures, regulatory factor differences must be regarded. As mentioned previously, China's World Trade Organization status has allowed ameliorated foreign approach—particularly to the service sector (most regulated) in China. This fact, in itself, has granted additional participation in financial, telecommunications, professional services, insurance, etc. A lot of mix-up abounds concerning China's obscure 2001 Labor Law; which creates many ways of reading it from each side. A challenge lies in establishing clear guidelines for each side (since labor regulations appear lacking). Complications arise in staffing a multinational enterprise due to political, economical, legal, business, as well as cultural implications. The effectiveness and acceptability of Human Resources management rides on these factors. The company attests exhaustive cognition of Equal Employment Opportunity policies and their application in the acquired workplace. In this time of war, HR remains cognizant of final regulations clarifying the responsibilities of employers of military veterans according to the Uniform Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act of 1994. The law requires employers to reinstate returning service members within two weeks after they apply for reemployment. Returning veterans must be afforded the status, seniority, and pay they would have attained had they remained continuously employed.

Additionally, usually, staffing policies for the host country won't come written with the vantage point of the parent's. Arun Kottolli in "International Staffing Strategy" makes a fine point when he realizes, "Often this tends to be parochial and ethnocentric resulting in tensions between parent and subsidiary management. Often the subsidiary management will not directly point at the problem in the company's HR policies, especially if the policy was written by the 'headquarters.' As a result real reasons are not noticed until it is very late" (p. 1). Ohme in his book, "Borderless world," argues that companies should do away with the "headquarters" mindset and appropriate subsidiaries more freedom. "This freedom is more important in framing HR policies. The main point companies must learn that the HR policies followed at home may not be applicable in the host country" (Kottolli, 2007, p. 1). Human Resources will need to study the regional market circumstance and ply to it. It would behoove the company to take in major executives of the acquisitioned business to join the parent's top management. Current Human Resources polices must change since their policies don't apply to the company acquired.

Establishing loyalty and bonding between both companies starts with an internal recruiting procedure. Even entry level jobs will have a title, as Chinese culture ascertains the prestige of such. This will aid in appealing to potential recruits. However, the title significance could bring about organizational structural changes. The facilitation of early staffing will prove easier with the availability of an intranet Web site. Potential job candidates may view job postings on the Internet, various international newspapers, university/college newspapers and collegiate bulletin boards. An appraisal questionnaire assesses fundamental skills, while the application provides needed information for Human Resources (enabling a selection process). Then, HR can select candidates after an interview. They will not allow the candidate's nationality to blind their decision concerning the best candidate for the position. Selectivity in recruiting remains paramount. "Hiring the right people means more than just securing employees who possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform a particular job; these people must also be able to acquire new knowledge and skills as jobs and environments change. In addition, employees must find that the work is satisfying and that the overall organizational climate and reward structure meets their needs" (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001, pp. 10-11).

From past foreign acquisitions, history shows a large degree of expatriate applications—producing a good mix with internationals. The lack of skilled management in China assures many expatriate applications. The labor shortage in China should produce a great number of young applicants (especially at the collegiate level). To direct the foreign subsidiary, Human Resources will appoint a home country national to build the parent company's corporate culture in the adjunct. "While this reduces the communication between headquarters and the subsidiary and increased control by the headquarters, this policy has serious disadvantages. The cultural differences and environmental differences will be huge and expatriates may not be able to cope with. Thus resulting in costly management mistakes" (Kottolli, 2007, p. 1).

Human Resources considers the staffing strategy in as a longer-term context. And within this context, increased effectual shorter-term staffing determinations prove ascertained. This near-term aim might gain the attention of managers finding themselves assessed by and rewarded for attaining shorter-term targets. "Because it helps define appropriate short-term actions, it is more likely that the same line manager making the
staffing decision will still be in place to rap the benefits of that decision later on" (Bechet, 2000, p.1). The staffing focus will not remain on implementation concerns. Human Resources will deal with staffing from a planning perspective that's proactive. Those staffing realize, "staffing constraints (e.g., an inability to recruit a sufficient number of individuals with critical skills) may impact the company's ability to implement its plans. These constraints should be identified and addressed as part of the planning process, not left as surprises to be uncovered when implementation begins" (Bechet, 2000, p.1). No long-term staffing strategy proves necessary Human Resources may fill a job position internally (comparatively quick). This, too, saves time and resources. Top managers the company acquires from the acquisition could prove the most valuable asset: they know the market.

Human Resources often spends too much time on data and tables—devising reports and other staffing-related information (often the volume of planning data). For the merger of the acquisition staffing, the focus remains on acting and planning—not just reports. For example, if "you reallocate staff because of something you discern from a data table, then that data has become information. When it comes to staffing, make sure you provide managers with information, not data. If your reports provide managers with data that is simply 'nice to know' or 'interesting' but doesn't directly influence decision making, don't provide them" (Bechet, 2000, p.1). As result, organizational effectiveness increases remarkably. However, Human Resources realizes the extreme importance of auditing HRM practices and departments. "Finally, we bring to your attention a concept refined in the writing of Devanna, Fombrun, and Tichy: the evaluation of the HR function by way of the human resources management audit (HRMA).22 Any audit is typically considered to be a first step in an improvement or change effort" (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001, pp. 30-31).

Additionally, effective training and development proves paramount to increasing organizational effectiveness. English remains at the top of the list of those training and developmental programs. Writing for business, job-specific training, and skills in presentation top the list. Available training exists for retained management in both companies—classes ranging from managing resources, leadership, coaching, and stress and time management. A focus lies in cross-utilization and cross-training. Another perspective of training and development demonstrates orientation "driven by the need to be flexible and able to utilize employees even during times of production slowdowns. When people are able to perform multiple jobs, or are multiskilled, they represent a reserve of talent and are more likely to appreciate how their work and output levels affect the work of other employees in jobs related to their own...times when multiskilling is important and times when it is not" (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001, pp. 14-15). Human Resources will offer an overall understanding of Chinese business patterns and culture to all employees at both companies facilitated through simulations, as well as face-to-face. Human Resources realizes they, "must temporarily forget the old colonial model that often underpinned the multinational stage in which the parent company simply tries to reproduce itself on foreign soil, often transplanting managers from the home country in order to ensure that copy is accurate" (Luo, 2007, p.1). Human Resources will recognize its own strengths and weaknesses. And it will look for candidates for training and on-the-job experience to satisfy its own skill gaps. Despite cultural difference, HR has a working comprehension of the significance of gender in the work environment and overall development. They ensure the consideration of cultural averages in delineating actions and outcomes developed by the team.

First, HR defines the staffing levels and sum of employees needed (and their capacities) for strategy implementation. Staffing resources presently available require assessment. The strategy (through plans and action) will close talent gaps. "Successful implementation of a strategic staffing process lies no in how these basic steps are defined. The 'devil is in the details'—or perhaps more appropriately in this case—the devil is in the implementation. It is not the steps themselves that are important, it is how they are developed and implemented that counts" (Bechet, 2000, p. 14). Part of the equation does not include predicting future staffing. Simply, a context for decision making proves paramount. Again (as previously mentioned) emphasis lies in proactiveness—a planning perspective. HR wants the implementation of its strategy to result in the new Chinese acquisition taking on the status of a prospector firm. "Prospectors attempt to be the first to market with new products and services. These firms rely on innovation, flexibility, and speed. They exploit new market and product opportunities" (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001, pp. 9-10). HR also realizes the paramount nature of strategic perspective: that staffing needs prove optimally met in manners that call for some beforehand preparation. An approach under consideration includes contacting graduate students to develop a relationship with them before their job market availability. These contacts might include internships, as well as a series of presentments. The development of these contacts should increase the likelihood of the graduate student working for the company at school's completion. Staffing strategy will remain constant—an ongoing process (not just a yearly thing: implemented and updated regularly). Additionally, it may prove wise to integrate scenario planning into strategic planning. Each scenario could have dissimilar staffing entailments. HR will ascertain which scenario might occur and determine staffing plans accordingly. To cover this approach best HR assesses staffing requirements for every likely scenario. Then, look for things the scenarios have in common.

In summary, "China's talent gap will not be solved in the short term. In fact, it is likely to get worse before it gets better. Therefore it is critical that companies have a full understanding of their particular stage of globalization and seek to recruit the right leadership talent for that stage" (Luo, 2007, p. l). Human Resources realizes the different needs of a company at different stages of globalization. In order for an effective implementation strategy the newly expanded company (whose revised strategy has resulted in an acquisition in China's market) masters the significance of the connection between business objectives and the concept of going global. Tremendous stakes remain possible. The liberalization of rules governing foreign investment has enabled better business transactions with the country. A comprehensive strategy for the acquisition of a company in China will prepare the expected audit of HR systems. Challenges to staffing strategy may transpire because of this acquisition. These include unequaled cultural and regulatory factors. This prepared staffing strategy should help make the Chinese acquisition a thriving investment project for each company. Though staffing and recruiting of employees proves challenging in any market, it proves especially so in China since there is a deficit of management and executive talent—a lot of the labor shortage because of the deficiency of practical training. Human Resources must lessen the distance between gaps in the two companies on both the cultural and geographic levels. The merger will actualize the challenge of conflicts in business cultures and practices. Knowing all these factors, HR strategy uses a sponsored-mobility approach. The complexness of the Chinese personal employee relationship in conjunction with the context of the workplace must remain at the forefront of Human Resources staffing considerations. A lot of confusion exists about China's vague 2001 Labor Law. Many interpretations abound from each side. Another challenge lies in laying down clear guidelines for each side as result of lax labor regulations. Human Resources looks at the staffing strategy in as a longer-term context. So, within this context increased sound shorter-term staffing decisions prove ascertained. Difficulties develop in staffing a multinational enterprise as consequence of political, economical, legal, business, and cultural entailments. The effectiveness and acceptability of Human Resources management depends upon on these factors.

Written by DG Farnsworth