Recruiting in China

China's annual output value topped 583.4 billion yuan (84.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2007, becoming the world's fourth largest software producer. There was still a long way for domestic software companies to go, officials said here on Thursday.

Lou Qinjian, Industry and Information Technology vice minister, said at the International Software China 2008 show that the Chinese software industry had started from scratch since the country began its reform and opening-up three decades ago. It had grown into a fundamental industry with strategic importance to the country.

The country's share of the global software industry rose from 1.2 percent in 2000 to 8.7 percent in 2007, with an annual growth rate of more than 30 percent due to a favorable policy environment.

Cao Jianlin, Science and Technology vice minister, said the country should make an even bigger effort in innovation and personnel training to sustain the industry's long-term healthy development.

The International Software China 2008 opened in Beijing on Thursday and runs through Saturday. Its focus is on industrial policy planning, industrial standards, software technologies and development, investment and financing and enterprise personnel recruiting.

"I never use the advantage, or we call it disadvantage, as a woman while at work with my male colleagues," says Dong Mingzhu, President of China's Gree Electric Appliances, the top-selling air-conditioning manufacturer in the world, at a Women CEO Forum of the Global Summit of Women 2008 in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam on Saturday.

"I see no difference between women and men at work...I don't ask for special treatment because I'm a woman. Gender is not important in business. What's important is decisiveness, judgment, and action," says the strong-minded lady, joined by hundreds of other female delegates, who packed the grand ballroom of the Melia Hotel in the downtown area of Hanoi.

The women from about 70 countries, many dressed up in exquisite and colorful traditional clothes, were discussing secrets to career success, and the different working performance between men and women.

Sophia Tong, General Manager of IBM in China's Taiwan, considers loving, caring and considerateness as special gifts for women, which help them deal with things in a more gentle and easily-to-be-accepted way. She also believes women are good at multi-tasking, which enables them to handle different things properly at the same time.

However, she believes that women, especially Asian women, are not as bold as men, thus letting good chances to slip away from their fingers.

"You need to think big, and then take action," she suggests.

Yasmin Mahmood, Managing Director for Microsoft Malaysia, describes women's roles as "jogging plates in the air", like Chinese acrobats, without one plate falling to the ground. "This amazing versatility enables women to move quickly from one style to another. It's everyone's, not just women's responsibility to help women to transform."

In order to become a successful woman in career, Sophia asks all women at the forum to "go global", to gain multiple capabilities, and "most important of all, have a clear self-awareness, to know yourself well, to know what kind of person you are, and what you really want. "

The six panelists, all of them leaders of their respective companies, agree that they are still working in a man-dominant working environment, and it's very rare for a woman to climb to a top position.

Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia, says that in her company's decades of history, only two women have managed to "climb" to the CEO position, including her.

Yukako Uchinaga, CEO of Berlitz International in Japan, says the top-ranking women in Japanese companies are still rare species, while the middle-level female managers are more and more commonly seen.

"Sometimes you'll have to wait five, or ten years to move from the middle to the top, and many women stop trying during the process," Yukako adds, "So my advice is: don't give up!"

On personalities for a women to succeed in career life, Dong says she believes that passion and confidence are the two vital personalities in a woman's career life. "Passion and confidence will make a woman love the job and be happy," she says.

SKF, the world's leading bearing supplier, announced on Friday a new investment of 580 million yuan ($83 million) to the second phase of its Dalian factory in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

With a 25,000 sq m facility added its current 80,000 sq m factory, completion of the second phase project in 2009 is expected to double manufacturing capacity.

The new factory is to support continued business growth in China and other parts of Asia, especially in the areas of renewable energy, metalworking, mining, construction and industrial transmission industries, according to Tom Johnstone, president and CEO of Sweden-based SKF group.

As a leading global supplier in the areas of bearings, seals, mechatronics, services and lubrication systems, SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has 15,000 distributors worldwide.

The Dalian factory mainly manufactures large and medium size bearings. It was planned to go through three phases as it was launched in March 2005.

"Reviewing the past three years since the company's establishment, the company's business develops fast, stable and healthy," said Sunny Chan, general manager of SKF (Dalian) Bearings and Precision Technologies Co Ltd.

The investment in the first phase of the Dalian factory was $20 million.

Johnstone said the group decided to accelerate the second step of the Dalian project because of "the strong demand of customers" and "strong performance of the facilities in Dalian".

Earlier this year, SKF Dalian won the SKF group's Excellence Award as well as the 2007 Dalian Preferred Employer Award.

Chinese investors in Vietnam are facing troubles amid the market turmoil in that country.

Many of them have had to convert their dong holdings into US dollars for fears of further depreciation. Some are facing labor unrest, with workers asking for pay rises to tackle the rising inflation. But most don't intend to shut up shop and move out of the country as they have adopted a wait-and-see policy.

According to Yang Zhen, chairman of the Business Association of China in Vietnam, Chinese enterprises there are having problems getting loans. Raw material and labor costs have also been rising.

Yang's opinion is echoed by Deng Xiaohua, a manager of Sichuan New Hope Group, the largest food company in China with an investment of 4.68 million U.S. dollars in Hanoi.

Deng said banks in Vietnam have been asking companies like his to pay a deposit as high as 90 to 110 percent since the crisis. Earlier, banks would happily allow them to do business using letters of credit. The company is thus facing capital flow problems.

Chinese enterprises have also been suffering income losses as the dong has been depreciating. "If you go to the bank and exchange dong to U.S. dollar today, you have to wait for your turn for 15 days because so many people want to do the same," National Business Daily quoted a Chinese car parts seller in Vietnam as saying. "By the time the conversion is made, the dong will have depreciated even more."

Vietnamese workers in some companies have also gone on strike demanding higher wages. Yang said the head of a plastic bag company from China was attacked during a strike and had to hide in a government hotel. Although the local government protects Chinese enterprises, small and medium-sized business will be affected if the strikes go on.

Yang said the large companies are less vulnerable to the market turmoil than the smaller ones. Most listed Chinese companies say their businesses have not been influenced much so far since the investment in Vietnam is small compared with the operation at home.

Zongshen Motorcycle Group, for instance, says the impact on it so far has been relatively small and the company plans to wait and see for a while before adjusting its policies.

Robin Marriott

Blackstone is ramping up its regional presence in Asia with its first office in mainland China.

The group has so far opened offices in Tokyo, Mumbai and Hong Kong, but it is poised to add to the network with an office in China’s second biggest city and political hub.

Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and chief executive of the group, revealed the move as he outlined the firm’s growth around the world during a presentation at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York yesterday, telling delegates: “We just signed a lease in Beijing.”

In the last ten years, he said, Blackstone had opened in London, as well as a smaller office in France, Hong Kong, Tokyo and India.

“We are very rapidly growing. From 2005 to the current day staffing has grown by 100 percent as we move around the world. It is a business with enormous dynamism and 1,200 people,” he added.

Blackstone opened an office in Mumbai in 2005 to handle private equity and real estate investments and followed that up last year when it opened a satellite office in Hong Kong from where former Hong Kong financial secretary Antony Leung is directing operations as chairman of Blackstone Greater China. Earlier this month, the firm added new impetus to the region when it announced the launch of a hedge fund business Blackstone Altius Advisors, which it called a new “event-driven” strategy focusing on opportunities in the Asia Pacific region. That business is being headquartered in Hong Kong.

In an interview with PERE in March, president and chief operating officer Hamilton James said the firm was busy staffing up the Hong Kong office with real estate professionals. At the same time, he said the firm was adding professionals in Tokyo and Mumbai. Speaking of Asia, he told PERE: “Those markets will be a much larger portion of our real estate investing activity than they have been historically.”

Blackstone’s other activities in Asia include a fund of hedge funds and two closed-ended mutual funds, The India Fund and The Asia Tigers Fund. Its 10th real estate fund, which closed in April on $10.9 billion, and its fifth global buyout fund, closed on $21.7 billion in August 2007, are active in the region.

New Facility Addresses Growing Demand for Futurestep's Strategic Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Services in China and the Asia Pacific Region HOUSTON, May 27

HOUSTON, May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Futurestep, a Korn/Ferry Company

(NYSE: KFY), today announced the opening of its newest research center in Shanghai, China. For Futurestep's global and Asia Pacific RPO clients, the center will provide crucial services, including research, name generation,
sourcing and screening, market mapping, competitive intelligence, and in-time outsourced recruitment administration.

The opening will provide an important resource for addressing the tremendous growth in demand in China and across Asia for Futurestep's Strategic RPO services, as well as its complete portfolio of Talent Acquisition solutions. While Futurestep has talent acquisition research and support resources around the world, the opening of the Shanghai facility also represents a new branding approach for the company's research centers.

"The global research center concept is a key part of our strategy for competing in the global RPO market," said Futurestep CEO Robert McNabb. "By providing strategic sourcing support, it enables our RPO teams to expand their
level of service to meet market demands. It is a cost-effective solution that provides a broader reach into passive and active candidate pools, resulting in
improved quality and client satisfaction."

The Shanghai Global Research Center represents Futurestep's commitment to growing its presence as a truly global provider of Strategic RPO services. In addition to its current lineup of global locations and support resources on
four continents, Futurestep plans to expand its reach with multiple new global research centers opening in key markets over the next two years.

To learn more about Futurestep, Strategic RPO, and its complete array of Strategic Talent Acquisition services, visit futurestep.com.

About Korn/Ferry International

Korn/Ferry International, with more than 80 offices in 39 countries, is a premier global provider of talent management solutions. Based in Los Angeles,
the firm delivers an array of solutions that help clients to identify, deploy, develop, retain and reward their talent. For more information on the Korn/Ferry International family of companies, visit kornferry.com.

About Futurestep

Futurestep, a Korn/Ferry Company, is the industry leader in strategic talent acquisition, offering fully customized, flexible solutions to help organizations meet specific workforce needs. Our full-spectrum portfolio of
services includes: Strategic Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Project-Based Recruitment, Mid-Level Recruitment, Interim Professionals and Consulting Services. With locations on four continents and a record of success
in securing top talent around the world, Futurestep provides the experience and global reach to identify, attract and retain the people who drive business
success. To learn more, visit futurestep.com.

SOURCE Futurestep