Recruiting in China

?BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Labor and Social Security is working on a draft regulation to encourage employers to implement salary rises, a move that is being seen as a way to lessen the effects of rising inflation.

The regulation is designed to help develop a mechanism to facilitate a healthy and rational increase of employees' salaries, an official said.

The draft will be submitted to the State Council for review soon but the source did not release specific details.

Qiu Xiaoping, a senior official with the ministry, said the consumer price index shall be taken into account when salary levels are set.

"The government can not force companies to increase salaries. We hope to find a decision-making system that involves all parties in this issue through the regulation," he was quoted by Beijing-based financial weekly China Times.

About 12 provinces in China have announced their own rules on the salary issue and labor departments in 27 provinces began to ask employers to deposit a certain amount of security to ensure they do not delay payment.

These efforts have effectively reduced the number of cases in which salaries have been paid in arrears, the ministry said.

But many employers have not increased salaries for years and employees, especially blue-collars, still earn less than they should, Qiu said.

China, whose economy is driven by low-cost labor, has made efforts to protect the rights of employees. A new labor contract law took effect on Jan. 1, imposing tighter controls over employers' rights to hire and fire staff.

By Rolf D. Cremer

Published: January 28 2008 05:59 | Last updated: January 28 2008 05:59

Before the mid-1980s, there was virtually no management education in China capable of preparing managers for a new, market-oriented, and increasingly international business environment.

There were no business schools in the western sense, and the MBA was practically unknown.

The business departments of local universities lacked both the quality and the quantity of faculty to offer credible programmes, and they lacked faculty capable of working with senior executives in an EMBA or executive education programme.

Meanwhile, the foreign MBA providers in China did have faculty, and brought them into the country. Their lack of in-depth knowledge of China and lack of real involvement with management did not hinder enrolment because at the time, there were no adequate substitutes.

During this initial stage, the emphasis was almost exclusively on teaching, and foreign providers using western teaching methods. Their market-orientated course enjoyed a competitive edge over rival programmes offered by domestic institutions.

But China’s MBA business has changed fundamentally during the past five years.

The number of domestic universities approved by the Ministry of Education to offer advanced business education programmes has quickly increased.

Today more than 100 universities have been approved for MBA degrees. They offer around 250 MBA and EMBA programmes, roughly 40 of which operate in co-operation with, or as host to, a foreign provider.

During this growth, China’s management schools have become much more competitive. The financial and administrative ability of the leading universities in recruiting internationally qualified faculty has increased.

The economic rise of China has attracted back the so-called “sea-turtles”, Chinese graduates and faculty with world-class management degrees and teaching or research experience. China’s potential students are now better prepared than ever before.

Employers now also realise the limited value of degree programmes and executive education courses that lack China-relevant content and context.

The time of importing management programmes and faculty into China is now coming to an end. Business schools in China are re-positioning themselves.

China is no longer a passive recipient of knowledge and know-how, but is developing into a power centre for influencing management teaching content and research methodology. In this respect, the world of education mirrors the rising influence of China on world affairs.

The success of China’s re-positioning over the next decade or two within the business education arena depends on three factors.

First, a handful of China-based business schools will need to emerge as an internationally-recognised elite – on a par in performance and reputation with the world’s leading schools.

At present, this is not yet the case, even though a small number of leading Chinese schools are prominent within the country, and are highly respected.

The rise of these schools into the elite will be led by the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua, by the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, and by the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).

Second, China-based schools will need to align themselves with practical priorities of business.

At present, Chinese and foreign faculty in China are reluctant to commit their research to the region.

With one eye on the faculty market in North America and Europe, they consider publication in leading international (that is, US-based) academic journals as necessary for career development.

But with abundant and exciting research opportunities, good funding sources, and an emerging group of elite business schools in China itself, the future will bring greater alignment with the region.

Third, China-based faculty will need to emerge as leaders in education and research.

This will reduce the passive import of knowledge into the Chinese classroom and will gradually alter the world perception of business. The challenge for education will no longer be: “How can we teach (and sell) western knowledge and know-how to Chinese students in China and abroad?”

Instead it will be: “What can we learn (and apply) from the sustained success of China’s economy, and Chinese businesses?” This development may be hindered by the need to change the Western mindset to embrace the goal of learning from China, rather than lecturing to China.

Co-operation between the leading Chinese business schools and their international counterparts is an important means to overcoming this obstacle.

Rolf D Cremer is dean of the China Europe International Business School

The city of Beijing is 'recruiting' households to provide rooms for visitors for the 2008 Olympic Games in China, reports claim.

Local tourism authorities are looking for about 1,000 welcoming homes that can boost the level of accommodation available for the event, which is expected to bring a massive influx of visitors into the Asian country.

More than 500,000 overseas visitors are expected during the Games, with the largest daily inflow expected to be around the 300,000 mark, the Xinhua news agency reports.

Beijing currently has just over 800 star-ranked hotels offering 220,000 beds, while other accommodation providers have some 640,000 beds, but Xiong Yumei of the Beijing Tourist Bureau said that this may not be enough.

'The guest room supply may still fall short of demand, especially for hotels close to the sports venues,' she said.

The homestay concept, which is popular in many western countries, is relatively new to China and its use indicates the anticipated level of interest in this year's Olympic Games.

SINGAPORE : Asian universities are gaining a foothold in the Financial Times' Top 100 MBA list.

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) from China moved up by three spots to 11th position and the French-Singapore collaboration - Insead - was up a notch to 6th position.

At the same time, the Hong Kong UST Business School and the Indian School of Business are making their debut in the upper half of the list.

Jumping 21 spots to 46th position is the Nanyang Business School, the first Singapore university to make it to the top 50.

Not only is the Nanyang Technological University's MBA programme the top 46th in the world, it is also the 15th best in terms of value-for-money.

While the current fees average about US$21,000 (S$30,000), annual salaries earned by its students three years after graduation have gone up by a whopping 111 per cent to an average of US$89,836.

When it comes to finding work anywhere in the world - or international mobility as the survey calls it - the Nanyang Business school is ranked 9th best.

The University's MBA programme has about 100 students and almost 80 per cent of them come from over 20 countries. The school says it expects a spike of 20 to 30 percent in terms of enrolment for its July intake.

One of the driving factors not just for NTU, but also other Asian universities is the rising economic power in the region.

Professor Jitendra Singh, Dean, Nanyang Business School, NTU, said: "One of the primary reasons they have done so well in the FT rankings is that the salaries in China and India, in particular, are increasing dramatically as these economies are opening more and more to global competition."

The school will also be trying to improve the salary rankings of its students, which still fall behind their western counterparts. For example, students from top ranking Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania earn nearly US$76,000 more annually than the NTU alumni.

In terms of global ranking, NTU hopes to be in the top 25 within the next six years. It says it will be constantly recruiting top professionals and reaching out more to global recruiters for its students.

In October last year, the Economist Intelligence Unit placed NTU's MBA as the top three in Asia. - CNA/ch

Skills Shortages and High Wage Demands Greet Companies Expanding in Asia – On Top of Credit Crunch

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Companies looking to expand in Asia are bracing themselves for significant difficulties in recruiting and retaining skilled employees and a high wage bill as the war for talent in the region intensifies, according to a major global research report of business leaders’ views released today by StepStone (OSE:STP), one of the world’s largest providers of on-demand, talent management solutions.

The StepStone Total Talent Report 2008, researched and prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit, concludes that “the idea of Asia as low-cost utopia with an abundance of labour is long-gone”.

Executives in Asia cited four major recruitment and retention obstacles which businesses faced:

rising wage and pay demands among potential candidates

a lack of suitable candidates to recruit and a lack of appropriate skills among potential candidates

a perceived lack of career opportunities among current employees

employee perceptions that pay and benefits could be better elsewhere

Asian business leaders also feared an increasing expectation among employees to switch careers and jobs as the most likely cause of talent shortages in their organisation over the next three years.

Sub-prime be damned: Asia remains the long term growth prospect

Despite the difficulties, 44 per cent of all business leaders surveyed globally believed the Asia-Pacific region offered their business the best opportunities for revenue growth over the next three years, shaking off short-term fears of the sub-prime led credit crunch for a positive longer-term view. Eighty-seven per cent of global business leaders expected either slight or significant improvement in their company’s growth prospects over the next three years, with only 29 per cent saying the rising cost of credit had caused them to be less optimistic about their organisation’s future prospects.

“While recent surveys and financial analyst predictions indicate a drop in business confidence in the next year, it’s clear that most business executives are still bullish on Asia as the growth machine in the longer term,” StepStone CEO, Colin Tenwick, said.

“While the credit crunch might be dismissed in boardrooms as a short-term speed bump, it would be folly for Western businesses rushing to invest in high-growth Asian economies such as China and India to ignore the clear signs of longer-term talent shortages in Asia. This research shows that many companies will have to prepare themselves for a huge battle for talent, one that is even tougher than in Europe and North America.

“Asia is seen as the engine for growth but without the right people, businesses will see their engine splutter and may not get out of first gear. Without a clear, formal talent management strategy in place, companies will find it difficult to get – and more importantly, keep – the people they need and may struggle to realise the growth they are promising their shareholders.”

Recruitment grows tougher globally

Globally, business leaders unanimously agreed that recruiting and retaining talented employees was getting tougher – 46.5 per cent saying it was becoming slightly more difficult and 41 per cent believing it was becoming significantly more difficult. Yet only a quarter of organisations surveyed had a formal, company-wide talent management strategy in place and a staggering 16 per cent did not have a talent management strategy at all.

“To compete for the best people it is clear from this report that many organisations need to address how they are going to manage their talent in a far more structured way or they place their ability to grow under serious threat,” Mr Tenwick said.

“Given the low number of businesses with a formal talent management strategy in place, it’s unsurprising that a third of respondents said their organisation was poor at forecasting talent requirements and retaining talent in the organisation.”

While it was in Asia where recruitment and retention difficulties were most acute, business leaders in Western Europe and North America agreed that employee career switching would be a major issue in fuelling talent shortages. However, they were more concerned than their Asian counterparts of the effects of an ageing population and a lack of alignment between education and the needs of business.

Older workers will return

“The difficulty in finding talent coupled with an ageing workforce presents a serious challenge particularly to businesses in developed economies in Western Europe and North America. With almost half of executives in those regions viewing an increased use of older workers in a positive light, it appears likely that we will see more older workers returning to the workforce or perhaps postponing retirement to fill skills gaps,” Mr Tenwick said.

The report found that organisations are also building their own online recruitment portals, turning to headhunters and outsourcing work to cover skills gaps. Middle management is the talent ‘pain point’ for most businesses – finding commercial and business unit heads was the number one recruitment headache, followed by staff in operations, sales and marketing, and information technology.

Employees in operations and sales and marketing were cited as the hardest to retain, with organisations using money as their greatest weapon in keeping staff – 64 per cent increasing pay and 48 per cent improving benefits to hang on to key employees. Other popular strategies included improving training, introducing mentoring programmes and flexible working hours.

The credit crunch – still a factor

“With most economies growing and shortages of talent becoming common, candidates and employees have held the upper hand in workplace negotiations in recent years. However with the fallout from the sub-prime financial crisis taking root and speculation that a U.S. recession could trigger a global business slowdown, the position of power in employment negotiations may soon change,” Mr Tenwick said.

While recent business surveys and financial analyst speculation around the world have pointed to reduced business confidence as a result of the credit crunch, executives who responded to the EIU research had a more positive long-term view. In September/October 2007 (during the first stage of the sub-prime impact), 87 per cent of executives polled believed their organisation’s growth prospects would improve over the next three years, and this view still held true in December when the wider impact of the credit crunch was being felt: 90 per cent believed growth prospects would improve over next three years.

“In potentially volatile economic conditions, not only is a talent management strategy vital but so is technology which allows an organisation to put the strategy into action and identify where talent gaps exist, or where headcount could be reduced. Whichever way the world economy turns, having the knowledge and agility to make swift decisions on the company’s employee base could make all the difference in being able to retaining the best people and maintaining business momentum.”

The StepStone Total Talent Report 2008 is available to download at www.stepstone.com.

About the research

The Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 392 senior executives from the around the globe during September/October 2007, with most respondents from Asia (29%), Western Europe (28%) and North America (21%). The survey sample was extremely senior: all were management, with 67% operating as board members, CEOs and other C-level executives, or as senior vice-presidents, heads of business units and heads of departments. The executives surveyed represented all key employer sectors, including financial services (20%), professional services (14%), IT and technology (8%), manufacturing (7%), energy and natural resources (7%) and healthcare (5%). The organisations that the respondents worked for were predominantly large: 34% had annual revenues between $500m and $10bn, with 20% generating revenues of $10bn or more. In December 2007, the Economist Intelligence Unit re-surveyed senior executives to gauge the impact of the sub-prime credit crunch on business outlook.

The Economist Intelligence Unit's editorial team executed the online survey, conducted the interviews and wrote the report.

About the Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist Intelligence Unit is the business information arm of The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist. Through our global network of more than 700 analysts and contributors, we continuously assess and forecast political, economic and business conditions in 200 countries. As the world's leading provider of country intelligence, we help executives make better business decisions by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on worldwide market trends and business strategies.

About StepStone

StepStone is one of the world’s largest providers of on-demand, talent management solutions, offering a portfolio of technology, software and online services that enable organisations to attract, recruit, develop, retain and manage the best available talent.

StepStone Online operates some of Europe’s largest and most successful Total Talent Communities, covering 13 countries and attracting 1.9million visitors each week. StepStone’s Total Talent Management Software Solutions are a range of on-demand services which enable organisations to manage the entire employee lifecycle, from initial attraction, through pre-hire online recruitment, on-boarding and post hire performance management including compensation management, skills and competency management and employee training and development. StepStone recently completed the acquisition of ExecuTRACK, a global leader in strategic Talent Management, which extends StepStone's Total Talent Management solutions portfolio.

Thousands of organisations including Aviva, Amey, Royal Bank of Scotland, AXA, British Airways, Xerox and Fiat use StepStone's products and services to help them recruit qualified staff globally. Founded in Norway in 1996, StepStone was the only European-headquartered vendor to be recognised as a ‘leader’ by Gartner, Inc’s recent "Magic Quadrant for E-Recruitment Software, 2006” report.

NEW YORK (AP) - Online job listings company Monster Worldwide Inc. on Thursday said its fourth-quarter profit rose more than 15 percent on strong international revenue growth.

The company reported net income of $45 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with $39.1 million, or 30 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Revenue jumped to $354 million from $298.6 million, driven by a more than 59 percent jump in international revenue to $143.3 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 38 cents per share on revenue of $352.7 million.

For 2007, Monster reported a profit of $146.4 million, or $1.12 per share, compared with $37.1 million, or 28 cents per share, in 2006.

"Despite the current weaker economic environment, we are optimistic about our longer-term growth prospects," Sal Iannuzzi, the company's chairman and chief executive, said in a release.

Shares of Monster Worldwide dipped 76 cents to $27.85 in regular trading. In aftermarket activity, they added 85 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $28.70.