HR managers in China who aren’t reading Frank Mulligan’s Talent In China  site  are missing out on an important resource. His Nov 10 post - Slower Hiring - Window of Opportunity  reads like Recession HR 101, and will be extremely useful for local HR managers who are experiencing their first economic downturn.
“So we can look forward to [...]
China’s Senior managers and HR professionals have to deal with sales teams all the time. There was a time when you could divide the Chinese sales landscape into two groups. Aggressive western-style salesmen who were difficult to deal with, and more passive Chinese-style salesmen who were easy to deal with but didn’t always get the [...]
China HR professionals have heard the party line already - “People are this company’s most valuable asset”. This is usually followed by something about how your company takes a strategic approach to sales and marketing HR.Â
Just saying Sales HR is strategic to your China business is not enough. You have to get senior and line managers [...]
The second markets turn south, HR managers at big & medium sized companies start hearing a couple of half-truths that get repeated so often that they begin to make sense.  Â
The first myth is that hiring gets easier when business is slow and companies are having trouble. True, there is less active demand for talent during a recession. If [...]
China HR has to prepare for global recession
China is not yet feeling the full effects of the global recession, but some HR managers in Shanghai and Shenzhen already are. Â As more and more international HQs order hiring freezes - or worse, headcount reductions, HR managers in China are going to feel the pain.
Dr. John Sullivan [...]
Variable compensation. Performance based incentives. Commissions. Bonuses. Profit sharing. Employee Stock Ownership Plans.Â
These all such great ideas — when the markets are booming and business is growing. But in a depressed market (like ours) those plans turn into cruel jokes. I remember working for a NY dot-com firm just before the bubble burst. I received [...]
Is your organization run by a boss, a technocrat, a leader, or a mentor? Â Are they all the same?
If you are from the US, then you may see all of these labels as different facets of a single strong manager. Â But Chinese staffers may not see it that way. Â
For a look at how Chinese [...]
Every China HR manager knows the direct costs of high turnover. Recruiting, testing, training — the cost in hours and the loss productivity. But there’s another, potentially more damaging, threat. Everytime one of your people quits or gets fired, your company loses their experience, training, connections and abilities. Your storehouses of knowledge are walking out [...]
The China-based service business wants to expand. Â How should it proceed?Â
Bob Jones is the expat owner of a 20 person travel-related service business in Shanghai. Â He and his marketing team decide to develop the middle-class Chinese market for overnight business travelers. Â Reaction to his initial promotion was unsatisfactory. Â What should he do next?
1) Focus on [...]
Welcome to the 4th Quarter. If you’re a service business in China, you’ll probably notice that the people around you are a bit frantic – assuming that you’re not too busy to catch it. More than at any time before, there’s now a sense of urgency among managers that this quarter is ‘do or die’. [...]
