The Divine Wind Vault: May 2013

Sunday, May 12, 2013

China career boost can come with health risks for expats

By LOUISE WATT

Careers May. 08, 2013 - 06:05AM JST ( 18 )

BEIJING —

Whitney Foard Small loved China and her job as a regional director of communications for a top automaker. But after air pollution led to several stays in hospital and finally a written warning from her doctor telling her she needed to leave, Small packed up and left for Thailand.

In doing so, the Ford Motor Co executive became another expatriate to leave China because of the country’s notoriously bad air. Other top executives whose careers would be boosted by a stint in the world’s second-largest economy and most populous consumer market are put off when considering the move.

There is no official data on the numbers leaving because of pollution, but executive recruitment companies say it is becoming harder to attract top talent to China — both expats and Chinese nationals educated abroad. The European Chamber of Commerce in China says foreign managers leave for many different reasons but pollution is almost always cited as one of the factors and is becoming a larger concern.

If the polluted skies continue, companies may have to fork out more for salaries or settle for less qualified candidates. Failure to attract the best talent to crucial roles could result in missed commercial opportunities and other missteps.

Poor air quality has also added to the complaints that foreign companies have about operating in China. Even though China’s commercial potential remains vast, groups representing foreign companies say doing business is getting tougher due to slowing though still robust economic growth, strict Internet censorship, limits on market access and intellectual property theft.

China’s rapid economic development over the last three decades has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty but also ravaged the environment as heavy industry burgeoned, electricity demand soared and car ownership became a badge of status for the newly affluent in big cities. Health risks from pollution of air, water and soil have become a source of discontent with Communist Party rule among ordinary Chinese.

Foreigners regularly check the air quality readings put out by the U.S. Embassy and consulates on their Twitter feeds when deciding whether to go out for a run or let their children play outside.

The pollution has become even more of a hot topic since January, when the readings in Beijing went off the scale and beyond what is considered hazardous by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On the worst days, skyscrapers disappeared into the capital’s murky skyline and masks multiplied on the streets and sold out at convenience stores. At the same time, China’s state media gave unprecedented coverage to the pollution following months of growing pressure from a Chinese middle class that has become more vocal about the quality of its air.

“January was probably the worst,” said Australian Andrew Moffatt, who worked for nine months in Beijing as regional manager for a chain of language schools before the pollution pushed him to return to Brisbane in March with his wife and 5-year-old son.

“Back in November I had been sick and then we went on holiday to the beach in Hainan and it just reminded me of Australia and I just thought we could be breathing this quality air every single day rather than polluted air in Beijing,” he said.

And it’s not only Beijing where the air pollution is driving expats away.

Ford transferred its regional headquarters from Bangkok to Shanghai in 2009. Four months after the move, Small, the director of communications, had her first major asthma attack.

“I had never had asthma in my life, never ever had asthma before China,” said Small, who quit the country in May last year. Her asthma was exacerbated by an allergy to coal, which is the source of about 70 percent of China’s energy. Her allergy was first identified in 2005 after a six-week assignment in Beijing ended with her being hospitalized for three days in Hong Kong with her lung function at about 30 percent.

In Shanghai, the asthma resurfaced. “Three hospitalizations later, my doctor said it was time to call it quits,” she said.

Her frequent treatments — involving inhalers, steroids and a nebulizer in the mornings and evenings to get medication deep into her lungs — meant the medication became less effective.

“I actually got a written warning from my pulmonary doctor and it said you need to reconsider for your life’s sake what you’re doing and so that was it. I didn’t really have a choice, my doctor made it for me.”

Ivo Hahn, the CEO of the China office of executive search consultants Stanton Chase, said that in the last six months, air pollution has become an issue for candidates they approach.

“It pops up increasingly that people say ‘well we don’t want to move to Beijing’ or ‘I can’t convince my family to move to Beijing’,” he said. Two expats, one Western and one an overseas Chinese, recently turned down general manager and managing director positions because of the air pollution, he said.

Hahn thinks this trend will only strengthen over the next one or two years because the highest-level executives generally “are not working primarily for their survival.”

“They normally get a decent pay, they are generally reasonably well taken care of, so the quality of life actually it does matter, particularly when they have children,” he said.

Some, however, say that China has become too important economically for up-and-coming corporate executives to ignore. It generates a large and growing share of profits for global companies while still offering a vast untapped potential. Its auto industry, now the world’s largest by number of vehicles sold, is expected to outstrip the U.S. and Europe combined by 2020 as car ownership rises from a low level of 50 vehicles per 1,000 people.

“It’s increasingly important for people who want to have careers as managers in multinational companies to have international experience and as part of their career path, and in terms of international experience, China is one of the most desirable places because of the size of the market and growth and dynamism of the market,” said Christian Murck, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

Carl Hopkins, Asia managing partner of legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, said Chinese nationals who had studied abroad at top universities or business schools were reluctant to return unless they had elderly family to take care of.

“There is an unwillingness for these people to return to China because they have got a better standard of living in the States or somewhere else than going to Beijing and Shanghai with its current issues with pollution,” Hopkins said, adding that this had become more prevalent over the last year.

Hahn said the effects of expats refusing to relocate to China aren’t going to be felt overnight, but eventually “either companies will have to pay a higher price overall because maybe candidates may have to commute as an example, or they may lower their standards or they may offer the position to somebody who may actually not be quite as qualified.”

If the current trend hardens, it would have some economic impact, said Alistair Thornton, senior China economist at IHS in Beijing.

“Expats contribute almost nothing to China’s growth because the numbers are just tiny, but intangibly they contribute quite a significant amount” by introducing foreign technology, best practices and Western management techniques “that Chinese companies are harnessing and using to drive growth,” said Thornton.

He is leaving Beijing in June with air pollution one factor.

Going global: Success factors for finding the right talent

Careers May. 10, 2013 - 06:26AM JST ( 2 )

http://www.japantoday.com/category/careers/view/going-global-success-factors-for-finding-the-right-talent?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2013-05-12_PM

TOKYO —

An increasing need for employees with the ability to work in the global marketplace (“Global Jinzai” from the Japanese word “Jinzai,” meaning “talent”) puts pressure on employers to find the right attributes to attract and retain global talent. Workplace diversity, clear career paths, global opportunities and an employer branding strategy with emphasis on the company’s global abilities are all key attributes for employers to attract and retain the right talent.

“One of the most pressing issues in many Japanese companies going global right now is to find the right kind of candidates with a global mindset and the language skills to work anywhere in the world and help grow the company internationally. The increasing demand for these kind of candidates are far greater than the supply. Japanese companies with global aspirations must take into account what candidates with the right profile are looking for,” says Jonathan Sampson, Regional Director of Hays in Japan.

In order to attract the best candidates, a starting point is to adopt an employer branding strategy that communicates and markets the company as a global organization. A local company with business outside of Japan can present itself as being more than a domestic player and focus its communications on its international presence through the following methods:

—Advertising on international job sites and posting job descriptions in both English and Japanese

—Utilising employer branding campaigns with referrals from the existing workforce

—Participating in international job fairs

“It is about developing a value proposition that is attractive to globally-talented candidates. The employer branding strategy also goes hand in hand with the overall marketing and communications strategy. If a company simply markets itself the same way as other domestic companies, an employer branding strategy focusing on being global will not be perceived as trustworthy,” says Sampson.

Once a company succeeds in the competition over the best global candidates, it’s not over yet: the task of retaining and developing the Global Jinzai can prove to be just as demanding as attracting them.

Companies must live up to the expectations of candidates as a global company. Actively promoting a global working environment by providing opportunities in different countries in which the company operates is a first test of global commitment. It is also important for the company’s corporate culture to be reflective of norms and standards that are seen as progressive and global. This can be achieved through the provision of:

—Assignments abroad

—Office exchanges between countries

—Foreign language opportunities in the workplace

—Strong diversity policies

—Clear career paths

“An open and diverse work environment is a sign of the company being in tune with international corporate culture. The employee with a global mindset is typically open to and driven by the opportunity to work with colleagues from different cultures and backgrounds. A clear career path based on performance that provides equal opportunity for men and women to reach higher positions is also an important part of the mix in a successful Global Jinzai,” says Sampson.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

40 Sony executives give up bonuses

TOKYO —

Dozens of Sony executives including the firm’s chief are foregoing bonuses this year in an “unprecedented” step to atone for a slump in its embattled electronics unit, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Chief executive Kazuo Hirai is among 40 top managers who will not get a bonus estimated at several hundred million yen “due to severe business circumstances, including stagnant performance in the electronics sector”, the spokeswoman said.

The leading Nikkei business daily said the payout could have totalled 1 billion yen.

Last year, seven top Sony executives gave up their bonuses “but the number this time is unprecedented,” she added.

The decision comes as the maker of PlayStation consoles eyes a profit after four years in the red. But its troubled electronics unit may remain mired in losses despite Hirai’s bid to drag it back to profitability.

Sony has launched a massive corporate overhaul that includes thousands of job cuts as it unloads a string of assets, including buildings in Manhattan and Tokyo.

Last week, Sony doubled its annual net profit forecast for the last fiscal year to March, saying it expected to earn 40 billion yen as a weaker yen and the asset sales helped boost its bottom line.

Sony lost 456.66 billion yen in the fiscal year to March 2012, its fourth year in the red.

A tumble in the value of the yen in recent months—losing about a fifth against the dollar since November—has helped exporters make their products move competitive.

Sony reports its full-year results on May 9.

The firm’s Tokyo-listed shares, which last year fell below 1,000 yen for the first time since the era of the Walkman, closed down 1.85% to 1,583 yen on Wednesday.

Japan’s electronics sector, including Sony rivals Panasonic and Sharp, has suffered myriad problems recently including slowing demand in key export markets, fierce competition—especially in the struggling TV division—and strategic mistakes.

Five things I like about expat guys

by Cynthia Popper TOKYO —

Eccentric, zombie-loving, nerdy: a few things I ♥ about expat dudes in Japan.
1) They’re weird.
Expat guys have a lot of the qualities I look for: complicated, geeky, and slightly dark. They tend to be way into computers, sci-fi, and play first-person Zombie shooter games way more than they’ll admit. But they’re also here for a reason. Sure, it might be a JP culture-addict thing, but chances are they might have been a little socially awkward back home and came here to experience something more fun than furtive glances of disdain from random blind dates.
2) They’re handy translators.
Not being able to speak Japanese yet, I LOVE this. It’s so comforting to be able to roll into a restaurant and try something new without mystery. Language proficiency is really the keys to the castle here, and if he speaks Japanese, it’s a major dating bonus.
3) They’re not all up in your face.
Unless they’re the über-creepy hermit type, these guys usually have a lot on their plates. Teaching, music, art, starting their own businesses: expat guys tend to keep a full schedule and aren’t going to be texting you every little thought in their heads thirty times a second. And if you’re a solo female here, chances are you’re the independent type who can smell needy from fifty paces.
4) They’re adventurous.
I realize this one sounds like every OK Cupid profile in existence, but if we’re here it means we all love to travel off the paved road of homogeneous tourism. Want to go eat bizarre in Nowheresville, Malaysia? These guys are down. They’ll even help plan the trip.
5) They dig us, despite being surrounded by gorgeous local babes.
Especially the ones that have been here a while and are looking to chat about old movies or pop culture references that local girls might not get. It’s fun to see a guy’s eyes light up when you mention David Lynch or punk rock (when punk rock was really punk rock… crap I’m getting old). Local girls are foxy, no question, but when an X-man wants to have a deep, meaningless conversation, gaijin girls hold the number one slot.

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