This is a trend related to the worldwide expansion of Asian corporations, which began when the Japanese went abroad within the Nineteen Eighties. It gained momentum after the 2008 financial crisis, when China joined the fray.
“Asian companies are more willing to send employees abroad than Western companies,” says Lee Quane, the Court’s regional director for Asia. “A Western company will likely send a handful of managers and recruit locally. Asian companies tend to send more employees, even at entry-level positions. The obvious example is China, but also Japan and Korea. They will send senior management, middle management and even junior management and specialists. Part of it is about communication, but it’s also about trust.”
Many Asian corporations – China, Korea, Japan and India – have what ChapmanCG, a worldwide HR recruiting firm, calls “a really strong local talent program.” In other words, they wish to hire people from their countries, train them and place the most effective in high positions.
In South Korea, international experience is seen as a requirement for promotion to top positions in large corporations. In mainland China, the federal government is encouraging major corporations to expand internationally as a part of its “Exit Policy” – and because of this, quite a lot of mergers and acquisitions have occurred, with Chinese corporations opening offices in cities around the globe. Most of them employ people seconded from the headquarters in China itself.
That’s a bonus
Eric Yap, 42, agrees. Yap studied electrical engineering on the University of Missouri in Columbia, US, and planned to return home to Malaysia after graduation.
However, a 12 months spent studying in Japan set him on a distinct path, and immediately after graduation he joined the IT department of Goldman Sachs in Tokyo. Now it really works with Amazon Web Services and continues to be there today.
“I figured any practical experience would probably be an advantage if I decided to return to Malaysia one day, esp [with] opportunities in global corporations in Malaysia,” he mentioned in an email. “But I never planned to stay in Japan this long.”
“There is now a lot more respect for the Asian way of doing things and for world leaders who have spent time in Asia,” Chapman says. “They are the ones who will get the promotion. There is an appetite for strategies and ideas coming from the region.”
His colleague Foo Siew Chin agrees. Since returning to Singapore two and a half years ago, she has noticed that increasingly Asian corporations are occupied with developing their very own talent somewhat than hiring outside.
“It’s not just about Asians getting to know Asia better, but also from a corporate and diversity perspective,” explains Foo, who works with Chapman. “When companies look at the leadership pipeline, they are increasingly aware that they need to have a more diverse leadership team in Asia.”
Source: BBC
