Thursday, July 07, 2005

Chinese Manager Outsourcing

from: http://biz.yahoo.com/opt/050706/d1b75281d951bc05189a0db05dee8510.html
Optionetics.com OUTSIDE THE BOX: Chinese Desperate to Upgrade Management Skills , Jeff Neal Wednesday July 6, 2005 1:30 pm ET

As Chinese companies continue to buy U.S. companies and other companies around the globe, they are coming to the stark realization that they have a huge shortage of executive and managerial talent. The major reason why is that most of these companies are state owned and come from a mindset that the government will take care of everything, which does not translate well when spearheading a capitalistic enterprise.

That's why this latest buying frenzy by Chinese companies also involves purchasing the associated management talent, something they desperately need. According to a study conducted by the Asian Pulse, a commercial intelligence company, China will have a shortage of approximately 70,000 managers over the next decade. This means that many Chinese companies will outsource much of the management duties to the United Sta! tes as well as some European countries.

The outsourcing of management by China is a bit ironic and amusing when you consider the technology outsourcing mania relationship that the United States and China have had over the past few years. Consider the evolution of the Internet infrastructure with cheap online connectivity, which has made it possible to do software development abroad in countries such as India and of course China. What a change! China needs our management talent? In fact, it is absolutely essential if they are to continue with their tremendous economic growth spiral going forward.

However, many management consultants are not surprised that the United States is being sought out for its abundance of executive talent. First, by its very nature America is arguably the most competitive marketplace in the world, so naturally this country would have seasoned and well tested pro managers. In addition, the United States has traditionally had! the best and most effective business schools in the entire world. Add in America's investing and consumer culture that rakes corporations over the coals that do not perform up to expectations, as well as rewarding risk taking, it is easy to see why China has such a great difficulty leading in this type of environment.

Another reason for this sudden demand for management skills is that many homegrown Chinese corporations are eager to go global with their products and brand names. This requires a whole new leadership skill set, which at this time they do not possess. Plus these companies want to go global now, which means they don't want to wait patiently to develop the talent but would rather purchase the executive skills so they can execute their global strategies.

Global management seems to be the issue, which has prompted China to structure and fund academic programs specifically for business leadership skills. For example, there are currently over 200 MBA programs in China compared to less than ten a decade earlier. Chinese ! managers do well in their own countries and how to meet their target market's needs. However, meeting the needs of potential customers in Chicago, Atlanta and Indianapolis are far more difficult and apparently elusive tasks. But look for this just to be another chapter in China's economic emergence. This managerial talent need probably will be filled quickly. The big issue of course down the line is when the Chinese people want fairer pay and workers rights. That will indeed be an historic clash.
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Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to learn some Mandarin -

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MIT


This is the logo from my school. Its very cool in that it features both the craftsman and the scholar. Some people thought it was a big deal in 1981 that the year was the upside down version of the year the school was founded. A very rough translation of the motto is:

Use your hands and use your head.

I went to MIT for my undergraduate degree. I attended from 1976 - 78, worked at United Computing Systems for 2 years (see previous post), then I returned from 1980 - 82 and finally graduated with a BS in Materials Science and Engineering.



Accomplishments include:
1. several trips to the top of the small dome,
2. tunneling with Marlene,
3. graffiti in my favorite stall that survived my 2 year hiatus,
(Virginity is like a balloon, one prick and its gone)
4. grinding wheel gift to the glass blowing lab (Hi Pam!),
5. my friends at Alpha Delta Phi,
6. published research,
7. connection for my first job out of school,
8. Uechi Ryu Black Belt in my Sophomore year,
9. others...

Found the logo on a link to a MIT Media Lab survey about bloggers...

Take the MIT Weblog Survey

Beer

I've started a 12 pack of Magic Hat Fat Angel.
Try the website. Its very unique.
Navigate to the Fat Angel page in under 1 minute and win a prize.

So far the inside bottle caps are as follows:
1. BIG is little... little is BIG
2. the Real Scene can not be Seen
3. Don't be a Cog in the Cultural Fog
and my current favorite:
4. Walk softly and carry a big Spirit

5. Peel off your Skin to see we're all Kin
6. Everyone knows that no one knows
7. Thoughtlessly Rant and you'll have to Recant
8. never Pretend to a Friend
9. try to impress... And you make a Mess
10. A frozen Heart could use a jump Start
11. To make Someone smile is Worthwhile
12. Forget your Self-control & Rock'n roll


"He who loses himself in his passion is lost less than he who has lost his passion."

Have some fun and replace passion with beer in this quote attributed to Saint Augustine.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Head Hunter

Mike Meyers of The Meyers Group just called from 704-588-5650 looking for an ElectroMagnetic Design Engineer for GE Healthcare plant in Florence, SC to help build MRI magnets. My name came up on his search, but I've already been there. I gave him the link to the International Cryogenic Materials Conference participants list from 2003 and suggested Intermagnetics General Corpaoration or possibly the National High Field Magnet Lab.

I told him the story about the 0.5 Tesla magnet that could not be shimmed and that within 12 hours, after using all the Engineering computer resources, Wan Zang told me that a turn was missing in layer 13 of the Z- small coil and, upon unwinding that coil, it turns out he was he was right. The coil was rewound properly with a new length of wire and shipped without further issue.

Lake George Forum Craft Show

Pat and I displayed our Antique Postcard Art on Saturday and Sunday at the Lake George Forum Craft Show. It was a very full forum, 140 vendors, but not enough traffic to make it a really good show. Also, at $5 entry fee, there was likely a reluctance for people to bring in their pack of kids so our soap sales were way down.

The best part was we were next to a German couple from Berlin speaking "berlinish" dialect until I called them out on it in German. It was very cool for them to be next to a German speaking American. We had an interesting weekend conversing with Silvo and Annie in both English and German with frequent use of the Langenscheids dictionary. They were selling the Crazy Daisy for $20 for one, $35 for 2, with a special indoor display box using recirculating water which we offered to several people to climb in for 5 minutes, but no takers.