China and HR Jobs

Forbe’s Article suggests that HR is in high demand and the economic boom and some dubious practices by companies have lead to high demand for HR professionals in China.

China's economic boom and attendant surge in intellectual property theft and financial crimes are taxing the skills of personnel departments. The demand for those skills is making personnel into one of the hottest careers in China today.

According to consulting firm Mercer, wages in China for top HR executives of multinational companies grew 20% in each of the last two years to $97,000--in a country where per capita income is 1% of that figure. The risk of a bad hire is getting bigger as manufacturers transfer sophisticated technology to woo local consumers and overseas investment funds pour fresh capital into local businesses.

Corporate-snooping outfits are thriving as clients demand more background checks on their partners and employees. After opening a Shanghai office in 2003, Control Risks has gone from 2 to 22 employees in the city and will add an office of 5 people in Hong Kong this year.

I think it's a good enough reason for HR folks to learn some Chinese as soon as possible, most of the analyst thought that China will find it tough to survive in the global market because of its lack of skilled English speaking population but it seems china has turned the table around and now the knowledge of Chinese has become critical to stay in Chinese market.

In another report from China ,McKinsey has an interesting article on protecting intellectual property in China.

He feels that many multinational companies in China are losing the battle to protect their intellectual property, largely because they rely too heavily on legal tactics and fail to factor IP properly into their strategic and operational decisions.

When we studied the Chinese operations of ten multinationals competing in IP-sensitive industries (including consumer electronics, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and software), we found that many executives think of protecting IP solely in legal terms—and sometimes only after property has been stolen. The most successful companies, however, take strategic and operational action to protect their IP before that happens, thus lowering their litigation costs and improving the odds that their IP will remain safe.