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China's young and ambitious business talent is a growing threat to Western companies and their ageing staff, according to a recent survey. 1,450 chief executives under the age of 45 have been evaluated by CEO Magazine and London's Cass Business School on how their companies have performed on the stock exchange compared with the local market, and Chinese executives claim eight places on the Top 10 and no less than 36 places on the Top 50. Only one Western chief executive made it into the Top 50. Furthermore, the study found that while the age of executives worldwide average 55 years, their Chinese colleagues only average 47.
And the age difference doesn't stop there. Another recent survey, this one from McKinsey, took a look at the average age of all types of employees at a number of companies from across the globe. And here too the Chinese are in the lead when it comes to having the youngest talent pool. Take for example the Chinese automaker Chery. The Anhui-based company made Swedish headlines in July when plans of a possible purchase of Volvo's Chinese car production from Ford emerged. The average age of Chery employees is 24, a far cry from Volvo's 40.5.
"If the Chinese can shake up their steel-bent and corrupt management systems and create commitment from the grass-roots level up, they will become truly lethal", says Johan Bjoerksten, founder of the PR agency Eastwei and author of the book 'How to do business in today's China'. According to Mr. Bjoerksten China's youthful work force is the result of a severe lack of qualified personnel among the elder generations, combined with sheer ambition: "It takes a 25-year-old a couple of months to learn a new concept, and they haven't yet invested any prestige in old ways of doing things. If they can make a product nearly as good as a Western one, but at half the price, they've come a very long way."
Furthermore the old and rigid ways of management and doing business in China are changing. Rapidly. Many young executives have studied abroad and they bring back a whole new creativity and willingness to change the status quo.
"Lately I've even met 35-year-old Chinese managers who talked about building flat organizations. They sounded like Swedes! And it's been going on for a year!," says Johan Bjoerksten.
Full story in Swedish
News category: China
Published on this site: Aug. 5, 2008
Source:e24.se
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