Special Report - Asia Business Conference 2002 (wrapup) - Wrap-up: Careers, Corruption, and Intellectual Capital
Short reports on developing careers in Asia, fighting corruption, and protecting your intellectual property.
by Sean Silverthorne, Editor, HBS Working Knowledge
So you want to work in Asia?
Job seekers looking for careers in Asia had better be multilingual and come equipped with a corporate background and a white collar.
Attendees at the "Attracting and Retaining Talent" panel were more interested in finding work overseas than hiring talent. They listened to advice from William Hui, founder and CEO of Chainshine Consulting; Weimin Yao, CEO of ChinaHR.com; and David Sneieder, a partner at the law firm Simpson, Thatcher and Bartlett.
Yao, focusing on the job market in China, said there is big demand now for IT professionals, and there is a general shortage of white-collar professionals. Salary and other compensation cover a wide range, comparable to the U.S. in some areas, but much lower than the U.S. in other areas. And don't look for a tax break in China, he said—income taxes on higher-paid professionals' salaries are similar to U.S. tax rates.
Have a Chinese partner share the interest of protecting intellectual property. Otherwise you are fighting a losing battle.
— Wu Xiaoyong, Phoenix Satellite Television
Hui said professionals in the area of finance, such as credit analysts, are in hot demand in China. Also in need: chief financial officers and levels just below the CFO position. Telecom execs are in short supply as well.
In general, the panelists agreed, industry specialists are needed much more than generalists are. It's important to have a basic understanding of the native language, but you'll need to develop more than basic skills to conduct business negotiations, they said.
Also, graduating students were encouraged to first take a position in the U.S. before heading to an Asian market. Overseas companies want hands-on management experience.
Discussing legal careers in Japan, Sneieder said his firm is always on the hunt for lawyers who possess multilingual abilities, specialized expertise, and the "right outlook," defined as being self-reliant, motivated by incentives, and a skill builder.
Is corruption a way of business?
In a lively discussion on the subject of corruption in Asia, panelists exchanged thoughts on whether it is ever right to pay a bribe to get a deal done. HBS Professor Louis T. Wells posed this question: Should you pay the bribe demand required to have your shipment cleared at port?
Ira Belkin, former China Legal Exchange Officer for the U.S. Department of Justice, took a hard stand, saying there is never any justification for breaking the law. He said that even if bribes are a standard way of doing business, you don't want to be the one person caught and prosecuted.
But David Kang, professor of political science at Dartmouth, took a softer stance. While not advocating bribery, he suggested that the best way around the question is to find a joint venture partner in the country who can solve the situation.
A third view came from an audience member, who encouraged a "pragmatic" approach. If you quit doing business with corrupt countries, the only victims are the people who live in that country and rely on foreign commerce. Instead, he said, the best way is bring about reform slowly and from within, by working with country officials over time.
Belken presented ideas on how China could better deal with corruption, while acknowledging that his experience with the country is limited. One move, he said, would be to introduce a credit card system into the country, so that transactions could be traced. Deterrence, he said, equates to the fear of being caught. But in China's largely cash-based commerce, there is no transaction paper trail, and thus little fear of detection.
China should also consider changing its laws to broaden the definitions of bribery, and allow undercover stings to trap the perpetrators.
Protecting intellectual property in China
Sure, China might be a huge potential market for you, but how do you protect your intellectual property in a country that has few laws that can help? Find a partner, suggested Wu Xiaoyong, CEO of the North American unit of Phoenix Satellite Television, which serves China. He was on a panel discussing media and entertainment opportunities and problems in Asia.
"Have a Chinese partner share the interest of protecting intellectual property," he said. "Otherwise you are fighting a losing battle."
Sheryl WuDunn, project director, Strategic Planning Group, New York Times, had a bolder idea: Be willing to give away IP in exchange for building brand awareness market share. "It's risky, but it could pay off" if you beat competitors to market.
"As the country develops its own body of intellectual property, you'll see more attention paid to it," added WuDunn.
Related stories on HBS Working Knowledge:
Connecting Asia Conference 2001