We consistently provide Better Candidates, Better Selections & Better Results.
At China Team, we believe that every solution must be customized to meet the challenges specific to your company. Our professional staff will first engage your company's executives to learn what makes your company special and develop an in-depth understanding of your needs. Speed, flexibility and client communication with weekly progress reports are just a few reasons why over 90% of our clients continue to engage our services year after year.
To give you a better idea of our service capabilities, simply click on the challenge headings below to explore examples of unique solutions we have provided to our satisfied clients.
Challenge 1
Total Solution Provider
The Client
A US company in recreational products with a manufacturing facility in South China recently wished to upgrade their organization in the region.
We were selected as the preferred recruitment partner in this important project amongst others who contended.
The challenge
Our key objective was to innovatively support the client by providing workable solutions to help the company restructure their organization according to a proscribed plan and timeline. We took on both consulting and recruitment roles, working closely with senior management, both locally and at US HQ.
Our solution
The process began with development of clearly-stated Job Descriptions for each of the new positions, resulting in the appointment of highly qualified candidates for each one. Innovative solutions were recommended and implemented along the way to meet the client's needs. For example, despite the factory's relocation, 95% of existing staff were retained through timely and effective communication with staff about the change, coupled with a focused effort to renew all contracts prior to the relocation.
The result
In the end, over 10 successful appointments were made – all within budget and timeline - which assisted our client make a successful transition from the old to the new organization within the year, ensuring their continued growth and success.
We were very happy to have added this success story to our overall goal of establishing helpful, long-term partnerships with all of our clients.
Challenge 2
Market Entry Solution Provider
The Client
Our client was a global CEO club with 15,000 members worldwide, predominately from the US and Europe. The club was entering the China market for the first time to set up a direct presence through the appointment of a China-based Managing Director. We were recommended to the client by one of their CEO members, who recognized our unique strength and expertise in the China market, especially at this senior level.
The Challenge
After our meeting with their Director of International Operation and Legal Counsel, we advised this client that the MD profile which they were seeking did not exist in China.
Our Solution
Through our understanding of their business needs, market positioning, company culture, as well as their overall plan for China, we were able to provide a more effective plan tailored to their business requirement in order to ensure a 'Best Fit' for the Managing Director as the outcome.
The Result
Guiding the client through the search process, we researched both US and China markets, eventually succeeding in recruiting the MD in a timely fashion to the client's complete satisfaction. This enabled the organization to set up their China organization according to their initial plan, budget and timeline.
Challenge 3:
Tailor-made Recruitment Solution
The Client
This client has a number of medical centers/hospitals in the US specializing in an integrated approach to spine/back care. The centers also conduct related medical education, conferencing, and clinical trials. A new company was being set up in China to emulate the US business model. One center was near to completion in a well known Beijing hospital. The next step was to roll-out other centers/hospitals across China.
The Challenge
The client was seeking a General Manager for their Beijing center, with a background in medical education and training. Experience in running clinics/hospitals, coupled with strong business acumen and expertise in growing businesses with an entrepreneurial mindset was also required. This was indeed a challenge as the professional and commercial attributes required are not often found in one individual.
Also, the registration of the client's company in China had not yet been completed.
The Solution
From the deep knowledge of the market gained through our years of experience in the industry, supported by a comprehensive market analysis through our database, we recognized we needed a tailor-made solution.
We opened our search universe to include the US and European candidates in addition to locally-based hospitals and clinics. Our experience also has shown that since the 1990s, many pharmaceutical and medical devices companies, after entering the China market, recruited many doctors who were attracted by the higher salaries and better career prospects.
Having moved into the commercial world, we believed these doctors would likely now have progressed to become business leaders in charge of divisions or larger organizations. They would likely be our 'best fit' candidates as they would have 1) the required medical background, 2) the business acumen and commercial experience, 3) familiarity with hospital settings as well as education/conference expertise.
We also considered other candidates from the healthcare industry who were now in commercial businesses such as pharmacists, bio-chemists, and others familiar with hospitals and the medical profession in general.
The Result
The Lead Consultant for this search was our company's Practice Leader for the Healthcare industry. The four finalist candidates were all professionally qualified: three doctors and one pharmacist - all from multinational companies with MBA degrees.
In the end, the selected candidate was a qualified doctor originally from Shanghai with a PhD from Denmark, and research experience in the US. He also had served as head of a North American Health/R&D Institute in Shanghai, and as Professor at the local University Health Faculty. This was truly a 'best-fit' profile matching the position with professional, education/training, and business experience all in one person.
China Team further supported this client by drafting the employment contract since the client was very new to China. We also introduced various HR management organization options such as FESCO and CIIC, to facilitate legalizing the employment with FESCO becoming the ultimate choice.
The client was exceedingly pleased with the QUALITY and SPEED of this successful hire. This success had a measurable impact on the client's confidence to orchestrate a much quicker roll-out of additional centers/hospitals across China. This early success also increased the availability of overall healthcare services for many throughout the country.
Challenge 4
West China Market Expansion Solution
The Client
This client is one of the world's largest brewery groups celebrating 160 years in the industry, with 130 years of importing into China. In China, the company has 2 key divisions: International Brands and the Regional West China Brands. They have 19 joint-venture breweries in West China, holding majority share in 13 of them, and increasing their equity in the rest.
While China operations now constitute a large part of their total global business, the company faced a number of challenges especially in West China markets. These included strong ethnic & cultural differences as well as management issues relating to their joint-venture partners located in Lhasa, Yunnan, Lanzhou, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang.
The Challenge
The primary constraint to profitable growth was an inability to attract and recruit qualified business managers & leaders to join the company's West China operations with collective oversight for 6,800 employees. With most of the joint ventures run by local Chinese partners, newly-hired seasoned business managers needed to be accepted by the joint venture partners. If successful, this would meet the company strategic business objectives and enable it to achieve profitability at the same time.
The client relied on us, not only to build a new management team for West China, but ALSO to provide HR solutions in order to ensure smooth transitions in every market and build a truly win-win business foundation and company culture.
We conducted a thorough compensation review of West China markets focusing on the following areas:
1) Current compensation ranges for General Managers, Heads of Manufacturing, and HR Directors in each of the West China cities joint venture cities;
2) Competitive salary reviews of other large beverage groups (local and foreign);
3) Assessment of critical hiring considerations facing senior manager candidates regarding personal and family matters when considering the West China challenge.
The Solution
From the information collected through our research, surveys and data analysis, combined with our own experience in secondary and tertiary cities, we recommended to the client the following solutions which were highly appreciated and successfully implemented:
1 - Chengdu was selected as the West China Headquarters location. While the client did not have any operations there, our research showed that Chengdu was a more attractive location for families in terms of education, recreational facilities, transportation and China market accessibility.
2 – This strategy enabled all new executives to work as a 'flying squad' from Chengdu to operations in Lhasa, Yunnan, Lanzhou, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang and return to Chengdu on Fridays for the weekend with family.
To address the broader HR issues, China Team then invited all joint-venture General Managers to regular CEO round tables, which served to increase their awareness of western style management and professional practices. Through peer-to peer learning practices, we encouraged them to become more receptive to new ideas in overall business management.
The Result
Budgeted sales expectations were exceeded across West China. Acceptance was secured from Chinese joint-venture partners to raise beer prices and production levels. The division became one of the most profitable businesses worldwide.
Our recruitment solution encompassing the 'flying squad' strategy turned out to be highly successful – not only in attracting premium candidates for Marketing management, HR management, and General Management positions, but also worked to retain them as well due to the fact that their families were happy living in Chengdu.
With information from our competitive data analysis, we were then able to venture deeper into the next management level by recruiting the best local talent from local and foreign dominant beverage groups within West China. This effort was supported and encouraged by the client's joint-venture General Managers resulting in a highly collaborative, successful effort.