• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Cornerstone International Group

Executive Search Firm

About Cornerstone

About Cornerstone

The Cornerstone Edge

AESC

Leadership Team

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Become a Partner

Play Video

Get to know Cornerstone

Retained Executive Search

Discover

Retained Executive Search

Assessments

Specializations

Consumer / FMCG

Industrial

Non-Profit

Finance & Private Equity

Life Science & Health

More...

Find an Office

North America

Latin America

Europe / Middle East

Asia

 Find an Office

 Find a Search Consultant

Coaching / Leadership Dev

Discover

Executive Coaching Services

Leadership Development

Board & CEO Advisory Services

Assessments

Find a Coach

News / Blog

News & Blog Posts

National Outlooks

Videos

Surveys

Press Releases

Popular Blog Topics

COVID-19

diversity

leadership development

Healthcare

executive search

executive coaching

women in business

Life Science

neuroscience

vitality quotient

Latest Blog Post

Asia’s Fast-Growing EV Market Will Disrupt Automotive Industry Recruitment

June 2, 2022
Contact
Blog Understanding Culture Fit in China
Jan 16

Understanding Culture Fit in China

Cornerstone International Group

In this age of culture fit, it seems only yesterday that western business leaders were worrying about how emerging markets would understand and react to them.

Seems they worried for nothing.  Today’s shoe is on the other foot and it is the western executives who wonder how to fit in.

Last month, there was a fascinating post on the issue of foreign executives working for Chinese bosses at Chinese companies.  The writer is Joe Ngai, Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company’s Greater China practice.  He finds that, even after several years of working in China, many ex-pats are still surprised and unprepared for how Chinese companies, especially those privately held, actually work.

Bottom line? Chinese business leaders are in a hurry. The pace of business is lightning fast and rewards quick decisions and the courage to be first to grab opportunities. You can read the full post here, but this is the digest version of Ngai’s four most challenging themes:

1. The Chairman’s business targets are always unrealistic

Western leaders set growth targets by taking the previous year and adding a realistic and reasonable increase. These rates are always backed up by solid research and analysis of trending markets.

The Chinese Chairman’s approach is different.  He calls a brainstorming meeting, announces they will double their business in the next 3-5 years and tells the planning department to figure out how to achieve the numbers.

Amazingly, says Ngai, these leaders are exactly the entrepreneurs in China who are making it big as their teams are forced to think outside the box.

2. Chinese entrepreneurs believe that they can enter any line of business and compete

Western companies which enter unrelated lines of business are usually punished by investors and accused of lacking focus.  In China, diversification is known as “building the ecosystem.”

Tencent Holdings, the leading provider of Internet value-added services in China, started a bank.  Alibaba created the largest money market mutual fund in the world and New Hope, an animal foodstuffs company, started a bank with a mobile phone maker.

What would be extraordinary in the west, is just doing business in China.

3. Opportunity drives the executive career path.

A candidate’s market and “I want more out of life” from the job seeker have fostered a new mobility in western business but China has the gold medal.  Executives there are expected to move every year and a half and in some instances new jobs and positions are created by the month.

Chinese executives don’t move for a 10% raise.  They can double their salary by moving to companies desperate for talent.  Not surprisingly, multinationals have a hard time meeting these expectations.

4. Chinese Chairmen worship market share

Going for market share is a strategy that works enough of the time in China to be the “brass ring.”

It’s a high-cost strategy and companies need sources of capital that are willing to fund them during a brutal war for market share. Chinese investors and entrepreneurs, however, have a much longer time horizon for their pay-off, believing in the value of brand, influence, and significance in the market.  But companies that don’t want to play for market share, or can’t afford to, risk becoming irrelevant in the market.

Culture fit, clearly, is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.

Once again, here’s where you can read the full article by Joe Ngai. And a word of advice.

If you are in a western C-Suite, value the stability and take the 5% raise each year.

If you are in China, the Ferrari will look cool in your driveway, but keep a suitcase packed.

61
SHARES
LinkedinFacebookTweetShareEmailPrint

Filed Under: Blog, Leadership Tagged With: China, culture

About The Editor, Cornerstone

Chris Allan is the Editor and Content Marketing Director of Cornerstone. He is a former daily columnist, speechwriter and business communications specialist

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

  • News
    • Blog
    • National Outlooks
    • Press Releases
    • Newsletters
    • Surveys
    • Articles of Interest
    • Whitepapers
    • Videos

Get Latest Posts and Stay Informed

Our thought leaders share their industry knowledge and expertise.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent News

  • PRESS RELEASE: Cornerstone International Group Recognized as a Global Leader in Executive Talent Search June 21, 2022
  • The Cornerstone Eagle – June 2022 – Impactful Leadership June 17, 2022
  • Asia’s Fast-Growing EV Market Will Disrupt Automotive Industry Recruitment June 2, 2022

News / Blog Archives

Footer

Areas of Specialization

  • by Industry
    • Life Science & Health
    • Financial Services PE & Family Office
    • Industrial
    • Consumer
    • Technology
    • Private Equity
    • Infrastructure & EPC
  • by Function
    • Board Directors & CEO
    • Human Resources
    • Finance and Legal
    • Agile Talent
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Operations & Supply Chain

Quick Browse

  • Find an Office
  • Find a Consultant
  • Find a Coach

Services

  • Retained Executive Search
  • Board & CEO Advisory
  • Executive Coaching

About Us

  • About Cornerstone
  • The Cornerstone Edge
  • Join Cornerstone

Switch Language

Connect with Cornerstone

Copyright © 2022 · Cornerstone International Group · Sitemap

Website Development by LimeCuda

Member-Only Portal