Escape from foreign companies to do business

A career or a career? This seems to be a common question that local managers of foreign companies are asking themselves when seeking career breakthroughs. With the growth of foreign-funded enterprises in China for more than ten years, mainland managers have encountered some common problems. The most prominent one is that mainland managers cannot break through the "glass ceiling" and go beyond the position of middle-level managers to become a foreign enterprise's strategy. maker.

The author of the book "Fleeing from Foreign Enterprises" describes the growth story of a local manager in a foreign enterprise with these confusions. The protagonist Li Bai has worked in sales in three foreign enterprises (Coca-Cola, Ou Shiya China, and J&R China). , completed the growth process from a sales representative to a national marketing channel manager, but he finally chose to go to a private enterprise Chuangzhi Company to achieve his career dream.

Three reasons for "fleeing from foreign companies"

Foreign companies have a "glass ceiling" Talents, mature professional managers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, or returnees. This can be seen from the situation of J&R China, the company where Li Bai works. The sales director of J&R China's family and personal care products department in China is British Paul Nie, whose subordinate and Li Bai's boss is the national sales manager Wang Kai, a returnee with an MBA in Singapore, and Joseph Huang, the appointed J&R China president, was also a Taiwanese manager after the two left the company.

On the other hand, after decades of development, local enterprises are now flexing their muscles and expanding their management teams. There is a strong demand for talents, and there are relatively few frameworks, and more emphasis is placed on their actual operational capabilities. For example, Li Bai once led J&R China's Zhejiang Province market to achieve 300% sales growth within one year, and led the sales of East China to double in half a fiscal year. The enthusiasm for channels and sales has made the boss of Chuangzhi Company optimistic his development potential.

Professional management and high return salary Although Chuangzhi is a family business, it is very professional in management. Except for the two founders who are from the family, other family members have been persuaded to quit. This is to make Family services and enterprises, professional bosses and professional managers perform their respective duties to maximize the benefits of the enterprise. At the same time, Chuangzhi also gave Li Bai double the salary of J&R China, reflecting the importance and expectation of him.

Workplace politics makes managers exhausted Li Bai has encountered workplace politics in Ou Shiya China and J&R China, and twice met his boss who did not trust him, Ou Shiya China East China Manager David Xue, Joseph Huang, President of J&R China, thinks that Li Bai is not of their faction, and they cause him all kinds of trouble. No matter how successful Li Bai is, he will not be able to continue to develop in the company without support, so he chose to leave.

Two motives for choosing a private enterprise

The dynamism of a private enterprise quotes Japanese management guru Kenichi Ohmae, "He was deeply touched by the dynamic factories in mainland China and the flexibility and speed of Chinese businessmen. , he believes that China is showing amazing economic power in Asia. "China's private enterprises continue to learn the advanced management experience of multinational enterprises, coupled with their own rapid response to the Chinese market and innovative strategies, and gradually grow. This force also attracts many foreign managers like Li Bai.

The feeling of doing a business is in a foreign company. The company's strategy is formulated by the foreign headquarters. The staged market performance does not allow a sales manager like Li Bai to clearly see his value to the company, especially for some special areas. of sales, when some creative strategy is at odds with the headquarters, is often not achievable. In a private enterprise, the boss usually sets a goal and lets the manager do it, and less framing, in order to realize the product going abroad and gain a place in the world market, so it pays more attention to the innovation suitable for the market, the development of the product and the manager People's own careers are closely linked, and the rapid development of the company also gives managers the feeling of success in their careers.

"Fleeing from Foreign Enterprises" reveals a flow trend of managers of foreign enterprises, which is representative to a certain extent, but there is no perfect answer on how to solve key issues such as workplace politics. I believe that Li Bai and others need more wisdom and Experience learns in practice how to deal with this difficult problem. It is important to achieve career dreams, but the premise is to learn how to get along with different leaders. Only in this way, will you not be hindered by the same problems in your career development in the future.

And this flow trend has also sounded the alarm to foreign companies to a certain extent. Employers should be based on talent, not nationality, nor just where they come from and what background they come from. Otherwise, talent will continue to be lost, and the company itself will suffer the most.

"Fleeing from Foreign Enterprises", by Yu Lei, published by Economic Management Press in June 2006, 26 yuan.

LILY ZHANG CEConline Website Editor.