How small and medium-sized enterprises can handle the "Overseas Corps"

"It's just a matter of finding a few people with good English grades and sending them to a country to buy a house, an office, and a car." There are such misunderstandings.

But the bosses who go out in this way will soon find that "their own ideas are too simple" - the people who send out are not familiar with the local culture although they are good at foreign languages; even if there are one or two Familiar with the local culture, but can not really integrate into it. Because they are not natives after all, they do not have local human resources. As a result, bosses have to seriously consider the recruitment and retention of local employees. In the last wave of Chinese enterprises "going out", state-owned enterprises and large private enterprises played the leading role, and now, small and medium-sized enterprises are beginning to become active members. In a recent survey of SMEs by CEConline, 33.3% of the respondents said they had established branches abroad.

Worries of SMEs

Facing people with different cultures, backgrounds and customs, do SMEs who have just gone abroad have the ability to get along with and manage them? Compared with well-known state-owned enterprises and large private enterprises, what problems do overseas branches of small and medium-sized enterprises face when hiring and managing foreign employees? According to the survey results of "CEConline", the concerns of small and medium-sized enterprises are: lack of international atmosphere, high cost, insufficient brand influence, and lack of experience.

In any market, a good employer brand is a golden sign. Former Vice President of Aon Hewitt Greater China and Enterprise Management of Zhanluoda who participated in Huawei's global human resource management project Wang Wei, CEO of the consulting firm, recalled that when Huawei first started its internationalization journey, it was difficult to recruit overseas; but with Huawei's growth, this is no longer a problem. However, he also believes that although employer branding has an impact on overseas recruitment, it is not a decisive factor.

It is not difficult to recruit foreign and local employees as long as you find the right channels. Nature Home Furnishings located in Shunde, Guangdong went abroad at the beginning of this century and has more than ten years of experience in setting up factories overseas. Zhu Hongyao, President of the International Business Department of Nature Home Furnishing (China) Co., Ltd., said: "The company's overseas factories have several standard recruitment channels, namely professional headhunting companies, industry experts' recommendations, and discovering rival companies through exhibitions and business activities. employees.”

But he thinks the most effective route is to advertise jobs in local trade magazines and on the company's local website. These two methods are not only effective, but also low-cost.

The word "cost" has always been a sharp sword hanging over small and medium-sized enterprises. Some bosses think that China's manpower is cheap and it is easier to communicate with "our own people", so they tend to try their best. Appointment of expatriate staff. However, some experts have calculated an account for small and medium-sized enterprises and believe that although the cost of employees at different countries and levels varies greatly, in general, the cost of localization is lower than that of Chinese expatriates.

Because in addition to food, clothing, housing and transportation, there are many costs that are difficult to measure with money. For example, local employees can work on the job for a long time. Chinese employees need to go back to China to visit relatives every year, and have to apply for visas, and after the expiry of their permanent residency, they basically have to return to work in China, which will bring great losses; The people sent out to replace are certainly not as knowledgeable about the local market as the former. If you take these into account, the cost of localization is much lower.

The international atmosphere depends on tolerance and respect

Most overseas branches of large enterprises have formed a complete set of mature foreign employee management programs. But Rome wasn't built in a day, as Wang Wei said: big companies also grow from small ones.

The international atmosphere that SMEs lack most needs to start with the appointment of foreign employees. Zhu Hongyao believes: "We must abandon the concept that I am a Chinese company, and we must apply China's successful model. Instead, we must treat ourselves as a local company. If we blindly avoid cultural conflicts, only in the Chinese circle.

If you go around in circles, you will not be able to integrate into the local mainstream groups, and will eventually be marginalized.”

The overseas factories of Nature Home Furnishings have basically achieved localization—not only the localization of sales, customer service, finance and operation departments; Even the CEO, general manager, and deputy general manager, which people usually think should be assigned by the headquarters, are basically local people. "The headquarters only dispatches a few key technical personnel, or a director, and the personnel responsible for coordinating and communicating."

If, due to various doubts and worries, only the dispatched personnel from the headquarters who are easy to communicate with are willing to be employed, it may lead to problems for the enterprise. Slow pace in cultivating an international atmosphere. Whether it is Wang Wei, a business consultant, or Zhu Hongyao, who has 25 years of overseas practical experience, they all believe that difficulties are inevitable in the management of the "Overseas Corps". respect.

The differences in customs and ways of thinking in different countries exist objectively, and there are several real examples that illustrate how important it is to understand such cultural differences in advance: In 1992, Shougang acquired a Peruvian iron ore plant At the beginning, in order to establish a good relationship, they took the initiative to invite trade union leaders to visit Shougang in Beijing, and advertised to them that "Chinese workers are the masters of the enterprise". As a result, after these people returned to Peru, they really asked to be the "masters" of Shougang Iron Peru; TCL When the Indian branch was training late employees, an Indian employee put his hands together and said, "The Buddha said we don't have to worry!" Although the cultural differences are ironic, they also cause headaches for business owners.

And Zhu Hongyao's view of these differences is quite peaceful, he said: "Recognize that in another land, a group of people who speak another language, they have different cultures and Experience, they have also created a happy life. We should look at it with an open mind and optimism, instead of always taking the Chinese box to compare. If we can't jump out of this box, we will be in business management and cultural communication. We are bound by ourselves."

In Zhu Hongyao's view, "conflicts exist from the beginning, not only with China's cultural conflicts, but also in the operation and management models of each country. In this case, running in is inevitable. The key employees we just recruited may spend one to three months or even longer for training and communication. I hope everyone can have more consensus and stand in a more open-minded way. , think about our business ideas and development strategies from a more forward-looking perspective.”

Labor-management conflicts that cannot be ignored

Labor-management conflicts often occur in overseas branches of Chinese companies, and it is a big problem. Enterprises are so, even small and medium-sized enterprises.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are in a period of rapid growth, and their bosses are also enthusiastic about starting a business. In China, employees can take the factory as their home, think about the company everywhere, and even work overtime without pay to complete the task. However, many foreign employees have such a habit: work hard within eight hours, and don’t care about Pepsi outside eight hours. Weekends are a natural rest time, and they should not be delayed because of work. Many people at the headquarters of small and medium-sized enterprises are often troubled by the fact that they cannot find local employees of overseas companies on weekends.

The design of compensation also tests the company's ability to deal with employees of different cultures. Nature's branch in the United States once issued KPI indicators for monthly and quarterly assessments to employees. This is a common occurrence in China, but it is difficult for employees of American companies to accept. Later, Zhu Hongyao learned that it turned out that American employees were accustomed to annual assessments, and they believed that as much as the salary stipulated in the contract, the company should pay according to it, and could not take 10% of it to be linked to performance.

It will be difficult for foreign employees to accept if the Chinese side's usual plan is adopted; if the foreign employee's plan is completely adopted, it will not only fail to motivate, but will also increase the company's labor costs. To this end, the company has communicated with employees many times to solicit their ideas and opinions, and also communicated with relevant domestic human resources departments, and finally determined a comprehensive incentive model based on annual assessment KPIs, supplemented by monthly and quarterly assessments .

The practice of Nature America not only respects the local culture, but also effectively redesigns the system. Zhu Hongyao believes: "Through communication, some differences can reach consensus. In the process of communication, we are also observing and thinking to see if there is a better way. We also respect their ideas that are different from ours. It's not that he contradicts his ideas by preconceived ideas, and artificially creates conceptual opposition."

But other differences on labor and management issues may only be resolved with the help of laws. Some business owners often underestimate the role of trade unions in foreign companies, thinking that they can solve problems with "little favors", but in foreign countries, the rules of the game with Chinese characteristics don't work. He also needs transportation subsidies; you give him a "one-child" or "multiple-child" subsidy, and when he thinks it is justified, he also wants you to give him an old-age subsidy. This can't be explained with a simple "take an inch".

Although Chinese and foreign employees are similar in nature, they are far from each other. If these differences are ignored, businesses lose not only money, but also time and energy. For small and medium-sized enterprises that are obviously inexperienced in dealing with labor and capital issues, it is necessary to carefully study and thoroughly understand the laws and policies of the host country, and even hire local people as legal advisers when necessary.