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Here are some pictures taken when I was in Shanghai.

I've been putting it off long enough. Here are some pictures of Beijing for you to enjoy. Not all days are as clear skied and sunny like these. However,  if I am to post some pictures, you might as well see what it is of.

 

Houhai, a popular tourist hangout for afternoon coffees and after hour drinks. Tourists and native Beijingers strolling along leisurely on a sunday afternoon.

Forbidden city as seen from Jingshan Park. This is the North (back) with all the court houses. This is one of the bluest skies I've seen for the last 3 months.

Yours truly.

I recently uncovered some interesting differences in how Chinese and European people perceive messages and values differently. Here is what happened.

Some time ago, we had a workshop at work where employees gathered to discuss company values. As an aid to get the brainstorming and discussions going, cards with pictures were handed out for people to use. These are meant to trigger associations in the beholder and create more ideas. The associations are often unique depending on the person's experiences and cultural background. I had often different associations than my Chinese colleagues, which in itself isn't surprising. I'll give an example of that really differentiated what I think is a big difference between European and Chinese perception.

One of the cards were of a hand flipping to Aces like in when you play poker. I immediately associated it with the Aces with being the best, no. 1, leadership and so on. All of my Chinese colleagues at the same table immediately read luck into that card.

I started thinking about what the difference could come from. Although Texas Hold'em is not so popular among Chinese, people here are no stranger to playing Mahjong or other card games. Maybe there is an inherent difference between the games because the pieces in Mahjong doesn't carry any inherent value in themselves. But again, they did understand that these were the best cards.

When furthering the analysis, you could see this even in other parts of society. Chinese people, although many times complaining about the increasing costs of living, often are more content with their situation than Europeans do. I believe that e.g. Swedes, among which I often count myself, often feel a more sense of entitlement to things in life. I don't know if this has created a more equal society of if it is due to it. Chinese on the other hand seem to accept their situation in much higher degree. They don't really compare with people of other social classes. There is even a Chinese saying that roughly translates:

If goods are compared against each other, some willl need to be thrown away. If people are compared against each other, some will need to die.

This is perhaps why the Chinese social structure and inherent inequalities can exist. People are inherently more content with what they already have, don't need to necessarily strive upwards and sometimes feel lucky that they are not amongst the worst off. Who will be ones to bring change to society then? You may actually draw some parallells to India and it's cast system.

It would be interesting to hear what you associate with twin Aces.

Your watchful eyes in Beijing.

/Y

This post might not appeal to everyone but it does has a few good points if you manage to read it all the way through.


The first half of the post deals with different types of workers in China while the second half will outline how to motivate Chinese employees to harness their full potential.

Some say that Chinese people are not creative and that workers in companies are mostly content with doing their 9-5 jobs. Another side of China is bolstering a booming economy, driven mainly by Small and Medium-sized companies. We've seen examples of the latter in this blog already when dealing with secondary markets and IP rights - part 1. So which picture is the right one? Are Chinese people full of initiative and passion or are they lazy, lackluster and simple-minded?

The truth is that both sides are right and both sides are wrong. We can take time to discuss each party in detail. Both kinds do exist and their strengths and weaknesses are true on the surface. But probing little deeper, you'll find contradicting evidence.

The entrepreneurs
The so-called entrepreneurs are mostly mimicking an existing product or service. The factor that differentiates Chinese entrepreneurs from traditional Western ones are a willingness to take risks, partly due to necessity (few ordinary jobs to go around) and partly due to low thresholds for market entry (poor regulation of enforcement). The bulk of these operation are family-run organizations, turning a slim profit and can sustain a fair living standard for the family.

The Office dwellers
The main body of office workers are well educated Chinese youths between age 25-35. They hold university degrees and skilled in many ways to do the tasks required from them. They are highly intelligent people who most certainly would score higher than both you and me on a TOEFL or IQ test. They have goals and ambitions in life, much like any young professional anywhere else in the world. Most of these people start at the very bottom of the pyramidical hierarchy structure. Being new to the business world and under pressure from all sides, the new entrants usually are swamped with simple tasks that doesn't require the inquisitory mind of a free thinker. This is the result of many years in Chinese schools, which emphasizes obedience and order in place of criticism and new ideas.

You often see magazine profiles of some successful entrepreneur in China without a formal higher degree or education. So, the entrepreneurs are not highly educated  and the highly educated are not entrepreneurial. Only rarely do you see a mix of the best of these worlds and all too many are non-educated and without initiative. The entrepreneurs don't necessarily need more education as they seem to do pretty well anyway, but how about empowering the young professionals?

The first and foremost is to find their motivation. Today, it is usually tied to financial benefits or some sort. It is natural that these people will strive for things that they have not been able to afford previously. But financial incentives can only motivate some types of people to a certain extent. Those people are also more prone to leave you as soon as a better paying job comes along.

A whole new mindset on talent management is required. Even the newest employee has to be considered an asset and needs to be managed accordingly. Many people have not chosen their career path out of their own will but rather of necessity. Coming to terms with that and figuring out where they want to go it the first crucial step. It is a long process since you not only have to figure out what motivates them and their goals, but also how they can figure it out for themselves.

In doing any of this, one has to understand that the assumption from outset is different in China compared to many Western cultures. Chinese people are brought up to be reserved and not too trusting while many Western cultures teach children to trust others. Chinese youth are brought up as individuals, always competing with their peers while Western youth are taught cooperation and team work. Therefor, winning the trust of a Chinese person is difficult and takes time. They will firstly look towards reaching their goals and sometimes putting that in front of the benefit of the organization in large. This is important when designing award schemes so that people are measured on both individual targets, group targets and organizational targets. It is necessarily a gradual process as it involves changing the behavior of people but delaying it will be a drain on resources as well as the talent pool.  

To end this post with something concrete, I will give an example of what might work as incentive instead of cash awards. Namely, the  possibility of international exposure or experience as a high profile way of awarding your star employees. It would be beneficial to both the employer and the employee, multinationals as well as  for local firms.  Most Chinese talk of about international experience as du jin in Chinese, which literary means coating with gold as it will increase their value and their employability. For the company, the inception of new ideas, practices and skills is learnt could be used to improve operations in China. The difficulty lies in costs and execution. The goals of any international trip needs to be clear from the outset and should be coupled with goals met by the employee. In return, he or she should be empowered to implement and drive improvements for the benefit of the entire organization.

Your watchful eyes in China,

/Y

China is infamous for its neglect on IP infringements. Companies hesitate to move operations to China, afraid of valuable technology leaking out to competitors. However, China is a de facto master copy cat.

It is not only music and movies that is being pirated but also books. Passing by a few expat hangouts, you are bound to meet a guy selling books from a trolley. He, for it has always been a guy, usually carries 1-200 titles, 2/3 Chinese and 1/3 english. The Chinese titles are the always the most popular books at the moment, fiction as well as non-fiction. In the english section, you will also find the Twilight series next to the Harvard Business Review series and the latest on doing business in China. The selection, although wide, is not particularly comprehensive and you do have to go through the entire mess before finding what you were looking for.

At about 10-20 RMB (1-2 Euro) per book, you'll have a hard time figuring out how anyone could turn a living out of it. With complex distribution networks working in several tiers, any single actor is not going to make more than 1 or 2 RMB from each sale. Everything is wrapped in plastic covers which can be opened if you want to check the contents before deciding whether to make a purchase. This market is completely unimaginable considering the low profits and the trouble the sellers have to go through, constantly looking over their shoulders in fear of police checks. It is probably caused by availability of idle people who are either retired, otherwise unemployed or have some extra free time. Many of the prospective buyers would probably tolerate a price point higher still. The sheer number of sellers is driving the price to the absolute bottom.

Another question is of course, to whom is our vendor selling all the english books to? Not many that I know read business books and to an even lesser extent the "nerdy" HBR studies. Did all the Chinese suddenly all decide to pursue a MBA or are the foreign expats to cheap to pay for the legal versions, available in major bookstores, out of their expat packages? ....

Your ears in all matters Chinese.

/Y