Leading Business Successfully in the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
Desmond Soh is a Consultant with Organisational Development Concepts. Prior to working with ODC, Desmond was President Asia-Pacific of Oshkosh Corporation - a U.S. Fortune 500 Special Purpose Vehicle company. In his leadership capacity, Desmond was instrumental in the successful green-field startup of profitable business operations in Greater China, India and various countries across the region.
The following is a reflection piece on his experience working in People's Republic of China.
Year 1996 was the eventful year that my family and I landed into the People’s Republic of China (PRC) after completing a stint in the United States with my former company – the World’s largest Automobile Manufacturer.
Instead of landing back to hometown Singapore, we landed into Shanghai Municipality as the company plans to invest in a green-field start-up to manufacture automobiles and automotive electronics components from ground zero.
In 1996, I wondered if the mission of trying to establish a profitable auto business in China was viable as the national average wage of professionals was only ∿US$1500/month and bicycles were the most cost-effective means of transportation. Back then, China had some 500 million bicycles and bicycle jams were observed at almost every traffic junction.
Sensing that I was uncomfortable, my former company’s CEO used the analogy of a “Shoe Manufacturer’s” venture into the African Continent whereby two different teams were dispatched to conduct field studies. Both teams reported back that most Africans “do not wear shoes”. The 1st team suggested dropping the business plan, whereas the 2nd team were extremely excited with the enormous opportunity as a future emerging market. Subsequently, the Shoe company decided to lean forward and chose the latter.
With a clear understanding of managements’ long term strategic view of China, it provided me with the needed impetus to “cheong” and charge forward with confidence.
During the mid-1990’s, achieving business efficiencies was a major challenge as the overall bureaucracy was stifling. For example, the process of either securing a business licence or obtaining a personal work permit was exorbitantly lengthy and requiring lots of rubber stamping by numerous government agencies. Also, the lack of HR talent, weak infrastructure and under-developed logistics sector posed great difficulties during project execution.
Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges, the automobile project was eventually successfully executed. Some personal experiences on successful leadership practices in China will be covered later.
In 2016, China sales accounts for approximately 50% of my former company’s total global revenues and China have surpassed the U.S. to become the World’s largest automobile manufacturer, producing 24.8 million vehicles in 2017¹.
Personally, the China fear-factor quickly evaporated beyond the 1st year of my engagement as the market is truly dynamic, exciting and Chinese professionals are amongst the most highly educated, smartest and hardworking people to work with.
After my initial success, subsequently I was offered new leadership positions at 2 other different fortune 500 companies in the Electronics manufacturing & Heavy Equipment Industrial sector respectively. Here, I took the opportunity to reflect on prior lessons learnt and made the needed adjustments to strengthen best practices to achieve even greater success.
In total, I lived in China for 20 years – and took up residences in Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Shanghai and Beijing.
In the initial 10 years – life was not as pleasant. We missed hawker food, clean bathrooms, fresh air, clean drinking water etc. To reduce homesickness, we joined the Singapore-Shanghai Club to network and sing Majullah Singapura together during National Day holiday.
Minus the air pollution, the subsequent 10 years were very pleasant and productive. Major Chinese cities have been more cosmopolitan and there were a lot more of South East Asian and International cuisines, major shopping malls, fun activities for the family etc. The overall business environment had also become more pro-business as Chinese Central Government continue to stream-line the overall bureaucracy.
Reflecting upon my China experience, I am thankful for the opportunity to witness all aspects of rapid developments unfold right before me. With regards to managing for success in China, below is a humble sharing of my personal journey.
In brief, it is about “The PRC’s of Leading Business Successfully in the People’s Republic of China(PRC)”. There many aspects of the Special & China Unique Characteristics in the Chinese economy that needs to be understood to be successful.
Below are some of these details: -
Patience (P)
Patience in Key Operating in China as it takes time to develop the Chinese market.
For example, the biggest challenge in my initial years in China was trying to build a strong local team because talent acquisition was a major issue. During former Chairman Mao’s 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, China closed its’ iron curtain to the outside world, and sent all intellectuals to the country-side farms to be “re-educated” as capitalism was viewed as the enemy of communism. As a result, China had a “lost generation” of professionals and intellectuals needed to support its economic growth plans.
In China, there is a saying that “姜-还是老的辣 “（ An Old Ginger is the Best Ginger）. However, the issue of the missing “Old Ginger” defaulted most foreign investors to start from scratch by dispatching foreign specialist to develop & train young PRC professionals in effective management best practise and leadership skills.
Extraordinary patience is needed when coaching and mentoring young talent. For example, at my former company - there were an incessant habit of last minute paging for people to attend unscheduled meetings. Such practices were attributed to the local business environment where unscheduled visits or ad-hoc meetings were the norm.
Such practices were naturally disruptive and counter-productive. To help inculcate a change towards proactive planning, I had to persist in advanced planning for months before the desired behavioural changes occur.
In present day China, even though there has been significant improvement in overall people capability new challenges arise. China continually needs to train a lot more internationally-minded professionals² to help realise her dream of becoming a moderately developed nation by 2050³.<