Thu, 8 Aug 2013Overseas business leaders able to navigate a firm through a period of stormy trading are in demand in China, according to Greg Allen, the global head of resourcing at assurance firm Lloyd’s Register.

Having seen GDP growth above 5% every single year bar three going back 40 years, China is little-accustomed to difficult business conditions. With that figure likely to be around 7.5% for 2013, it’s hardly time for austerity measures, but there are businesses finding the going less comfortable than previously.

“You have a lot of these Chinese guys who have learnt to run these companies at growth,” Allen tells Recruiter. “They don’t know how to go through a downturn, batten down the hatches.”

Western talent able to come in and say “we’re going to show you how it’s done” is also needed because Chinese culture means people may have the perception that taking company through such a period means losing face.

But elsewhere, the need for Western talent is reducing, as also discussed in the Global Spotlight on p13 of next week’s August issue of Recruiter.

Indeed, as Allen says: “A lot of global organisations put international assignees into these organisations to do skill transfer [ie upskill the Chinese], and embed that organisation into the country.” Now, he adds, the preference is often for locals to take the reins.