Russell Reynolds Associates: Six Dilemmas Facing Multinational Companies in China

When it comes to hiring senior executives in China many MNCs struggle to appoint the best candidate. The growing trend within multinational companies is to appoint local talent, but experienced local talent is hard to find at senior levels. At the same time, expatriates who have strong leadership experience lack market knowledge.

In a recent report Russell Reynolds Associates’ addresses the six dilemmas facing MNCs and offers solutions to overcome these dilemmas. The tensions that face MNCs in China include:

1. We either take a risk on inexperienced locals or we take a risk on untested expatriates.
2. If we invest in developing our people, other companies will poach our talent.
3. We want to be close to the market AND ensure integrity and compliance.
4. We want to develop local talent as regional leaders, but candidates don’t want to travel overseas to further their development because the action is here in China.
5. We want to attract the best talent, but we do not have fancy titles nor will we pay at the top of the market.
6. We need to balance different expectations in China and the West as to how leaders should behave.

The full report is published on Russell Reynolds Associates’ website. Read the full report.