Chinese businesses lag behind in global skills

According to the Global Business Leadership Survey China 2007, conducted by consulting firm New Leaders Group in cooperation with Fortune China, Chinese businesses are aware of the need for a global perspective, and acknowledge that they lag behind when it comes to global best practices.

New Delhi, May 25 : According to the Global Business Leadership Survey China 2007, conducted by consulting firm New Leaders Group in cooperation with Fortune China, Chinese businesses are aware of the need for a global perspective, and acknowledge that they lag behind when it comes to global best practices.

The survey, which was quoted extensively by the China Daily, says that 83 percent of the respondents recognized the importance of the global perspective while only 22 percent reached average score for real competency in terms of global best practices. The survey is the first quantified assessment of Chinese business leaders benchmarked against best global practices.

The survey put down eight key characteristics of successful global leaders: a global perspective; effectiveness in leading change; open leadership style; appreciating and managing cultural diversity; being comfortable in unknown terrain; optimism; a strong desire to achieve; and a clear vision of the future.

Responses were invited from carefully targeted executives drawn from Fortune China's database. Some 1,580 responses were received, with 24 per cent of them from CEOs, 29 per cent from vice-presidents and directors, and the rest from middle managers and supervisors.

As for global perspective, 80 per cent of respondents spoke English, but only 28 per cent maintained and developed a personal network of global business contacts.

While global perspective was rated most highly, the reality was that the survey clearly showed that most respondents had been given few opportunities to travel or study to acquire usable international experience.

While 75 percent of the respondents have traveled overseas, most of the travel was for less than a month at a stretch and only 45 percent on business. As a result they feel they have no solid foundation for sharing best practices or maintaining a global professional network.

Professional networking, regarded as a key component of global perspective, while practised by many within China, was only undertaken globally by a small number of respondents.

Only 17 percent believed they should be responsible for passing best practices on to their colleagues globally, with 30 percent seeing this only for their own location and 43 percent seeing it as important across China. Some 5 percent didn't see it as relevant.

While more than 80 percent believed that they could be most successful collaborating across geographical borders, only 20 percent conducted best practices internationally and just one-third maintained personal networks outside China. Only 21 percent listed global perspective as a key characteristic for global business success.

The accession of China to the World Trade Organization accelerated two key trends: entry of more foreign-owned companies into the Chinese market and Chinese enterprises venturing into the international market.

The report indicates that there are capability gaps between business leaders who are effective and capable in the domestic market and those who can operate effectively at a global level.

These gaps exist in both Western and Asian countries and represent the challenges in all nations caught up in economic globalization, but take on a somewhat different form in a developing economy undergoing such a rapid and significant transformation as China, the report said.

ANI