The Biggest Challenge and the Hidden Opportunity of Entering the Chinese Market

Starwood’s top executives are in Shanghai, China now. They will stay there for a month to get “localized” by the Chinese culture and “Chinese way” of doing business. In this MSNBC News video, Frits van Paasschen, the President and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide provided many good reasons of why Starwood needs to pay top attention to the Chinese market. I agree with him 100% and will not repeat what he said on the video. Instead, I would like to bring up one challenge and one hidden opportunity of entering the Chinese market.

I believe that the biggest challenge is to manage a company’s human capital in China, including recruitment and selection, training and development, and retention management. It is very difficult to recruit well-trained local managerial talents in China. Companies may assume that there must be abundant good candidates in a country with a population of 1.3 billion people. Yet, not every candidate has the proper education or training that a company desires; many college graduates are “book-smart” and needs extra training before they are ready to make sound business decisions on their own. Accordingly, companies need to plan a large budget for some very basic HR functions.

Another relevant area that needs special attention is employee retention. If Starwood is opening a new hotel every other week in China, other hotel companies, like Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton, will not fall behind. Hotels are competing with one another to attract the top talents in a very small pool. If hotels do not want to see their well-trained managers working for their competitors, they had better take good care of their people and keep them aboard.

The huge hidden opportunity of entering the Chinese market lies in the advantage of gaining brand recognition among the Chinese consumers in China. Even though many developed countries still have very tight restrictions of issuing visa to Chinese travellers, I believe these countries, including the U.S., will open their tourist market to Chinese travellers soon. By then, if 1% Chinese will make their own travel arrangements to the U.S., those well-recognized hotel brands, as compared to the other local hotel chains, will probably have a better chance of attracting the 13,000,000 outbound Chinese travellers. Who does not want that business?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

References:
The picture was downloaded from travelchinatour.com

Comments

Is It OK for Hotel Staff to Wear Piercings and Tattoos?

Time has changed. I see more and more college students wearing piercings and tattoos nowadays, but is it OK for hotel staff to wear piercings and tattoos? The answer is “no, no, no.” According a report at USAToday.com, customers across the board do not want to see any hotel workers with pierced eyebrow, pierced tongue, tattooed arm, or nose ring. Some may argue that tattooed and pierced workers may seem more acceptable in edgy boutique hotels as compared to the big franchised hotels, but the survey results did not find any differences among a variety of lodging products. Many respondents believe people who wear visible tattoos and piercings are taking a high risk of their professional lives. If you stay in a hotel, do you mind being served by tattooed and/or pierced staff? What if you are the one who makes the hiring decision? References: USAToday.com: http://tinyurl.com/linchikwok08042010 Picture was downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/linchikwok08042010P

Where Coffee Meets Culture: My Experience with Orientation, Socialization, and Culture at Dutch Bros (by Karina Martinez)

When people think of Dutch Bros, they usually picture colorful drinks, loud music, free stickers, and baristas so friendly they’ll jump in the car with you. As someone who has had the opportunity to work for Dutch Bros, I can say that the energy customers feel isn’t an act; it is the result of intentional and effective HR practices that are focused on orientation, socialization, and culture. From your very first day, you experience how these practices shape the entire Dutch experience. Orientation, Socialization, Culture In HR management, orientation is the introduction of the role and company to new hires. This is intended to help them feel welcomed and informed. Socialization goes beyond the initial training process; it’s how new hires grasp the organization’s values, behaviors, and traditions over time. Together, these fun...

Average/Below-Average Looking People Can Earn as Much as the Attractive Ones

Research has shown that attractive people can not only charm interviewers (and thus get hired easier), they are also more likely to earn more as compared to those with average or below-average looks. Accordingly to a Wall Street Journal report , attractive people can earn 3% - 4% more than a person with below-average look. If such difference adds up over a person’s lifetime, an attractive person can earn up to $230,000 more than an ugly worker; even an average-looking person can make $140,000 more. Another relevant Wall Street Journal report also suggests that workers who exercise regularly can earn 9% more than those who do not. If that is the fact (I believe it is), is it legal? Can employers do that? Linchi Kwok and Otto @SyracuseU Career Fair To my knowledge, no law or regulation under EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) considers a person’s look as a protective class. It is true that people in general have an idea of what kind of person they feel attract...

Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

Search This Blog