Talent management issues for multinational logistics companies in China: observations from the field

Abstract

With the rapid business expansion in China, multinational logistics companies are desperately in need of local management personnel to staff new offices and routes. This has been a major challenge for multinational logistics enterprises, as finding qualified candidates, recruiting them, and retaining them in China have proven to be harder than expected. Based on a set of interviews with executives in global logistics companies as well as interviews with Chinese supply chain candidates, we explore a set of root causes that underlie the challenges that human resource (HR) managers in multinational logistics companies face when recruiting and retaining Chinese employees. These underlying causes are manifold in nature. First, there is a shortage of qualified graduates from universities for open roles in logistics enterprises partly due to the nascent logistics higher education in China. Second, multinational logistics enterprise roles are often less appealing to talented Chinese job candidates who have multiple options for logistics career opportunities. Third, there is a gap between the expectations of Chinese employees and the perceived reality of foreign managers relative to what constitutes competitive salary, benefits, and job satisfaction conditions. To address the logistics labour challenges, it is imperative that Western logistics enterprises operating in China align their HR strategies and tactics with the hard realities of the Chinese labour pool and the conditions that exist in the market today as well as the near future. We identify several approaches to close the gap that exists today, including (a) creating training opportunities for HR managers on Chinese culture and social contexts, (b) establishing fair incentives internally, and (c) seeking deeper and broader relationships with Chinese universities to attract talent.

Keywords:

• multinational logistics
• China
• recruitment and retention
• talent management