There was nothing across the river 15 years ago
One of the first things you notice on the drive in from Shanghai’s international airport is the number of VW and Ford motor cars on the road and very few other brands. VW’s are locally made and servicing & repairs are easier as parts are available – a valuable facility given the negligible use of indicators or concern for other motorists (or indeed passengers as far as taxi’s were concerned). “The Chinese manoeuvre, signal and then mirror” my local contact tells me. As a result nearly all the local taxi’s are VW and despite the economic downturn there are a lot of them with a typical fare costing less that a decent Latte in London.
In the papers Tuesday morning the two major stories were the US bail out of Citibank to the tune of $25b and the Chinese government’s rescue of the bean producers. The price has dropped so far that local farmers may stop planting which could lead to shortages down the line. Ironically, US bean growers stand to gain as imports will have to rise – an unsatisfactory outcome which at least everyone agrees on. The difference in the measures taken illustrates perfectly the wide variation in issues caused by the economic downturn although building work doesn’t seem to have abated. The entire city looks like one big building site and the pace of change is phenomenal. I was told that 15 years ago there were no buildings on the other side of the river. Now it is home to some of the most breathtaking skyscrapers in the world.
I am in Shanghai on business representing one of our customers in the mobile, or should I say ‘cell’ phone sector. Is the UK the only region to continue refer to these devices as mobile rather than cell? We seem never to have got it right and I remember getting my first ‘car-phone’ back in early 90’s! Maybe one day we will finally catch up.
The research is interesting on a number of levels and not least because our client has asked us to test a prototype device that uses a different input mechanism. Radical design and risk taking are seldom seen in the mobile arena and since the launch of the iphone everyone seems to have become a follower. A radical departure this may not be but at east it is challenging current thinking which can only be a good thing.
Of great interest was the market and perception differences between what in the west we are told about the Asian market, and what is in fact the reality. Connectivity for calls and text messaging was a big issue. 3G is an aspiration for most of the people I heard talking – who ranged from people working in Financial services to Teachers. The service delivery was a constant feature of the conversation and clearly there are issues with local providers. Although I experienced excellent connectivity via my Blackberry for email and picture messaging it seemed that none of the research participants had the capability or if they did, they didn’t use it.
Where Shanghai and London are similar is in the impact the economic slowdown is having on the sector. I heard plenty of stories of budget cuts, projects being delayed and a general concern over the medium term future. However, out to dinner at one of the nicer Chinese restaurants on Monday night I noticed there were more Westerners dining than Asians. Economic slowdown there may be, but Shanghai still offers plenty of opportunity and it isn’t just the local businesses that are making the most of it.
Salary details published online
10 11 2008Glassdoor.com is the brain-child of Robert Hohman (ex President Hotwire), Rich Barton (founder of Expedia) and Tim Besse (also ex Expedia). The website launched in late August following beta trials and inception earlier in the year. The idea emerged in the summer of 2007 after the founders wondered what would happen if someone left an entire company employee survey on a printer and it got posted to the web. The initial idea expanded and the website now offers three things – for free!
The first is that it provides detailed company reviews that encourage employees to highlight the pros and cons of working for a firm with advice for senior management. Perhaps the dichotomy between criticising the company you work for with the potential to damage your own market value vs. the desire to ‘offload’ keeps the feedback honest. Whatever the motivation I didn’t read many ‘hotheaded’ reviews and I really like this idea as it has the potential to provide a canny employer with a no holds barred, finger on the pulse insight in to what employees really think about the company management and strategy at a grass routes level. If not the actual strategy then at least the employees perception of what the strategy is which is perhaps more important feedback.
The second is Employee ratings on workplace factors and leadership. The website asks employees to rate their employee against a range of criteria such as work life balance, benefits and more. They are also requested to provide a CEO approval rating which is shown as a score.
Finally, and perhaps the ‘killer’ piece of the website is that it provides real time salary information by company and by title. So I can see for example, that a Senior Consultant at Deloitte has an average salary of $95,723 and a Senior Manager a salary of £162,140. Quite useful to both employee and employer.
The fact that all the information comes from real employees is the crucial point of differentiation for the website. It is free to use and all the information is ‘anonymised’ so there is no fear of your employer finding out if you say something less than complimentary about them. It is pure genius and surely it won’t be long before it is integrated with job listing sites to give an extra dimension to a recruitment decision.
The use of a “Wisdom of the crowd” approach in business is becoming increasingly documented – I reviewed Gary Hamel’s book ‘The future of Management’ recently and the theme is used as the basis for his ideas. Perhaps the Glassdoor provides a legitimate opportunity for crowd insight toward a companies strategy. I suspect however it will be a while before employers actually use it as they will no doubt dismiss it as only a report on the extremes.
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