Keeping eastern promise (economic downturn and human resources in south-east Asia and China)

Citation

Lim, B. (2009), "Keeping eastern promise (economic downturn and human resources in south-east Asia and China)", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 17 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2009.04417gad.003

Keeping eastern promise (economic downturn and human resources in south-east Asia and China)

Article Type: Abstracts From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 17, Issue 7

Lim B.People Management (UK), 21 May 2009, Start page: 24, No. of pages: 3

Purpose – quotes Bryan Lim, HR director for the energy multinational, BG Group, about the impact of the economic crisis in south-east Asia on the human resource policies and practices of his firm and others in the region. Design/methodology/approach - Amongst other things, discusses the impact on workforce planning, the extent to which BG Group is employing local people as managers rather than using expatriates, the human resource policies that the firm is adopting and the particular challenges that are involved in human resource management in this area of the world. Findings – argues that the ensuring that the company has suitably skilled managers is the major challenge for multinationals in south-east Asia and China, pointing out that expatriate managers are slow to adapt to working in these countries but that local people do not as yet have sufficient managerial skills. States that this is the reason why companies are avoiding redundancies as much as possible. Reports that BG Group and other multinationals are developing local talent as part of their manpower strategies, indicating his own target of increasing the proportion of local people employed in management from 20 per cent to 50 per cent in the next three to five years. Underlines the value of having local people in managerial positions because of their understanding of the local culture. Originality/value - Indicates how multinationals are adapting their human resource policies in South-East Asia to the economic downturn.ISSN: 1358-6297Reference: 38AM741

Keywords: Multinationals, Human resource management, South-East Asia, Recruitment, Management development, Expatriates