Doing business in Asia and struggling with the etiquette? Worry no more. Two Cambridge Executive MBA alumni are making it easier for westerners to do business in the East – with the creation of an iPhone app called Biz Etiz. For more information check out: http://bizetiq.com
This app comes at the right time, since for young business talent Asia is the place to be. "Employers across the Asia Pacific region continue to have a voracious appetite for hiring," says Jeffrey Joerres, Chairman and CEO of Manpower. The latest "Employment Outlook Survey" by Manpower asked 64,000 human resource and recruitment managers in 34 countries about their hiring intentions for the second quarter of 2011.
The survey shows demand for employees in India is at its strongest level since the survey began there in 2005. The seasonally adjusted net employment outlook of 51 per cent for India represents an improvement of 13 percentage points year-over-year. Chinese employers are still among the most confident in the world and job seekers should be able to take advantage of a prosperous labour market. The net employment outlook for mainland China stands at an increase of 36 per cent, a considerable year over year improvement of 14 percentage points. In Singapore job prospects continue to remain strong with an overall improvement year-over-year at six percentage points. "Companies will feel the pressure to do more with less, and competition for talent will increase," said Peter Haglund, Country Manager of Manpower Singapore.
The reason for that demand in Asia is growth: according to the McKinsey Global Survey of December 2010, executives around the world expect at least half of their business this year to come from fast-growing emerging markets, boosted by a burgeoning consumer class.
Given this shift of economic activity from developed to emerging markets, employers are looking for talent in developing economies rather than in the US and Europe, writes the "Financial Times" quoting a report by the Society for Human Resource Management entitled "Global Talent for Competitive Advantage". The report claims: "Many are looking for talent in three areas: emerging markets (44 per cent), new talent entering developed labor markets (41 per cent) and talent from developing markets moving to emerging markets (35 per cent)".
That will deliver a big boost to the interest in Asian business school and Ajit Rangnekar, Dean of the Indian School of Business, says every multinational in the world wants to do business in India and China, creating a need for more Indian and Chinese graduates.
And indeed, GMAT test-taking is at an all-time high among Chinese citizens, as China has become the largest group in Asia sitting for the GMAT exam and after the Americans the second-largest group in the world, according to GMAC's Asian Geographic Trend Report.
"The continuing year-on-year double digit growth of GMAT test takers in China reflects the increasing appetite of young professionals in this market for quality graduate management education to better equip them for positions in the domestic market's public and burgeoning private sectors," said GMAC Asia Pacific Regional Director Julia Herries.
GMAT testing by Asian citizens has risen each of the past five years and is up 58 percent since the testing year 2006. Fourteen of the top 20 regional citizenship groups posted increases in tests taken.
http://www.manpower.com/press/meos.cfm