China tries his side meet these new demands

It is in is take little for the factory explodes. Only the Chinese Government had to recognize this day of April 2003, the number of victims of the SARS outbreak was finally well above the most pessimistic delivered until then this paint manufacturing unit employees flocked to return home. In good faith, as encouraged by the authorities. No one was concerned then the workstation that it dropped. Person except Qinghong Wang, the engineer security of the plant, which has been able, despite the widespread precipitation, initiate the standby process. With regard to chemicals, without intervention, in and out of the factory damage could have been dramatic.

"Security engineer", the term was still there is not so long ago the Chinese vocabulary. This is typically one of these new features brought by foreigners in their luggage, which is at the same time that the business is complex and is becoming. China, workshop of the world, cannot play in the great court if it is not bent to the constraints of the industrialized world. A she, therefore, to make the necessary efforts. Safety in the workplace, for example, all the experts stress path to browse. "This concept has never really existed in the Chinese spirit." "It is therefore not surprising to have difficulty to find engineers specialized in safety, health or the environment", explains Gérard Deleens, President of the trade for China advisers.

Actuaries as to the Luxembourg less

Prevention, accident, all is to: "I was explaining to a manager of a factory the imperatives of our group security when lifting eyes, I saw a worker on a beam without any protection," says the head of human resources still astonished by the gap between rhetoric and reality. The apprehension of danger is certainly not the same in China than in the West. Scaffolding bamboo in the South of the country, where yet blow the typhoons are there for the recall. What is true for security in the work is for the management of risks in the broad sense.

Change of scenery. This Office is not one of the complaints, but instead to sign contracts of life insurance. Zhong Xiaolu has a long experience. Despite the repeated requests of his insurer to transform its contract with a minimum guaranteed rate signed twelve years ago in a less expensive product for him, she has never surrendered. And for good reason: it guaranteed annual compensation of 10, making it one of the best investments never achieved. This type of product was concocted by administrative, more anxious to attract customers to preserve the financial equilibrium of the company. Result: the portfolio of life insurance companies are full of these wasteful contracts. Such cases should, theoretically, be now in the past with the arrival of Actuaries. But they are only 40 at most in China, which, at the level of the country, is tiny. As a comparison, the Luxembourg, with its 450,000 inhabitants, has one hundred!

Worthy of the name statisticians, China also has need. "They are unable to speak the digits", notes that observer. Statistics men know certainly collect information and implement that curve. But they have not received the necessary training to pass data and real trends. What is perhaps less true at the macroeconomic level and for the monitoring of large aggregates becomes shouting in management control or dashboard of activity. A concept which is beyond even the largest number. On the advanced methods such as credit scoring, they belong to another planet. Bankcard stimulation programs, for example, do not make the distinction between the good and bad payers. Result: everyone is encouraged to use a card, regardless if the crossing chronic debtors outstanding is increased.

Its infancy marketing

"The appearance of all these features accompanied the sophistication of business and the market", is the expert. Thus, the logistics. Prior to 1995, China was operating in a world of buyers and non-sellers. Logistics, it was: "I take my truck, I book and I'm back home." This scheme was upset with the birth of the "supply chains" and logistical platforms. And what about the communication, advertising or marketing. Almost virgin land, for the moment still preserve the foreigners. Communication in a country where everything has long concentrated in the hands of a single party remains a highly theoretical concept, generally beaten undermined by the application of a well known strategy, that of withdrawal.

The dialogue with the consumer, is still largely to invent. "Direct marketing does not exist." "Absence of mailing, it is very difficult to reach consumers, and therefore make profiles with precision", finds this expert. Suddenly, everything is done empirically and with some extravagances. "We happen to go directly to classrooms, to interrupt the course to offer samples of our products to children." "In some cases, we were even presentations", remembers the former head of marketing of a multinational. To avoid too shocking abuses, and also to protect themselves from criticism of consumer associations, companies themselves decided to end such practices. And privileged consumers together in panel tests. Here again, the shortcomings are patent. The Chinese hosts of these meetings do not have knowledge in psychology necessary to correlate individual behaviours and characteristics of products, to detect fine patterns.

Training needs

All these examples call the same conclusion. "Lacking in the business functions that require a lot of experience", summarizes Georges Desveaux, partner at McKinsey in Beijing. This surprising because nothing should move from a system based on the consensus decision within strict planning activity based on criteria of profitability. Since the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, in 1978, the State sector has already changed, since after fed up to 80 of the GDP, it fell, twenty-five years later, about 20. Public enterprises were gradually crowded out of competitive economy, and are often found in a survival situation. As a general, with a return on capital invested 3 on average, versus 7 for the private sector, they are clearly weights died for an economy whose growth reached year poorly 7. Conversely, the private system tends to favour the excessive profit, for example leaving aside all social considerations. In training, it needs to make its market from foreign universities. Which may not meet the needs of China.

That is why, in many cases, or find on-site profiles they are looking for international groups are responsible themselves their frameworks, internal training. The image of Saint.

Gobain, which created "a network environment, hygiene, health (EHS) and provides training House", explains Alain Chen, HRD China. This approach goes further since the Group of Jean-Louis Beffa introduced concepts such as sustainable development, the relationship between suppliers and subcontractors, or more simply the respect of working conditions.

China tries his side meet these new demands. Thus, for security issues, a course on the prevention of industrial risks was established in Shanghai with the help of Paris Tech (1). Speaking to engineers, it includes two years of teaching, half in China, and half in France, followed by a course of twelve months in a tricolour company, France, or China.

Lack of experience

Without real boost came from outside, training in Chinese may be incomplete or inadequate. Thus Chinese 100 training has been implemented for Actuaries. Today, in theory, these graduates are able to endorse the accounts of companies. But in practice, they lack an essential dimension, the anticipation in the trade. "The problem is not of the training, but simply the lack of experience in insurance actuarial", note Thierry Flamand, financial Director of CNP Assurances to Beijing. There is no secret. Insurance in Europe is more than a century; in China, it has ten years of existence. What justify apprehension of totally different risk management. In sum, the reproduction on a smaller scale, of the situation in China from around the world.