TALENT MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY CHINA: A COMPARISON BETWEEN FOREIGN COMPANIES IN CHINA AND CHINESE DOMESTIC COMPANIES

Abstract

The current thesis investigated the use of talent management (TM) in contemporary China’s business environment through a comparison of foreign-owned and Chinese domestic-owned (private-owned) enterprises. A great number of previous studies define TM implicitly and focus more on the field of human resource management (HRM) than TM, but there is very little research that considers the application of TM theories within a real organisational context. This study, therefore, attempts to provide in-depth company-level insights into the TM practices of different types of organisations in China. In order to achieve its research aims and answer its research questions effectively, this study used a mixed research methods approach and utilised data from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews related to the practice of TM across foreign and local companies in China’s marketplace. A quantitative analysis of 206 questionnaires and a qualitative analysis of 28 interviews with representatives from foreign- and domestic-owned enterprises were undertaken to examine the data. The results obtained indicated that Chinese local companies adopt an exclusive TM approach by investing in a small group of elites, whereas most foreign companies apply an inclusive TM approach and treat the whole workforce equally. Moreover, as influential factors of TM challenges, the findings of this study demonstrated that, apart from demographic issues, the enhanced effects of globalisation and growing demand–supply gap in foreign-owned companies differ from those in domestic-owned companies in contemporary China. It was evidently clear from the findings that both foreign and domestic enterprises have come up with significantly distinct ways to recruit, develop and retain talented people in the context of China. In addition, the findings of this study highlighted that, due to the opposite TM approaches adopted by foreign and local firms, the organisational outcomes are different between these two types of organisation. In the meantime, the findings identified that employees in both foreign and local enterprises hold positive attitudes towards a strategic TM practice. This study, therefore, contributes to the existing knowledge and offers practical insights for both foreign- and local-owned enterprises for choosing the most appropriate TM strategies to overcome challenges and sustain a competitive advantage in China.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Kate Rowlands (Supervisor) & Aminu Mamman (Supervisor)