Demand for managers up 34% in Asia Pacific

2nd June 1999

Korn/Ferry, a leading recruiter internationally and in the Asia Pacific, has released its' latest International Executive Demand Index, which surveys 2,400 Korn/Perry clients. Even though the demand for executives earning over $100,000 US has levelled off for the first time in over 3 years, executive demand in the Asia-Pacific has increased by 34%. Developed and developing economies showed increases, but those in the former were more the result of growth in the latter. This is especially the case for Japan which maintains its' strong interests in the tigers and cubs to the West.

It seems that many organisations are beefing up their local management with 28% of demand being for general managers, followed by Finance Executives (23%), Marketing/Sales/Advertising/PR Executives (22%), and Human Resources/Administration Executives (9%). Why Human Resources and Administration executives are lumped together is perhaps indicative that senior executives are still to realise that Human Resource people have come a long way from when they were Personnel administrators. (..Ed).

Industry comparisons show that the financial service sector accounted (apologies for the pun!) for 27 percent of growth, followed by the glamour industry of the region, Technology and telecommunications at 23%, industrial companies at 14% consumer products at 11% and health care and pharmaceutical companies returning 9%, a large increase from their 2% share in the last quarter.

The implications are several. Fast growth in executive demand means pressure on salaries in the region. The increase in Asia Pacific demand along with a slight decrease in world demand and significant decreases in another region comprising many developing economies (Latin America) means that both business and executive salaries are looking very healthy. Expect to pay more for top performers, but remember that turnover (not reported in this survey) is also high. Companies must now also be looking at restructuring old structures to involve and develop executives more. In this area Asia is very much falling behind, but retaining staff by treating them as team members in an organisation and not just another resource will decrease turnover. This must be healthy for both company and executive.

See Orient Pacific Century's ideas on how recruitment can be improved in Asia