|
“Cross-Border Talent Economy” is co-hosted by btrax and Asia Society, sponsored by ChinaSF and Bay Area Council. It featured 5 professionals who are heavily involved with employment and immigration issues. The panel discussion took place in the heart of San Francisco financial district, with a special blend of various industrial backgrounds including venture capital, business, academic, legal and HR.
How international talent differ from those from the United States?
We all know that the world market nowadays is borderless. Technology significantly shortened physical distances between business people around the globe. However, problems still stand: how do you work with a person if you cannot see them on a regular, face-to-face basis?
Hiring talent from overseas render companies a different perspective, diversities collide and generate innovative ideas. Vice versa, these international professionals usually bring fresh point of views to their original country, thus make the world market even closer and more productive.
Challenges of hiring & keeping overseas talent
As for some companies, they choose to hire talent directly from their home countries. For instance, btrax usually conduct initial interviews through Skype, time differences thus has to been put in consideration. When a person is considered for the position, the company has to work with lawyers to figure out what type of visa/how to apply for a work visa for this person. Sometimes, companies find it is impossible to bring a person in simply because of visa problems.
On the other hand, even if the person obtained a work visa, that does not necessarily mean he/she is guaranteed to be able to work here 3 years from now, due to the visa expiration issues. In this sense, neither the employer nor employee feels stable, and usually cause many problems in terms of work assignment.
As for large corporates and C-level talent, what are the challenges?
In most cases, larger international corporates will have a better infrastructure to seek and hire senior level overseas professionals.
However, another trend being emerged is that the United States is exporting as many talent as it is importing – we find lots of higher level American professional leave their country to explore more opportunities.
Countries from Asia, for example, is one of the fastest growing regions of the world; in this sense, going back to home countries and build up your resume there might be a great option, and gives you a larger chance to be spotted by corporations in the United States.
On a larger scale (policy & system), what problems are there?
On a structural level, the US immigration system is still limited to a few labor categories, which does not fit the modern society and employment status quo. The last major change in terms of labor categories happened back in the 1980s, the immigration framework is set in a time that we are no longer living in.
Take Silicon Valley for example, a majority of companies here desperately need software engineers and designers, yet the policy is still leaning towards mechanic engineering and many traditional sciences. Practically speaking, lawyers find cultural prejudice still hinders global talent from obtaining a work visa.
If there is one thing you want to change about immigration policy,
what it will be, and why?
- Flexible Visa: the world market is so small, talent mobilization is so frequent that a type of visa which let international talent travel between countries without time limitation is strongly desired;
- Creativity: before early 2000s, immigration policy is less restricted, so lawyers can use their creativities to apply for visas for their clients (Lisa used to turn a cheese chef into a food scientist, which later became a famous case study material for practical immigration laws).
- Academic background requirement: as for H1B visa, a BA/BS degree is required in order to apply for a work visa. However, we find many talent without a bachelor’s degree are as good as those who have. Paperwork and documents is almost the only source for immigration office to decide whether or not to issue a visa, which is partial per se.
H1B, CPT, OPT, or J-1? Make sense of how innovative companies are securing overseas talent within the tangle of US immigration restrictions.
Seats are limited – early bird registration of $15 ends April 12th.
Join Asia Society and btrax for a panel discussion with cross-industry experts from the corporate, HR, academic, legal, and non-profit spheres, and hear their insights on:
- How do cross-cultural and multilingual employees impact a company’s global competitiveness?
- Which aspects of current U.S. immigration policy are the most problematic for businesses expanding abroad?
- How are corporations and individuals strategically hiring and working within immigration restrictions?
Schedule
5:30 – 6:30 Registration, food/drinks & networking
6:30 – 7:45 Moderated discussion and audience Q&A
 Photo by Erica Kawamoto Hsu We interviewed Ahmed Siddiqui of SF Bay Area Startup Weekend. In this interview, Ahmed discusses his path going from a “big pond” to a “little pond” and his involvement with Startup Weekend’s entrepreneurship education. Ahmed also discusses the upcoming April 13-14 MEGA Startup Weekend – the largest Startup Weekend event in the world!
Listen to the interview here:
 KAYAC, Inc was the talk of the show as they showcased two interesting mobile apps at SxSW this last week. For those who do not know KAYAC, they are a Kamakura, Japan-based web/mobile app developer with a very colorful background. They call themselves “omoshiro” which means a fun-loving company.
KAYAC’s company’s vision is to increase the number of creators in the world. Their corporate culture is to make everything weird and different. KAYAC’s weird culture includes things like on-the-move office, where they traveled and worked on a bus in Vietnam or to Tohoku to help the earthquake/tsunami ravaged area recover. Other uniqueness in their culture is that they set bonuses by rolling a pair of dice, and have the spirit of manga where superheros overcome the odds. Read more about their culture here.
A total of 20 companies came from Japan to showcase their products at SXSW. KAYAC sent three of their employees to SXSW, and attended to the booth dressed in Kabuki and Geisha outfits. So far, KAYAC has released 7 new apps to the US market this year. Among those apps, Photobag and MusicParty were highlighted at SxSW.
Photobag
Photobag is an app that allows you to share unlimited pictures from your mobile device with your friends. There is no site registration required and all you need is a secret access code to share unlimited pictures with your friends. The catch is that they are only available free for a limited time. After that time, one will need to “feed” their honey bear with some money to access the pictures.
This app is downloadable in the iPhone App Store and the Android Market.
To promote Photobag, KAYAC ran a campaign at SXSW by making personalized Manga-style cards for the event audience and distributing them through the Photobag app. KAYAC attracted over 200 people to create the Manga cards.
MusicParty
MusicParty is a unique iPhone app which allows a user to share their iTunes mobile music with up to four of their friends.
This app uses wireless or bluetooth to share music. To use this app, the user will create a “Party” and phones that have that app loaded and active can see the “Party” and request music to be played on the user’s iPhone. The user who created the “Party” can select which music will be played on their phone. MusicParty can be useful for a roadtrip, party or even a wedding where background music is needed. This app is available in the iTunes App Store.
For more about KAYAC and their apps, visit them at http://www.kayac.com
 Source: OiMax
Maybe it is impossible to demand stability in Japan.
Even though young people still hope to find stable jobs in large companies, Japan’s unemployment rate is on the rise due to worsening economic conditions as well as the earthquake in March last year. A survey from Diamond Lead that announced office rankings suggests students still seek employment from large, popular companies. Among them were Mitsubishi Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, Toshiba, and Sony. Not all large companies, though, are as stable as they seem.
Last year, the then-president and grandson of the founders of Daio Paper, Mototaka Ikawa, was found to have borrowed more than 10 billion yen from affiliate companies for gambling. The board has since stated they will not remove all Ikawa family members from various management positions, but they will punish the 23 people involved in the fund embezzlement scandal.
More bad news followed the Daio scandal. The Japanese stock market tumbled, and the former CEO of Olympus, Michael C. Woodford, was suddenly dismissed from the board. Woodford later revealed documents showing inconsistencies in Olympus’ finances, which led to a a cover-up for over $1.5 billion in investment losses for the past 13 years. Olympus, one of the world’s largest companies in the field of medical optical goods, microscopes and cameras, falsified their financial records in order to cover up the consequences of their risky investments from the bubble economy in the 1980s. They initially hired Woodford to reform the company, but his dismissal was due to his questioning of strange merger & acquisition deals that were found to be part of the cover-up.
Failures in large companies, as well as the declining stock market, have led to a loss of financial faith from foreign countries who invested in the Japanese stock market and companies such as Olympus and Daio Paper. These companies, when hiring, usually hire students who recently graduated and expect to keep these employees until retirement. Unfortunately, students who do not find jobs right after graduation will stay in school for another year and face the same challenges again. The cycle repeats itself until these students find a job. Ironically, students limit themselves to one path when it comes to their career, even though there are many other options out there in terms of their future.
 Source: Simanex
Students don’t have to find jobs in large companies to succeed, but there are still many companies who base retirement and salaries on age, and it is still a societal normal to enter a stable job right after graduation in order to have a good salary at retirement.
However, there are still Japanese adolescents who wish to start their own companies and think about their future careers every day, making choices and taking actions that will slowly lead them to their goals. Working in a large, stable company is not the only choice for Japanese youths, but the temperament of Japanese culture still shuns people who act outside the norm.
Blog article written in Japanese and transposed into English by Ayako Nakamura. Ms. Nakamura is a social media specialist from Japan. For more news and commentary, follow Ayako on Twitter and http://ya-ko.com/.
Sources
“Daio Paper to punish 23 people over ex-chairman’s money scandal.” The Mainichi Times, Kyodo. (02/11/2012).
“Daio Paper to punish 23 for scandal.” The Japan Times Online, Kyodo. (02/12/2012).
Tabuchi, Hiroki, “Another Scandal Unsettles Corporate Japan as Paper Maker Accuses Ex-Chairman.” The New York Times. (10/28/2011): New York edition, page B3.
Dvorak, Phred; and Inagaki, Kana; “Arrests in Olympus Scandal Signal Investigation’s Scope.” The Wall Street Journal. (02/16/2012).
Reuters, “Former executives, bankers arrested in Olympus fraud fallout.” Hindustan Times, Tokyo. (02/16/2012).
 The story of Cheung Yan (left), founder of Nine Dragons Paper, is just one sea turtle story "Borderless Economics" tells. (Photo: World Economic Forum/Adam Dean) Date and Time: Thursday February 23, 2012; 12pm-13:30pm
Mass migration is changing the way we live, learn and do business. A century ago, migrants crossed an ocean and never saw their homelands again. Today, they call or Skype home the moment their flight has landed. Thanks to cheap travel and easy communication, immigrants stay in contact with their native countries, creating powerful cross-border networks, uncovering and creating business and job opportunities that would never have existed had they not traversed global boundaries.
In Borderless Economics: Chinese Sea Turtles, Indian Fridges and the New Fruits of Global Capitalism, Robert Guest, The Economist’s Business Editor, travels the world, observing how immigrant networks create wealth, spread ideas and foster innovation. Asia Society invites you to this Corporate Briefing, where Mr. Guest will discuss key business and economic findings, including:
- how Indians in America and India build the frugal technology that could ultimately save Medicare
- how the “sea turtle” phenomenon – young Chinese returning home from their studies in the West – will eventually give us democracy in China
- that the flow of educated migrants from poor countries to rich ones – the so-called “brain-drain” – actually reduces global poverty
- that if the United States keeps its borders open and taps into the powerful global diaspora network, it will remain the world’s most powerful nation indefinitely.
- how migration, for the all the disruption it causes, makes the world happier – and wealthier.
Attendees will gain macroeconomic insights into the way global immigration patterns shape the business landscape, workforce, and flow of information and ideas in the coming decades. Joe Morgan, Chief Investment Officer for Silicon Valley Bank Asset Management, will moderate the discussion. Copies of Borderless Economics will be available for purchase at the event.
Co-sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank, Bay Area Council, and btrax, Inc.
For questions about this Corporate Briefing, please contact April Mo or Kate Ryge at (415) 421-8707.
 Source: Daveybot
Time Magazine estimates that it cost advertisers $3.5 million for a 30 second commercial spot in Sunday’s Super Bowl, which is an 8333% increase from Super Bowl commercials in 1967. We asked our creative team to brainstorm greener ways that people can spend $3.5 million.
 Sources
The Business of Super Bowl XLVI, By the Numbers
Source: Flickr.com
Time Magazine estimates that it cost advertisers $3.5 million for a 30 second commercial spot in Sunday’s Super Bowl, which is an 8333% increase from Super Bowl commercials in 1967. We asked our creative team to brainstorm greener ways that people can spend $3.5 Million.
Sources
The Business of Super Bowl XLVI, By the Numbers
No, this is not a sneak peek of the new season of The Walking Dead, a massive rebellion, or political revolution. This is a picture taken by Jesus Diaz on Jan 12, when Apple was about to release the new iPhone 4S in China. The specific demographic of this photo? Most likely designers and people between the ages of 18 and 35. It seems that Apple products are no longer a “niche” necessity, but rather a signature of chic and urban culture.
Despite Apple’s back out in 2009, Macworld|iWorld 2012 still attracted over 20,000 visitors and 300+ exhibitors worldwide to the Moscone Center in San Francisco. I went to this 3-day event as a media reporter, and it was quite interesting to see many new faces(new companies) emerging – some of them came all the way from Asia. Here are some products that caught my eye.
All Jack Speakers. Here’s only one of the jaw-dropping examples:
This 4-speaker set is designed and made by Alljack, a Taiwanese company. Inspired by a wine bottle and a flower, this speaker set places your iPod/iPhone in the center and is decorated by the with Russian diamonds, bullion plating, unnatural timber pellet and other music inspired metal. The cost? $68,000!
Adventure Bar Story
The exhibition not only welcomed big companies and manufacturers, but also many startups and app developers. I was intrigued by this small iPad game booth in the app section:
Adventure Bar Story is a 16-Bit iPad/iPhone game that blended full-on restaurant management gameplay with turn-based RPG battling/exploration. 16-Bit! This game debuted in Japan’s PlayStation Store last summer and attracted a lot of attention because of the nostalgic graphics. The developer of this game – RideonJapan – is a small Japanese startup with a team of 7.
Given the fact that Apple products are gaining popularity in China and Asia in general, we see more companies and developers from Asia coming out of their region and aiming worldwide. These innovators in Asia are worth a closer look.
Following the success of SF Macworld|iWorld, IDG announced its 2nd Macworld exhibition in Asia this September at the China National Convention Center, Beijing. It will feature partners like China Unicom, Youku, Sina, Yesky. Let’s wait in anticipation to see what the next six months of innovative products/apps are going to appear at this event.
Related post: China Innovators
 Source: LGEPR
Consumer electronics companies should pay more attention to LinkedIn users. According to
BizReport, a recent LinkedIn survey shows their users are more likely to spend more money on electronics. LinkedIn users are more likely be tech-savvy, favoring smartphones and tablets in particular. The LinkedIn report from WebProNews also states time management, productivity and efficiency are some of the reasons for users’ reliance on technology. Our designers assembled an infographic that summarizes key statistics.
Sources
Our Users Spend More on Electronics, Kristina Knight, BizReport.
Report: LinkedIn Members Ready for CES 2012 Innovations, Abby Johnson, WebProNews.
| |
Sundai
