By Astrid Wendlandt
PARIS (Reuters) - Holding on to skilled staff in China is getting as hard as protecting intellectual property for Western technology and media firms, executives told an industry summit this week.
Poaching is rampant.
Long considered a low-cost manufacturing center, China is increasingly offering specialized skills that foreign companies are keen to tap.
"The biggest problem we have there is that they are taking people -- Chinese people we train, people we send," Robert Lerwill, chief executive of UK media group Aegis AGS.L told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Paris.
Aegis, with 1,000 staff in China already, is among those companies looking to expand operations and development facilities to be closer to customers in the world's biggest consumer market and to acquire local knowledge.
"There are big skills opportunities in China. One of the shortages in this world is highly skilled, capable engineers and there are a lot of them in China," said Miles Flint, President of phone maker Sony Ericsson (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
"It is an attractive location for value creation not just for cost avoidance," Flint added.
JUMPING SHIP Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Paper | Aug 20 - 21, 2008 | Manufacturing |
| Japan Investment | Jul 01 - 2, 2008 | Country Summits |
| Global Real Estate | Jun 23 - 25, 2008 | Real Estate |
| Consumer and Retail | Jun 16 - 18, 2008 | Consumer Retail |
| Investment Outlook | Jun 09 - 12, 2008 | Financial Services / Exchanges |
