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Medical device manufacturer sees big role for younger generation
Barry Thomas is sitting in the lounge of the Sofitel Wanda hotel in Beijing sipping a mojito and looking relaxed.
He is, after all, on a working visit to his favorite Chinese city and his last appointment of the day promises to be a satisfying dinner.
The 59-year-old director of Cook Medical Asia-Pacific does have more pressing matters on his mind, though, as he talks about his passion for fly fishing, a hobby he manages to indulge in some of the best venues around the world, despite a hugely busy schedule that saw him traveling 200 days last year.
His current bugbear is recruitment. In particular, how to find and retain appropriate staff for his ever-growing Chinese venture among the notoriously fickle Generation Y population.
He has flown in from his regional headquarters in Brisbane, Australia, for a biannual North Asia strategy meeting with senior team members across the region.
Cook Medical globally makes 15,000 products for 135 countries, with 10 markets and 13 offices in the Asia-Pacific region. It is the world's largest privately owned manufacturer of medical devices and has been providing the medical industry with innovative tools and therapies since 1963.
Thomas' best ever catch while fishing was a tarpon (also known as tarpin) off Florida. It is a fish that owes much of its fame to its large size and its habit of making wild, spectacular leaps after it is hooked. No fish causes more frustration among anglers, yet it is highly prized.
In some ways they are like the ideal recruit in a pioneering industry.
"The daunting task of maintaining China's impressive growth rests on the shoulders of the new young workers who are entering the workplace now," he said. "This group of Generation Y, dubbed the 'Gen Y', does things differently and is drastically changing the traditional Chinese organizations' employment landscape. For global corporations, too, there remains the task of luring the majority of Chinese-speaking Gen Ys into their company or integrating the Western-educated Chinese back into their organizations in China."
The Chinese Gen Y are generally referred to as the "post-80s" and "post-90s" generations, as China began classifying generations by decades from the 1970s.
They have reaped the benefits of rapid globalization and technological advancements and are comprised of around 250 million people who appear to be more entrepreneurial than their parents' generation.
They were brought up after the launch of the reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s, so are more familiar with life in a market economy.
"The baby boom that occurred in China after the Great Leap Forward, in the early 1960s, represents the largest portion of the Chinese workforce. Nearly half of all China's baby boomers will be retired by 2025, taking their knowledge and experience with them, while also leaving millions of senior jobs open, requiring corporate succession planning now," said Thomas.
"The Gen Y doesn't want to work for the baby boomers; they want to work with them. Companies need to adapt accordingly to ensure mutual growth for the business and employees."
Similar to their global counterparts, who together account for approximately 25 percent of the world's population, the Chinese Gen Y have enjoyed an unprecedented level of access to education and information.
They demand a more active role in the workplace, possess different indicators of success and consider communication via social media a way of life.
They are more confident and outspoken, in contrast to the middle managers from Generation X (born in the 1970s and early 1980s) and exhibit a sense of urgency for change and success.
"This is the change generation who bring a fresh way of looking at things. This talent will be the future leaders of our companies, but they operate at a much faster pace," said Thomas.
"Gen Ys are generally regarded as highly knowledgeable, digitally integrated, globally and socially aware, unconventional, motivated, and pack loads of confidence, which needs to be managed and developed accordingly. The difficulty is to get that balance between the knowledge and the experience. One of the words I will use is wisdom; to manage any business you need to have some amount of wisdom, and wisdom comes from experience and learning on the job.
"The Generation Y is collaborative and unconventional with confidence that compels them to engage in the workplace. Success is built on having a goal inspired by the enthusiasm and confidence that the Gen Y is bringing to meetings, committees, workshops and taskforces."
A 2011 study of almost 200,000 university students in China found that 32 percent of respondents listed foreign-invested enterprises as their first choice, up from 14 percent in 2010. The study also found that the top five desired employers for university students in China were China Mobile, Bank of China, Alibaba.com, Microsoft Corp and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
The Chinese Gen Y hasn't appeared to inherit the same work ethic of their parents, according to Michael Stanat, author of China's Generation Y.
Many aspire to the easy urban life but have maintained a desire for success, albeit with a different definition. The emphasis on a work-life balance coupled with a consumer appetite has meant that ideals of success, and what constitutes a good job, have changed. This has also led to Gen Y being more willing to change roles in search of their perception of success.
In a study conducted by Egon Zehnder International and IBM on 9,156 Chinese Generation Ys, fewer than 50 percent of the respondents said they would be happy working in the same role for more than two years. However, only 6 percent said they would leave the company, preferring to move within a company instead.
"The demand of Chinese Gen Y workers and their desire to not stay in the same role for long comes as no surprise. However, they also need to beware of an inconsistent career path and an erratic CV," said Thomas. "Meanwhile the job-hopping creates financial and logistical difficulties for companies employing the talent."
Cook wants to capitalize on Gen Ys desire to remain within a company by cultivating young talent.
It has created the Cook Young Leaders program, which identifies exceptional individuals and invests in them through upskilling, mentoring and opportunities to grow professionally and personally across the Asia-Pacific region.
From Hong Kong, Pia Warburton, a quintessential Gen Y member, works for Cook throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Warburton's ambition and excitement at her responsibility is palpable.
"There is a system here based on meritocracy which I think people of my generation really respond to. I think the opportunities that I have been given here are not even on the scope of what you think is possible in university."
Whether the Gen Y use social media to communicate with friends or access the latest news and crazes, daily social media use permeates the Gen Y's life, with the workplace being no exception.
"They in turn will judge companies on the social media practices and policies, which includes how companies utilize social media in their operations, their digital awareness, and any restrictions imposed on employees' access and usage of social media during work time," said Thomas.
"Whether or not the somewhat contradictory attitude of the Chinese Gen Y is right or wrong can continue to be debated in offices across the globe.
"However one thing is evident - they are the future of the Chinese workforce and necessary to the success of the global economy.
"People are our most vital resource. If companies treat their machinery like they treat their people the company would not keep going. These are exciting times. We are employing people from a whole different generation. The challenge is, how to manage these people? I am a great believer in what managers do is manage people. How to do it in the right way. How to get the best out of them.
"Our ambition is to be here for the long term and to be a partner of the Chinese government and bring health benefits to the Chinese people. And also to be a company people are proud to work for. We want to be successful as well."
Thomas, a married father of three grown-up children aged 30, 25 and 22, says working in China is not without its challenges.
Licenses for products have to be renewed every three years, unlike elsewhere. There are also cultural issues to recognize.
However, Chinese public holidays are entrenched and people want to return home for them. This produced a problem at its Shanghai warehouse. Thomas said he explained this to his staff and they came up with a roster to maintain cover that worked effectively.
Another challenge was the legal obligation for staff to account for every work expenditure with receipts that took up a huge amount of the accountants' time, even though they were often for insignificant amounts.
His solution was to simply pay an extra $100 a month to staff and do away with the accounting nightmare.
Thomas regards his company as very much a relationship-based business. When doing business with the Chinese one has to recognize their appreciation of family values, he said.
"They still like a handshake. They like you to look them in the eyes. Act with respect and honor."
Thomas said he deals with his voluminous e-mail inbox every Friday.
"I use as few words as possible. I train people to ask their question in the first line. I then decide whether I want to read the detail."
Despite having huge responsibility, Thomas never expected to find himself where he is.
"I enjoyed being a hippy when I was younger," said the former rock band roadie who has 14,000 songs on his computer "all legally downloaded".
He planned to see Doctor John playing while in Beijing and lists his favorite band as The Band, Bob Dylan's one-time backers. His favorite song is Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb with Gary Gilmour on guitar. When not fishing, he likes to go to rock concerts and listen to jazz to relax. Going to the gym is not on his agenda.
So what is the outlook for Cook Medical in the Asia-Pacific region?
"There's a real buzz about the healthcare industry in the region," said Thomas.
"We are thrilled to be a part of this extraordinary success story. My work takes me to countries all over the region and everywhere I go I sense a positive feeling about healthcare.
"The region is enjoying tremendous economic growth. Governments are investing in healthcare and, in doing so, are presenting us with opportunities, both in the business and in the humanitarian sense.
"We have a name that attracts the best people in the industry and, together, we have achieved exponential sales growth in the region. The region's need for improved healthcare is one of the highest in the world and the number of people who stand to benefit from our expertise and the health solutions we provide are considerable."
Cook Medical was the first manufacturing company to produce wire guides and catheters in the United States and the first to introduce percutaneous catheterization products in the Asia-Pacific region.
Cook Medical made its first foray into Asia in the late 1960s, using a distributor to sell products in Japan and gradually expanded over the continent over the next 40 years.
The company was started in the spare bedroom of the home of Bill and Gayle Cook in Bloomington, Indiana in 1963.
Bill, a biologist, began building wire guides, needles and catheters for use in medical procedures while his wife took care of bookkeeping and distribution.
That year he met the man known as the father of angioplasty, Dr Charles Dotter, in Chicago and began making wires and catheter's to his specifications.
On Jan 16, 1964, Dr Dotter performed the first transluminal angioplasty using a Cook device. In doing so, he revolutionized cardiovascular and vascular intervention surgery.
In 2008, Cook Medical opened its Asia-Pacific distribution center with a 1,500 square meter warehouse in Shanghai. This was expanded to 3,500 square meters last year and within months, capacity reached 300,000 units a month with 600 categories of Cook products.
Cook Medical employs 740 people in the Asia-Pacific region and 116 in China with sales rising from $50 million in 2002 to $252 million in 2010.
Sales in the region accounted for 15 percent of global sales and 40 percent of total growth in 2010. It does not as yet conduct research and development in China but plans to.
markdesmondhughes@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 10/12/2012 page17)
