BBC recently outlined worldwide immigration systems whereby wealthy foreigners are able to invest in national economies to gain a resident visa. Focusing on the Chinese market, the article outlined many executives who are able to invest between $800,000 Cdn (for Canada) or £1,000,000 (for the UK) to be granted residency abroad.
As Dr Wang Huiyao, the director general of the Centre for China and Globalisation points out, this form of emigration is hugely problematic for countries such as China who will increasingly rely on these talented and wealthy executives to continue to build and develop China’s economy. As a recent survey by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) outlined, China is expected to experience one of the largest shortage of talent in the world, as their economy continues to grow at predicted rates of up to 10% GDP.
The question left for the Chinese government (and other governments worldwide) is how can they develop great leaders at the same time as creating an environment whereby they flourish and wish to remain within national borders? Of course, many executives simply wish to travel and work abroad but some underlying problems remain that cause executives to escape, rather than to explore.
Some concerns raised by the Chinese executives in this article were a lack of health care or education opportunities, pollution, problematic divide between the rich and the poor (arguably present everywhere), and the difficulty to travel on the Chinese passport. If living conditions improve, no doubt more top executives will either choose to remain in local markets or will return after a stint abroad. In addition, the number of foreign investors is likely to increase, and thus globalisation will be viewed as positive, rather than as a drain on talent.
This article was written by Christian Pielow from the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).
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