Stabilization and transformation in a challenging market environment

Traditioneller chinesischer Tempel

Successful appointment of the China Managing Director for a leading furniture supplier

For us at Steinkellner China Search, it’s precisely these successful alliances that define our work: when we’re able to support companies like yours in successfully mastering complex transformation processes in a strategically crucial market like China. This success story tells of an exceptional project in all respects, characterized by extremely high qualitative requirements and enormous time urgency. We’ll show you how we helped a leading international furniture supplier secure its significant investment in China and stabilize both the team and market position during a phase of strong market changes.

A renowned, internationally active furniture supplier headquartered in Austria, known for its highest quality standards, faced a critical situation in China. When we took over the assignment, the position of Managing Director in China had already been vacant for a year and a half. At the same time, the Chinese market for furniture and real estate, in which the company had invested heavily, had turned from strongly growing to significantly declining due to the global disruptions of recent years. Corresponding to the exposure and responsibility of the role, the number of talents already contacted and rejected by the company in advance was incomparably high, which made the initial situation even more challenging for us.

The urgency was enormous: Without strong leadership on site, not only was the extensive investment at risk of being damaged, but also the stability and morale of the local team with around 400 employees in Shanghai. A lot was at stake for the responsible contacts on the client side, as the achievement of strategic goals was directly linked to this appointment.

To complicate matters further, the pool of suitable international executives in Shanghai had become smaller. In addition, our client is known for applying the highest standards in their selection processes and making decisions after careful internal coordination, which increased the complexity of the search.

The assignment to us as Steinkellner China Search was clear: the timely appointment of the position of China General Manager with a hand-picked and perfectly fitting leadership personality, capable of stabilizing the business in a shrinking market and aligning it for the future. Despite the complexity and the knowledge that this project would require an exceptionally high commitment from us, the entire team enthusiastically accepted this challenge. Our deep commitment to helping European companies succeed in China, and our long-standing knowledge of the client’s corporate culture formed a strong basis for a successful alliance.

Our process consistently followed the Steinkellner Method: The focus was not only on professional qualifications, but also on defining clear impact goals – what must this executive achieve in the next three years? This enabled us to conduct an in-depth analysis and precise calibration of the search profile. As is usual with strategically important appointments, the collaboration was very close, with direct coordination and personal participation of Manfred Steinkellner in all essential discussions. We approached this task through a remarkable team effort, high personal commitment, and efficient project management. Together, we deliberately delivered services at high speed to meet the demanding timeline.

Within two and a half months of intensive work, we succeeded in ideally filling the position of China Managing Director. From a pool of 80 talents evaluated by us, a leadership personality emerged – originally from the West and fluent in Chinese. This candidate, who was among the first three profiles found by our team, stood out not only for his industry knowledge and outstanding communicative competencies. Crucially, his high empathy and intrinsic motivation for the task and the company itself were decisive. With his great personal commitment to WANTING to work for this client in this leadership position, he clearly identified himself as the “perfect match”!

The quality of this appointment was evident in the candidate’s ability to hit the ground running and tackle the challenging goals. In the short term, the pressing leadership gap was closed, thus better protecting our client’s important China investment.

Our competence as Steinkellner China Search manifested itself in several key factors:

  • Excellent teamwork and the special intuition of our research team to identify suitable talents beyond obvious paths.
  • Our proactive project management, which structured the complex stakeholder landscape at the client.
  • Our deep understanding and our consulting approach with honest and transparent assessments.
  • Our high commitment and identification to take recruiting personally.
  • Our proven process competence and China expertise as an intercultural bridge builder.

Although long-term results are still pending due to the recent start of the new General Manager, we at Steinkellner China Search remain in contact to support the successful integration. The course has been set for a positive development of the China business.

  • Our precise definition of impact goals instead of a mere position description enabled us to focus on the competencies actually needed for the transformation in a shrinking market.
  • Our profound intercultural bridge-building competence, that is, our understanding of both the expectations of a European quality leader and the realities and opportunities of the Chinese market, was crucial for selecting a truly suitable executive.
  • Our partnership approach and proactive management ensured success within the ambitious time frame. This included our willingness to act as a true partner for this strategically important client even under challenging conditions and with personal risk, actively steering the complex process.
  • Our uncompromising quality standards and our identification with the goal of realizing not just any placement, but the best possible one, were of central importance. In doing so, we prioritized the long-term interests of our client, which is also supported by our fixed-price policy that focuses on quality of results.

Your success story could be the next

These examples show: With the right partner by your side and our proven method, even the most complex challenges in China can be mastered. If you’re ready to set the course for your sustainable success, let’s talk about it.