During the fall of 2010, Scandic Sourcing helped the company Notisum start up their company Envitool in China. Envitool offers companies which are operating in China a tool which enables them to continously stay updated regarding changes in rules and regulations for Chinese environment-, work environment-, and CSR legislation. Måns Fornander moved to China in 2013 to work as a sales manager for the company.
How did it begin?
During 2012-2013 I visited our team in Shanghai about every second month, and during last summer I expressed a wish to move here permanently, so during the fall I moved here with my wife.
Was it easy to assimilate yourself to the Chinese society?
Yes, when I came to the office we rented by Scandic Sourcing; there were many Swedes around so it was easy to start talking to people and join the community. Scandic Sourcing became a bit of a gateway into the Chinese society for me.
What are you doing here in Shanghai?
I am responsible for coaching our sales team and to develop Envitool on the Chinese market.
How is it like to coach a Chinese sales team, compared to Sweden?
The differences that exist are quite big in terms of business culture. In Sweden you are supposed to have opinions and share your view on things, but that is not as common in China. We have been focusing a lot of effort to letting our employees feel free to disagree, and to let them know that all opinions are valuable and important. We have thus been able to build a great team here in Shanghai which stays year after year, since we have put so much conscious effort into building a constructive and open business culture, which I think might be quite different from many Chinese counterparts.
How do you handle your recruiting of the Chinese staff here in Shanghai?
Well, since we have put so much effort into involving our employees into our culture, we've been able to create a work environment where people thrive and feel like they are developing professionally, so we rarely have recruiting needs. And the good thing about using a consulting firm is that the few times we need to recruit staff, Scandic Sourcing takes care of that, they do interviews, conduct background checks and gives us a finished list of candidates to choose from.
Envitool have established their operations in China in modern offices spaces in downtown Shanghai with Scandic Sourcing's business Support Office which enables companies to quickly establish themselves in China without experiencing the administrative hurdles.
What experiences do you have from hiring a consulting firm like Scandic Sourcing to handle HR/accounting/company registration, etc.?
It was a very flexible and easy way to quickly establish and run operations in China - especially considering all the red tape involved in setting up a business in China.
Finally, do you have any advice for those who wants to establish their company in China?
Have patience and do as much research as you can, and if you don't have time or the resources to establish everything in China yourself - hire a consulting firm - it's the best way to establish your company quickly in China.
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