International Employer Branding : How European MNCs can win the war for talents in China

Abstract: The increasing competition for high skilled employees has resulted in a war for talents. Companies in Europe and in Asia struggle to find employees with relevant skills and possessing the right talent. This problem is especially relevant for European MNCs that operate in China since skilled local Chinese talent is insufficient and Chinese employees are starting to value Chinese companies over European MNCs as their employer of choice. To overcome this problem, companies can use employer branding to attract high skilled applicants and win the war for talents. Employer branding serves as a long-term strategy to manage the awareness and perception of potential employees. Due to cultural differences, the awareness and perceptions of potential employees in terms of employer attractiveness differ across countries and therefore the strategies managing these perceptions require adaptation. Currently, there is a lack of research on how European companies operating in China adapt their employer branding to attract potential Chinese employees. This Master thesis therefore analyses three European MNCs with Chinese subsidiaries to explore how they attract potential employees through an attractive employer brand by adapting it to the Chinese context. Through a qualitative study and interviewing a responsible HR manager in both the European headquarters and the Chinese subsidiary, this research analyses employer branding in the two different cultural contexts in an embedded multiple-case design. The research concludes that the interest value and development value are adapted to the Chinese context, as well as various aspects of the external employer branding strategies.