Vice President of Global Purchasing – APAC

Scenario

Our client is a global consumer electronics business with a head office in the US and regional head office in Singapore. They have a very strong and traditional brand in the market and are the number two in their sector. Their products are manufactured in China, with 90 percent of the work outsourced to OEM and ODM partners. Being in business for over 150 years, our client was keen to update and overhaul their procurement function and were looking for a Vice-President of Global Purchasing to lead the team. Page Executive South East Asia was appointed to help fill this role. Though the role would be based in Singapore, the new hire would have to manage a global team and OEM and ODM relationships in China. As there were current challenges with managing these relationships, the new incumbent would need to have seasoned leadership skills in order to build stronger relationships with manufacturing partners in China and to work with a board of directors in transforming the business.


Solution

There were three challenges associated with the assignment:

  1. Finding a Singaporean who had strong experience in Chinese OEM and ODM relationship management was key because 90 percent of the client’s products were manufactured by these partners.
  2. The size of the talent market was small and well-networked. Getting people who had experience in consumer electronics with outsourced manufacturing was challenging
  3. Finding experienced candidates who had also driven global transformation projects and process and procedure changes, while based remotely away from the head office, was a challenge


Page Executive identified 74 potential candidates for this role across Asia. Of these, 25 were interviewed and eight shortlisted. After our presentation, the client interviewed the top four candidates. What’s of note is that Page Executive sat as part of the board panel interviews, which focused on set behavioral and technical competencies. Particular attention was given to skill sets like global leadership, operational transformation, process improvement, and the ability to provide strategic direction and manage the key OEM and ODM relationships in China.


Outcome

The assignment was concluded within a period of eight weeks and the candidate started work at the organisation two months later. By understanding our client’s business, their needs and expectations, we were able to find them a proven leader from within the industry. Our world-class research function’s search methodology proved to be an effective solution and ensured consistent, quality delivery.

Franck Johnson
Asia Pacific