E-mails reveal dearth of talent
For all the talk in the technology industry about an abundance of engineering talent in China, e-mails sent between Google executives and former Microsoft employee Lee Kai-fu - and submitted as evidence to the court in a legal wrangle between the rivals - reveal just how difficult it is even for a global brand to recruit qualified staff for their China operations.
It is so difficult, in fact, that Google plans to open its Beijing R&D centre with '10 to 15 senior Googlers' sent to Beijing from the United States.
In the spotlight for jumping ship to work for Google last July, Mr Lee wrote in an e-mail to Google vice-president of engineering Alan Eustace in early July: 'For each senior position ... bring in someone who is a bit overqualified and with multinational experience. We'll need to groom local people, but largely they are not going to be ready for the senior jobs.'
Mr Lee in testimony also said he expected a hi-tech multinational could hire 50 people on the ground in its first year of operations, followed by another 200 a year later.
The inability to fill senior positions locally seems to have been a hard pill for Google to swallow. 'It looks like our model for the office would be mostly junior hires directly from universities led by Googlers who move to Beijing from the US,' said director of international programs Kannan Pashupathy in an e-mail to Mr Eustace. 'This is not unlike what we've anticipated for other offices too, but seems particularly severe in China.'
These recruitment issues were clearly a key factor in Mr Lee's attractiveness to Google. In an e-mail exchange between Mr Pashupathy and Mr Eustace, the former described his meeting with Mr Lee, who said the 'opportunity to get [senior engineers locally who would function as tech leaders for our projects] would primarily be from Microsoft and Intel and that both would be difficult.' Mr Eustace replied: 'The big bet here is that the game will change with [Kai-fu]. I have pursued him very hard because he has incredible hiring ability. This, along with expat packages, might shake a few more people loose, both inside of Google and outside.'
Mr Lee also appears to have played a big part in Google's site selection in Beijing, a direct choice between Raycom Infotech Park and Tsinghua Science Park, based on its proximity to Tsinghua University. 'I think Tsinghua would be willing to offer a substantial discount, due to the attractiveness of the brand, and the relatively newer state of their park,' Mr Lee wrote to Mr Eustace on July 11.
The e-mails also revealed an interesting take on the competition facing Google in China, particularly from Baidu.
'On Baidu, I know [Baidu chairman] Robin Li [Yanhong] pretty well,' Mr Lee told Omid Kordestani, Google's senior vice-president of worldwide sales and field operations. 'I think any leadership they have today will not be sustainable technically.'
Mr Lee said a great deal of Baidu's strength lay in its government contacts.
'While Robin is an American citizen, and his company is going public on the Nasdaq, [Baidu] is considered to have Beijing University roots, and also almost all the employees are Chinese.'
He recommended 'building strong enough government relations so that Google is considered a 'friendly' multinational'.
