We're a USA-based company that does a lot of purchasing and overseas
business in Asia.  We work in the electronics industry and deal with a
lot of new technology and innovation.  Our business has come to grow
to about US$25-million in revenue/year.  We received a proposal from a
person in Taiwan that wants to work for our company and start an
overseas branch.  The person is young (28 years old) and does not have
experience in establishing a "branch office" for another company.  Our
relationship with him currently is he is a sales rep for one of our
vendors.  We are really interested in his proposal but would like to
know more about how we should interview him, and more importantly, how
we can learn to trust him.  He is very fluent in English (his Major in
college).  My question is, how would a US-based company go about doing
this?  Besides from getting references, we will definitely call him in
to the USA for an interview to see if he is up to the task.  I'm more
interested in the general 20's culture in Taiwan/China and if this is
a "get rich quick" scheme on his part or if he is honestly proposing
to help grow our company.  He claims his current salary is around
$2200/month and would like to earn the same.  In our line of business,
it has become increasingly difficult to trust people.  My question
might seem vague, however the more details provided could help
evaluate our overall decision.

---

Request for Question Clarification by googleexpert-ga on 27 Sep 2004 07:29 PDT

Hi comet1124,
I could not find anything that could directly answer your question but
here's what I found:

Source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/detail.asp?GRP=B&id=52720
Title: Older Workers protest new pension plan over job fears

An article on the new Pension plan taking place in Taiwan, July 2005.
Basically, the New Pension plan to take place benefits younger workers
than existing older workers, who are at a disadvantage.


Source: http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/q&a/page_07.htm

As of 2001, approximately 3.1 Million or 30% of theare either
self-employed or have some other working status.
The above source does not describe what "Other working status" is, 
but I take that to mean Independent Contractor, Consultant, or Unofficial 
Employees.


Source: http://www.buyusa.gov/taiwan/en/asianowmarketjuly.html

With the President calling for Taiwan to be a "Green Silicon Island",
it may work in your company's favor if a "Branch Office" were to be setup
considering your industry.
Also, from that same source:
"Taiwan officially welcomes foreign investment and establishing an
office in Taiwan is relatively easy, if the procedures sometimes
bureaucratic."


Since this person majored in English, perhaps you can ask him
whether he has worked in the US.

Also, If you don't mind me asking, has your company setup any Branch
Offices before?

Thanks.

-googleexpert

I agreed with Alvain: for this kind of salary it would be worthwhile
to hire a decent headhunter, maybe even to do a general search if you
need somebody in this part of the world.
From your question it is not really clear what part of the world he
should be covering. When that would be mainland China, do realize that
there is a large difference in culture with Taiwan. When much of the
works has to be done on the mainland, it would probably make sense -
also for financial reasons - to get somebody from the mainland and not
a Taiwanese to do this work.

Fons