Interfere! How Chinese subsidiaries manage their global headquarters

Annette Metz is based at Conben Deutschland GMBH Representative Office Shanghai, Shanghai, China. She is the Chief Representative of the HR consulting company CONBEN in Shanghai, China. She earned her PhD in International Management from Leuphana University in Lueneburg (D), her Master’s degree in European Marketing Management from Brunel University (GB), and her Bachelor’s degree in European Business Studies from Osnabrueck University of Applied Sciences (D). Following purchasing, sales and marketing positions in the international trading business as well as a position as a senior consultant within a Swiss consulting company, Annette Metz co-founded the HR consulting company CONBEN Deutschland GmbH in Duesseldorf. In 2004, she relocated to Shanghai to support CONBEN customers in China and South East Asia. In her role as HR consultant, she works with MNCs/SMEs leaders and teams on HR development as well as organization development topics. Annette Metz is writing articles and is speaking on conferences on leadership questions mainly related with the cooperation between Western and Chinese managers and teams.

Christiane Prange is based at the Department of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. She is a Professor of Global Strategy at Tongji University, China and the Director of the AgileVentureLab, a global think tank focused on researching the transformation of companies and individuals to better cope with ambiguity and unpredictability. Christiane was educated in Germany (MBA), Geneva University, Switzerland (PhD), Lyon, France (HDR) and Harvard Business School benefiting from insights into team interaction and participant-centered learning. After several years in industry and consulting she returned to academia and has lectured as a visiting professor with top business schools in more than ten countries, including Austria, France, Malaysia, Russia, Romania and the UK. In the past 20 years, she has also consulted numerous multinational companies on internationalization strategies, global innovation management and agility. Her ideas are published in eight books and several articles in journals, such as Organization Studies, Journal of World Business, International Business Review and others. She regularly presents her work at international conferences and workshops and focuses on shifting dynamics and learning from China.