This little post caught my eye for a couple of reasons.  First, hiSoft announced the CEO change nearly two years ago.  They also announced the appointment of a new Chairman earlier this year.  I’m not sure why this shows up as news in a story datelined today.

The main reason that I’m mentioning this, however, is the reference to a claim from a “source within hiSoft” that:

“…following the company’s March [Note: This refers to March of 2007] acquisition of the US IT solutions firm Envisage Solutions, a split appeared within senior company management as to which strategy the company should adopt. The company’s outsourcing market has gradually transitioned from Japan to Europe and the US, and its center of operations is also moving to Beijing.”

This is certainly possible.  The folks from Envisage are pretty much the smartest guys in the room, and they could be exerting a great deal of influence on the company’s direction.  However, I’m more incline to suspect, that the investors in hiSoft’s most recent round of financing (Granite Global Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (HK) Capital Limited and Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia Limited) were responsible for the change.

One can’t help but imagine that the new owners wanted to bring in leadership with more global seasoning and experience doing business with Western organizations.  It’s interesting to observe that the news of the investment and the appointment of Mr. Loh Tiak Koon to succeed Mr. Li Yuan-Ming as CEO were contained in the same press release.  This might serve as another warning to our friends in China that are in the process of seeking external investments for their outsourcing ventures.

Technorati Tags:  China, China Outsourcing