Caledonian Alloys

Recruiting a Chinese MBA student helped Caledonian Alloys gain £4m of business

Caledonian Alloys is one of the world's largest recyclers of nickel, cobalt and titanium super alloys with offices in the USA, China, New Zealand and the Czech Republic. Its worldwide headquarters are in Livingston, Scotland.

The company has found that employing staff from overseas markets is crucial for achieving its internationalisation goals.

Local Knowledge

Already very successful in Europe, the company was focussed on the rapidly expanding Chinese market as part of its global strategy. However, it needed someone with knowledge of the country to help negotiate entry into the marketplace.

The answer came through Scottish Networks International (SNI), an initiative that matches international postgraduate students studying at Scottish universities with Scottish businesses.

SNI introduced the company to Lixin Yan, a Chinese engineer with ten years work experience – seven of them in sales in China – who was studying for an MBA in Scotland. A 12-month placement was arranged for Yan to help develop a market entry strategy for Caledonian Alloys.

High Quality Candidates

For Hugh Stewart, Chairman, recruiting Yan and arranging the placement was surprisingly straightforward.

"For Scottish companies, and especially Scottish SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises), it's very easy," explains Hugh.

"The standard of people coming through SNI is very high. These candidates already have two or three degrees, so are very bright people, covering many fields and nationalities."

Success

Within three months of joining Caledonian Alloys, Yan had located £150,000 of business in China. In the first year, he won sales of £500,000. The placement was extended for a second year, by the end of which the company had established a wholly owned subsidiary in China.

Yan is now employed as the company's Managing Director in China and, so far, the experience has been worth more than £4m of and business is profitable.

The company is now looking to SNI to help with plans for new international markets.

"It was a fantastic experience," Hugh Stewart adds. "The opportunities for Scottish companies to use the expertise of foreign nationals are under-utilised."

More Information

• Find out more about Caledonian Alloys
• For details of jobs at Caledonian Alloys, email humanresources@caledonianalloys.com
• Find out more about Scottish Networks International