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星巴克(Starbucks)已经站在了中国一次消费主义革命的前沿，它将浓缩咖啡和双脱咖啡因摩卡咖啡引入了一个饮茶的民族。该公司目前正计划在中国的储蓄习惯方面，做出同样重大的贡献。
这家美国公司在中国大陆有4000名员工，它即将完成一项计划：将股票期权分配给其控制的大陆咖啡店的所有员工，成为中国首批将激励方案从董事会扩展到咖啡师的跨国公司之一。
此举备受关注，因为它同时将3大重要趋势带入中国企业界：人们对股票的兴趣重新燃起，中国的资本管制逐渐放宽，跨国公司为保留优秀员工展开激烈竞争。
星巴克大中华区副总裁翁以登(Eden Woon)表示，去年4月份之前加入公司的员工，每周工作时间超过20小时，就有资格参与此次期权计划。（上海、浙江和江苏省的员工不包括在内，因为这些地区的星巴克店，属于台湾统一企业(Uni- President)控制的特许经营店）。
在中国实行的这一计划，与该集团自1991年开始在美国实行的“咖啡豆股票”(bean stock)激励计划类似。
星巴克的期权行动，是最为雄心勃勃的一项计划，但一些其它外企也在开始尝试这种员工股权计划的创意，特别是在信息科技领域。
电脑制造商戴尔(Dell)将股票期权授予其中层管理人员，而英特尔(Intel)则鼓励员工参与公司的全球股票期权计划。微软(Microsoft)为表现出色的员工提供股票奖励。
对于在华跨国公司而言，股票激励计划正变得越来越重要，因为争夺优秀员工的竞争日益激烈。经济的迅猛发展和大量的投资，使得资质过硬的员工可以经常换工作，薪金也越来越高。美国商会(American Chamber of Commerce)表示，留住员工是在华美国公司所面临的最大挑战之一。不过，对于拥有在跨国公司获得成功所需的技术和语言技能的人而言，市场也是有限的。
当Ebay在华合作伙伴易趣(EachNet)被总部设在北京的Tom在线(Tom Online)收购时，股票期权的受欢迎程度显而易见。本月初，易趣员工采取了一种非同寻常的方式，在网上发贴，向Ebay首席执行官梅格•惠特曼 (Meg Whitman)表示抗议，他们在信中要求保留自己的Ebay股票期权。
员工们表示，鉴于他们的底薪“远远低于在其它在华跨国公司工作的人”，因此期权是提高收入的一种方式。
向中国员工发放股票期权的障碍之一，是中国用以防止资本外流的管制措施，这限制了员工从国内提取外币来行使其期权的能力。
为了绕过这种限制，一些公司已推出“无现金”期权，允许雇员通过出售公司股票来获利，这种做法在实际上无须行使期权。
尽管这使得公司可以提供一些股票相关的激励形式，但此类计划没有鼓励员工在一定期限内持有公司股票，这是股票期权背后的潜在动因之一。
其它企业已引入虚拟期权，根据股价表现向员工发放奖金；不过，这种激励必须来自于公司的利润，这降低了它们的吸引力。
但是，随着目前中国外汇储备超过1万亿美元，中国政府已开始鼓励加大国内储蓄的外流速度。中国政府正制定相关规定，允许中国公民每年最多可携带5万美元出国。这将使跨国公司员工得以大量投资其所在公司的股票。
星巴克的股权激励计划出台之际，中国企业对股票期权计划也产生了浓厚的兴趣。去年初，中国政府初步批准内地上市的国有企业向员工发放期权。此后，宝钢 (Baosteel)和白色家电制造商海尔(Haier)等逾100家企业已宣布了期权激励计划，目前正等待监管部门的最终批准。宝钢是中国最大的钢铁企业。
对于政府来说，员工期权可能是一种改善上市企业公司治理标准的方式。除了使高管对企业有一种归属感以外，这种做法可能还有助于控制腐败。腐败之所以成为中国国企管理人员中的一种普遍现象，说法之一是许多人底薪偏低。
上海经邦咨询的薛中行表示，股票期权将有助于使国企管理人员的利益与股东利益一致。
然而，批评人士已警告称，中国企业的股权激励计划必须加以仔细监管，以防止出现滥用的情况。他们表示，如果没有严格的监督，高管股票期权可能会变得颇具争议，就像星巴克发源国（美国）目前的情况一样。
Starbucks already at the forefront of one revolution in Chinese consumerism by introducing espressos and double decaf mochas to a nation of tea drinkers, is planning an equally big contribution to Chinese savings habits.
The US company, with 4,000 staff on the mainland, is putting the finishing touches on a plan to offer share options to all employees in the mainland cafés that it controls, becoming one of the first multi- nationals in China to broaden incentive packages from the boardroom to the barista.
The initiative is attracting a lot of attention because it brings together three important trends in the Chinese corporate world: the renewed interest in equities, the gradual relaxation of the country’s capital controls, and the fierce battle among multinationals to retain talented staff.
According to Eden Woon, vice-president of Starbucks Greater China, staff will qualify for the options scheme if they have been employed by the company since April last year and work more than 20 hours a week. (Staff in Shanghai and Zheijiang and Jiangsu provinces will not be included as stores there belong to a franchise controlled by Uni- President of Taiwan.)
The plan will bring China into line with the group’s “bean stock” incentive plan that has been in place in the US since 1991.
The Starbucks options initiative is one of the most ambitious, but a number of other foreign companies are beginning to experiment with the idea of employee stock plans, particularly in the information technology sector.
Computer-maker Dell awards stock options to its middle managers, while Intel encourages staff to take part in the company’s global stock options plan. Microsoft awards shares in the company to staff to award them for excellent performance.
Share incentive plans are becoming more important to multinationals in China because of the intensifying battle to keep good staff. Rapid economic growth and heavy investment are allowing employees with strong credentials to change jobs regularly at ever-higher salaries, to the extent that the American Chamber of Commerce says staff retention is one of the biggest challenges facing US companies in China. Yet the market for people with the technical and language skills needed to prosper at a multinational is limited.
The popularity of stock options became apparent when Ebay’s Chinese partner EachNet was acquired by Beijing-based Tom Online. EachNet employees took the unusual step earlier this month of posting an online letter of protest to Meg Whitman, Ebay’s chief executive, in which they asked to keep their Ebay stock options.
The staff said the options were a way of boosting their income given that their base salaries were “far below those at other multinational companies in China”.
One of the obstacles to issuing stock options to Chinese staff has been controls that China uses to prevent capital outflows, which limit the ability of employees to take foreign currency out of the country to exercise their options.
To get around this restriction, some companies have introduced “cashless” options, which allow employees to capture profits from selling shares in the company without actually exercising any options.
Although this allows companies to provide some form of stock-related incentive, such plans have not encouraged employees to hold company shares for any length of time, one of the underlying motives behind stock options.
Other companies have introduced phantom options that award bonuses to staff based on the performance of the share price; however, such incentives have to come out of a company’s profits, which makes them less attractive.
But with its foreign currency reserves now exceeding $1,000bn, the Chinese government has begun to encourage larger outflows of domestic savings. It is putting in place rules that would allow Chinese citizens to take as much as $50,000 a year overseas. This should allow employees of multi-nationals to build a significant investment in their company’s stock.
The Starbucks plan comes at a time when there is strong interest among Chinese companies in stock option plans. At the start of last year, the government gave preliminary approval to state-owned companies listed on the mainland to issue options to staff. Since then, more than 100 companies, including Baosteel, the country’s largest steel company, and white goods maker Haier have announced incentive plans, subject to final approval by the regulators
For the government, employee options could provide a way to improve corporate governance standards at listed companies. As well as giving executives a sense of ownership in the company, it could help control corruption. One explanation for widespread bribery among managers of state-owned companies is the low basic salaries many receive.
Xue Zhongxing, at consulting group Jingbang in Shanghai, says the stock options will help bring the interests of managers at state-owned companies into line with those of the shareholders.
However, critics have warned that the incentive plans at Chinese companies will have to be carefully monitored to prevent abuse. Without close supervision, they say, executive stock options could become as controversial as they are now in Starbucks’ home country.
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