Are companies paying their top-end managers enough?

via WikipediaOffline I got a few telling stories after writing a few days ago about the complains by larger foreign companies in China about the shortage of qualified managers. I then said the shortage was at least in part a problem created by the companies themselves:

When I talk to these Chinese managers they still feel going back to China would land them in a second rate job, both in financial term and as a part of an international career track.

Since then I got a few confirmations of my argument. What is interesting is that the argument has been left out in the survey of the American Chambers of Commerce. For obvious reasons, suggesting they could solve part of their problem by offering competitive salaries to their higher management in China and offering them a truly international career in stead of making China into a final destination. The companies fear of course they would be opening a Box of Pandorra, unable to close it again.
The possibility of having an international career is as important as the financial argument. Chinese managers - for the sake of the argument I generalize here a bit - was ambitious, they also want to go for the top-jobs in their firms.