This is China! BLOG

China Has Some Parts Missing

My first column has come out in Eurobiz Magazine. Eurobiz is the magazine of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

The April column is about the challenges Western companies have encountered in setting up operations in the interior of China. The column will always be focused on real-time operational issues that many Western managers encounter in doing business in China. I am looking forward to drawing on the experiences of China Hands from many Western countries and sharing the experiences - and some of the remedies - in a conversational manner with readers - much like the This is China! BLOG. So please write in with your experiences and approaches to managing operations in China!

“While a South Korean associate and I were working in the mountainous municipality of Chongqing investigating its investment environment, he wryly described the city’s business climate as having “21st-century hardware and 19th-century software.” Chongqing has been the focal point for the Chinese government’s Go West program to develop the interior’s infrastructure. Western companies all know central and northeast China hold great promise as colossal consumer bases, as well as possible refuges from the increasing costs of doing business along the coast. Indeed, many say the interior of China is like Shanghai 10 or 15 years ago. So, though the central government may be ploughing billions of euros into developing the infrastructure of provinces like Chongqing, Tianjin and Anhui - and connecting remote locations through rail and roadway arteries - the interior is still a long way from becoming a viable, wholesale investment target for any but the largest Western companies.”

Read more of the column, “Missing Parts,” here.