Entering the Chinese Marketplace

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First of all, let us look at some of the peculiar characteristics of the Chinese market or particular issues for foreign companies who wish to do business in China:

There are three different business incorporation vehicles which can be utilised to do business in China. These are:
1. The utilisation of a representative office
2. Seeking a Chinese joint venture partner
3. Establishing a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE)

Representative Office (RO):
A representative office is just a subsidiary of a foreign company in China. If your are looking for a company, which needs a local presence to manage services or coordinate outsourcing business activities or research developing Chinese market, then a representative office is useful and inexpensive vehicles for establishing a presence in China. Main purposes of a representative office are conducting market research, monitoring purchasing activities, marketing and sales administration for sales conducted between China and your parent company etc. Representative offices cannot write bill for service or sales to their clients in China. However, you can act like a liaison in matter of ordering, shipping, collecting money and so on.

Joint Venture:
Joint venture is business where a foreign firm goes into businesses with local Chinese partners. Joint venture is usually established to exploit the market knowledge, preferential market treatment, and manufacturing capability of the Chinese side along with the technology, manufacturing know-how and marketing experience of the foreign partner.

Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE):
These are 100% foreign owned companies, originally developed for the specific purpose of encouraging foreign investment in manufacturing for export in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in China, and they were prohibited from selling to the Chinese domestic market. Since a recent change in regulations, from 1 December 2004, WFOE's can now trade within China, and can sell wholly foreign manufactured goods in China. The capital requirements for such companies have also been dramatically reduced.

source: http://www.china-window.com/china_business/doing_business_in_china/do-you-konw-what-kind-of-.shtml

IF Both GM and Starbucks plan to set up a Joint Venture with local partner, they should be careful in selection of the partner and should evaluate various alternatives very carefully in order to make the right choice. The selected partner will possess extensive knowledge of the local market and should have a well developed distribution network.

The choice to establish a wholly owned foreign enterprise will provide more autonomy to GM and Startbucks to explore the market as per its own terms. However, lack of knowledge about the local market will always act as a danger for both the firms.

The importance of Guangxi (relationship) when doing business in China

In China, Guangxi (relationship) is a complicated field. A special feature of doing business in China will be that Guangxi (relationship) in China will have to include relationship with the government body, investors, partners and even relationship with your own staff, so when doing business in China, it is important for foreign investors to learn to coordinate with the China government, especially establishing good relationship with government bodies dealing with foreign trade and economic cooperation.

Governmental procedures for foreign investors in establishing investments in China is extremely complicated, thus if one is unfamiliar of the procedures, one will delay his/her business opportunities. Therefore it is important for one to be familiar with the investment procedures before carrying out his/her investment in China. A safer and more appropriate way will be to seek help from local organizations familiar in the same field of business or consultant firms who are able to provide professional advice and assistance. Willpower and patience may be essential for an investor to be successful, however it is necessary for one to require help from professional bodies to ensure that success will be achieved.

Seeking a suitable local cooperative partner can be a shortcut one undertakes when developing the China market. Many investors had established Sino-foreign joint venture, Chinese-foreign cooperative enterprise, etc. as a stepping stone to enter the China market, thus which investment mode to choose one will have to accord with the enterprise's characteristics and has to be the most suitable for developing the enterprise's business and assisting its march into the China market. Some ...