Doing Business In China – What To Expect

Despite recent global challenges, China is currently the largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity. With the growth rates averaging 6% over 30 years, China has been attracting investment from foreign companies. Yet, China is a distinctive environment with its unique political, economic, social, and technological factors. Business strategies that work in Western markets do not guarantee equal success in the Chinese market. This article summarises some of the challenges that companies need to consider when doing business in China and some tips to conquer this market.

Policies And Regulations Landscape

Understanding policies and regulations is critical to successfully penetrate China’s market because its political system is regulating differently from most of the world. In particular, Chinese regulatory bodies often operate in an impervious manner. As a result, it is challenging to anticipate potential regulatory changes in advance. Furthermore, China’s regulations are often vaguely worded and open to interpretation. Thus, it can be unsettling for foreign companies that are used to a more transparent regulatory environment.

Attracting And Retaining Talents

Attracting and retaining talents play a crucial role in surviving in the Chinese market and developing competitive advantages. Yet, Chinese employees tend to prefer local companies as these employers understand Chinese culture and use Chinese as the official language. For example, Chinese employees prefer to stay in China while advancing their careers. Therefore, multinational companies should create roles that accommodate this desire. Shell, for instance, modified its approach by complementing long-term global assignments with short-term ones for its Chinese staff.

Realising these cultural needs is essential to attract and attain employees. Multinational companies should develop a cultural intelligence team to consult the social and cultural favours of their employees and potential candidates.

Penetrating Market

Chinese consumers are tech-savvy, culturally sensitive, and eager to change. As a result, home-grown brands are expanding across China’s retail space due to their speedy response to change and established cultural intelligence. Learning from local businesses, successful multinational companies in China integrate cultural elements in their brand and use Chinese on their platforms. For instance, multinational companies change their brand names accordingly to Chinese cultures, such as Coca Cola with its Chinese name as Kekoukele meaning “tasty fun”.

As Chinese consumers love technology and appreciate their cultural values, marketing localisation is the key component to attract customers in China. Multinational companies tend to acquire a team of language experts to translate their websites. However, companies should further invest in a team with localisation knowledgethat can effectively convey your brand message to the right local audience.

How We Can Help You

elionetwork, Singapore one-stop-shop for localisation services, provides full service that can assist you to build your stepping stone and to establish a sustainable brand in China. With our experience of more than 20 years in English to Chinese localisation, transcreation and interpretation in Singapore, we are confident in providing you with accurate translation services for your legal documents, cultural intelligence to acquire and retain talents, and professional localisation.  If you want to know how we can help you enter the Chinese market, please contact us. We are looking forward to hearing from you!