The Spring Temple Buddha in China Henan province is the biggest statue in the world! The statue is 128 Meters tall. Extraordinary?

To check out more amazing statues, visit earthblog-roland.blogspot.com.

Whether your production facilities in China grow slowly or fast, there comes a time you need to expand, and hire new employees. China however doesn’t have a very well developed system of recruitment agencies specialised in temporarily workers like Manpower that allows the entrepreneur to act fast. The new labour law in many cases  obliges you to hire new employees for a longer period of time.

Read the rest of “Empowering Employees” or post a comment >>

Recent internet-driven crises have once again put internet word of mouth (IWOM) into the spotlight. Just a few weeks ago, for example, Dior pulled advertisements featuring Sharon Stone from mainland China after the actress made comments that raised the ire of netizens.

While such events demonstrate the importance of listening to IWOM for reputation management…

Read the rest of “6 reasons brands in China should listen to IWOM” or post a comment>>

By Paul Denlinger

The consulting industry in China is flourishing. After all, it is the largest potential single market in the world, and everyone is flocking to it. New companies need information and advice about how to tackle the unique challenges of this market. For any MBA who is fluent in Chinese, or who has grown up in China, and is familiar with the tools of the trade, such as financial modeling, business negotiations and company valuations, China represents an “iron rice bowl” which will make their careers for years to come.

Or is it? My experience is that there are errors which are repeated over and over again. It gets like being condemned to watch a single Broadway show, over and over again, where the only things which change are the sets and the actors; the lines are the same.

I have covered one of the major fallacies in a previous posting, Getting Past the China Market Hype, which covered their initial reasons for entering China. This posting will cover some of the reasons for failing post-entry. Read the rest of “Why most US Entries Fail in China” or post a comment

Comparing Different Western Countries

By Matthew Harrison

Most of this paper has talked about Western companies in general, and aims to provide recommendations on how Westerners should seek to market and sell themselves to Chinese businesses. It is worth, however, considering how companies from different Western nations are considered. Figure 9 summarises the main strengths and weaknesses of companies from the four largest Western economies, as perceived by Chinese buyers and business owners.

Figure 9 – What Characteristics Do Chinese Buyers Associate With Suppliers From Different Western Countries?

France: Extremely friendly and well disposed towards the Chinese. Better than other Western nations at building up relationships with Chinese businesspeople. Serious in all professional matters including product/service quality. No strong weakness, but French companies attract some criticism for their lack of efficiency.
Read the rest of “Marketing and Selling to Chinese Businesses - Part 4″ or post a comment