China continues to emerge on the world stage as an economic powerhouse, projected to be the world’s fourth largest economy within two years. U.S. companies, especially small to medium enterprises (SMEs), stand to benefit significantly from this growth, assuming that they are prepared to enter this highly competitive environment filled with considerable but manageable risks. Nearly 97 percent of all U.S. exports originate from SMEs—companies with…

Read the rest of “Accept the China Challenge” or post a comment >>

What will be the role for international entrepreneurs in China’s emerging 2-track economy?

China’s economic development is being pulled in two diverging directions as Beijing struggles to steer a course through this global recession. On one hand, collapsing international demand for Chinese exports has led policy-makers to stimulate the domestic economy with a massive state-directed infrastructure…

Read the rest of “China Economics – The Emerging 2 Track Solution and YOU” or post a comment >>

By Peter Furhman

Within a two-minute walk from my apartment in Shenzhen, there is ample evidence that intellectual property, particularly American, is not very well-protected in China. Nighttimes, three different vendors set up their folding tables on the main street with pirate DVDs by the carton-full, including many of the latest Hollywood releases. Cost: RMB5 each, or 73 cents each.

A little further west at the main intersection, a huge new superstore is under construction. The four-story-high signs proclaim it’s Shenzhen’s new “Official NBA Store”. But, when I emailed a friend who is one of the top executives at the NBA headquarters in New York, intending to congratulate them on their expansion in China, he emailed back to say that the NBA has no such project underway in Shenzhen. Read the rest of “Intellectual Property Law in China – Rule of Law is Replacing Law of the Jungle” or post a comment

James Zhang and Vivek Raman, the two students who organized the “Asia Tomorrow” conference at Yale University several weeks ago, were very clear in what they wanted me to cover in my keynote speech. They wanted me to give my views as to how China and Asia would develop in the coming years, but they also wanted me to be very specific as to how Yale students might benefit from these megatrends.This is what I told the assembled Yalies about how they might…

Read the rest of “Playing the China Card” or post a comment >>

This is the body of a presentation that I give for Global Sources at the China Sourcing fairs. Global Sources asked for a presentation that was aimed at helping new buyers to China understand what some of their options for financing are now that the world economy is so bad. There are, to be honest, no new options (TT’s and LC’s are still the standard), but there are some unique situations that may offer some new opportunities for buyers coming to China.

Read the rest of “China: Sourcing in Bad Economic Times – Part 1” or post a comment >>