Now that we are counting down to the 2008 Olympic games, first-time and not so recent visitors to China are no doubt wondering what they will see when they land in Beijing next August. In the run-up to the games, we will take every opportunity to describe the changes that are taking place in China and paint the picture of how the country will look in another year.
Read the rest of “The Growth of China’s Service Economy” or post a comment >>
By Jack Perkowski
Now that we are counting down to the 2008 Olympic games, first-time and not so recent visitors to China are no doubt wondering what they will see when they land in Beijing next August. In the run-up to the games, we will take every opportunity to describe the changes that are taking place in China and paint the picture of how the country will look in another year.
With China’s continued economic prosperity and the increase in wealth it has meant for hundreds of millions of Chinese, one sector that is changing rapidly and is getting added impetus from the expected onslaught of visitors next year is services. China has made its mark so far as a manufacturing powerhouse, but some of the biggest areas of growth and the best investment opportunities going forward are likely to be in providing an upgraded and larger array of services to an increasingly affluent class of Chinese customers. Read the rest of “The Growth of China’s Service Economy” or post a comment
One of the trends inherent to the economic growth in China, is the fact that more and more people are taking Chinese language classes. The best way to do that? Go to China and talk to Sally Zhang. She works as Program Director at the Chinese Language Education organization in Beijing. Conveniently located in the middle of Beijing’s business center.
Beijing is home to most of her students. “At this moment, we are teaching Chinese to 82 students. Mostly Westerners, but also people coming from Japan and Korea. The continuously increasing amount of students can to a degree be explained, by the steadily increasing number of foreign companies in China. A few years ago, there was only the Chinese bank, nowadays I have five students who work for foreign banks operating in China. These financial professionals need to be able to read newspapers and documents in English as well as in Chinese. Fortunately for them, they work at companies where English is, at this point in time, the most common language.”
Read the rest of “Master Chinese in China” or post a comment
By Andrew Hupert
The ex-pat manager’s conundrum in China: how do you protect your IP when your IP is both your product and your sales pitch? For many service-oriented businesses, the very ideas that they are guarding from being stolen must be displayed and discussed in order to promote their business. No one will buy a design or consulting service if they have no idea about what the designer or consultant is talking about. But once that designer or consultant describes his creative ideas, he is in danger of having those ideas pilfered.
Read the rest of “How do you keep your Intellectual Property secret when it’s your sales pitch?” or post a comment
Doing business is all about communicating. And China happens to play by its own rules in this. An authority on this subject is Marc van der Chijs. In 1999 he moved to China for Daimler Chrysler and now, eight years later, he owns two successful internet companies and is managing partner of China Bay. The secret to his success? Building relations: “Don’t send your sales manager to China with the mission to ‘come back next week with a contract’. For sure he will be back with a contract, but one which won’t be of much use.” Read the rest of “Tai Chi communication” or post a comment
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