Attending trade shows is a great place to get the latest updates on industry trends or a really fast way to get to know an industry. It is also an important networking opportunity. China has many different trade shows all year round dedicated to industry from clean energy to snacks. Biztradeshows.com offers a very comprehensive show listing in China. Exciting upcoming shows including:
April 8/9 - Green Fules & Vehicles China (Shanghai)
May 25-27 - Snackex Asia (Beijing) - dedicated to snacks
May 30-Jun 1 - Interwine China (Guangzhou) - alcoholic beverages
Jul 8-11 - China International Consumer Electronics Show (Qingdao)
Sep 15-17 - China Paper (Shanghai)
If you are looking to attend tradeshows in China, let us help you get the most out of the shows and your trip!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Canada Pavilion - Shanghai Expo 2010
The Shanghai World Expo is fast approaching! Only less than two months away. Canada is in the midst of finishing up the construction of its "C" shaped pavilion (stands for Canada, communities and creativity).
(Photo credits: Patrick Alleyn/SNC-Lavalin)
Here are some information on the Canada Pavilion:
Mark Rowswell will serve as the Commissioner General for Canada. Mark aka Dashan (大山) is virtually unknown to the rest of the world, but he is an A-lister celebrity and comedian in China. I grew up watching him on television in the 80s.
Shanghai is sister city with Montreal, so it is fitting that Cirque du Soleil has been hired to perform the culture portion for the pavilion.
There is also an Invest in Canada week held from May 31 to June 4. This event is aimed at attracting businesses from life science, automotive, sustainable energy and digital gaming industries to invest in Canada.
Click here for Canada Pavilion official website.
Click here for Shanghai Expo 2010 official website.
Click here for ticket information.
Click here for my previous post on the expo.
If you are interested in visiting Shanghai or China during the expo, contact us to help you design a customised itinerary!
(Photo credits: Patrick Alleyn/SNC-Lavalin)
Mark Rowswell will serve as the Commissioner General for Canada. Mark aka Dashan (大山) is virtually unknown to the rest of the world, but he is an A-lister celebrity and comedian in China. I grew up watching him on television in the 80s.
Shanghai is sister city with Montreal, so it is fitting that Cirque du Soleil has been hired to perform the culture portion for the pavilion.
There is also an Invest in Canada week held from May 31 to June 4. This event is aimed at attracting businesses from life science, automotive, sustainable energy and digital gaming industries to invest in Canada.
Click here for Canada Pavilion official website.
Click here for Shanghai Expo 2010 official website.
Click here for ticket information.
Click here for my previous post on the expo.
If you are interested in visiting Shanghai or China during the expo, contact us to help you design a customised itinerary!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Minimizing Your Risks when Doing Business in China
In my last post I talked about various risks doing business in China. At this point, you must be wondering how can I minimize these risks. You can start with...
1. Educate yourself. In this age of information, there are tons of information on China online and in print. I find Google News a one stop shopping for all my China news since I can customize my news feed to topics such as "China" or "China Business" or "China Widget Industry". The best part is these news are from all different sources to give you a complete perceptive. Also check out China Business Review and this previous blog post I have done on business travel must knows. Click here.
2. Talk to people. There is an old Chinese saying "Three people walking, there must be my teacher(s)" which means when I'm with some other people, there must be something I can learn from them. So talk to people have done or currently doing business in China. They can not only give you insights on their first hand experience, most likely they can provide you with contacts which is very important (see number 8 below).
3. Go to China. This is the best way and fastest way to get to know China. Reading and talking to people are great, but will only get you so far. Actually being in China, will help you dig that much deeper into the country and what it has to offer. Try to plan your first trip in a very comprehensive way, not only see the large cities such as Beijing or Shanghai, but also check our small to medium size cities. Don't stick to one area, try to touch all four corners of the country: north, east, west and south. They can be pretty different.
4. Stay Flexible. Everything is changing rapidly in China. Trend, policy, law and etc. all may effect your business plan a great deal. You and your business thoughts must remain extremely flexible and do non stop research as your develop your business plan.
5. Budget Enough Money. If you want to buy a pair of socks in China, it is going to cost you just pennies. If you want to actually make socks, it might cost you. Doing business in China is not cheap. From initial research to hiring consultants to crossing the red tape, you will need money and lots of it. You also need a solid cash reserve for very probable issues such as surviving cutthroat competition shake downs.
6. Protect yourself. Always get everything in writing in English and Chinese. Guard your IP through any legal means possible and use common sense such as do not leave your blue prints lying around for everyone's viewing pleasure. However, you don't need to be extremely secretly around your Chinese business partners. Give as much imformation as they are giving you.
7. Reach out to organizations. Canada China Business Council. US China Business Council. US Commercial Service China. These organizations are usually right on top of the latest news and information pertaining to your business.
8. Understand what is Gangxi. I have spoken to many doing business in China veterans. They all have reflected their experience as such: it does take a long time to build relationships or Guanxi (关系 a phrase you will hear a lot) in China; yet without it you can't do business in China. There is no such thing as making a cold call in China, it always has to be a warm call.
9. Learn to negotiate. If you want to negotiate in China, you have to not only understand the way the Chinese negotiate, you better learn it too. Try to find out all you can on who you are dealing with from who is in charge to government ties. Trust me, they are doing the same thing. Also, do not underestimate the quiet ones! You have to be very patient. Don't be surprised when the contract is signed an hour before you get on your plane to head home. There are so much to be said about art of negotiation. It is one of my favourite topics! When it is time for you to enter the negotiation phase of your business, I highly recommend more in depth research and plan out specific strategies and tactics.
1. Educate yourself. In this age of information, there are tons of information on China online and in print. I find Google News a one stop shopping for all my China news since I can customize my news feed to topics such as "China" or "China Business" or "China Widget Industry". The best part is these news are from all different sources to give you a complete perceptive. Also check out China Business Review and this previous blog post I have done on business travel must knows. Click here.
2. Talk to people. There is an old Chinese saying "Three people walking, there must be my teacher(s)" which means when I'm with some other people, there must be something I can learn from them. So talk to people have done or currently doing business in China. They can not only give you insights on their first hand experience, most likely they can provide you with contacts which is very important (see number 8 below).
3. Go to China. This is the best way and fastest way to get to know China. Reading and talking to people are great, but will only get you so far. Actually being in China, will help you dig that much deeper into the country and what it has to offer. Try to plan your first trip in a very comprehensive way, not only see the large cities such as Beijing or Shanghai, but also check our small to medium size cities. Don't stick to one area, try to touch all four corners of the country: north, east, west and south. They can be pretty different.
4. Stay Flexible. Everything is changing rapidly in China. Trend, policy, law and etc. all may effect your business plan a great deal. You and your business thoughts must remain extremely flexible and do non stop research as your develop your business plan.
5. Budget Enough Money. If you want to buy a pair of socks in China, it is going to cost you just pennies. If you want to actually make socks, it might cost you. Doing business in China is not cheap. From initial research to hiring consultants to crossing the red tape, you will need money and lots of it. You also need a solid cash reserve for very probable issues such as surviving cutthroat competition shake downs.
6. Protect yourself. Always get everything in writing in English and Chinese. Guard your IP through any legal means possible and use common sense such as do not leave your blue prints lying around for everyone's viewing pleasure. However, you don't need to be extremely secretly around your Chinese business partners. Give as much imformation as they are giving you.
7. Reach out to organizations. Canada China Business Council. US China Business Council. US Commercial Service China. These organizations are usually right on top of the latest news and information pertaining to your business.
8. Understand what is Gangxi. I have spoken to many doing business in China veterans. They all have reflected their experience as such: it does take a long time to build relationships or Guanxi (关系 a phrase you will hear a lot) in China; yet without it you can't do business in China. There is no such thing as making a cold call in China, it always has to be a warm call.
9. Learn to negotiate. If you want to negotiate in China, you have to not only understand the way the Chinese negotiate, you better learn it too. Try to find out all you can on who you are dealing with from who is in charge to government ties. Trust me, they are doing the same thing. Also, do not underestimate the quiet ones! You have to be very patient. Don't be surprised when the contract is signed an hour before you get on your plane to head home. There are so much to be said about art of negotiation. It is one of my favourite topics! When it is time for you to enter the negotiation phase of your business, I highly recommend more in depth research and plan out specific strategies and tactics.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Risks of Doing Business in China
In previous blogs I have talked about the tremendous opportunities lay in doing business with China. But I think it is equally important to talk about my thoughts on the risks of doing business in China as well.
1. Bureaucracy and government involvement. If you are going to set up shop in China, it is inevitable you will have to deal with government agencies. You will be bounced back and forth more you like. The worst part is between agencies there will be very little or no cooperative effort. Therefore, the service will be terrible and frustrating and the process could be long and tedious. Getting through this part will be a true testament of your patience.
2. Trust. Trust is a funny thing in China. If you look at Chinese history in the past 200 years, you will discover foreign presence hasn't exactly left a positive impression on the Chinese. Degrading treaties and starting the opium wars to name a few things that the Chinese still may hold a grudge. Therefore, gaining their trust will take time. Ironically, Chinese people often are more distrusting of each other than foreigners. Mainly due to the business culture of cutthroat competition being so wildly accepted and expected practice.
3. Cutthroat Competition. Once you have shown some success in China, be sure there will be competitions. They will not only come at you fast, they will be merciless at reverse engineering your products or relentless price cutting. Survival of fittest rings most true in China.
4. Fast pace changing business scene. Chinese business law, regulations and even trend are changing all the time which can greatly effect your business and business strategy. If you don't find a way to keep up and can't modify your business plan accordingly, you might be left in the dust.
5. IP issue. I think this one is no secret. Here is a joke about how cheap different races can be from Russell Peters, a popular Canadian Indian comedian: A Jewish man will go into a Louis Vitton shop and only buy sales items; an Indian man will go into a Louis Vitton shop and barter with the sales clerk on sales items; a Chinese man will go into a Louis Vitton shop, doesn't buy anything, but as soon as the sales clerk turns around, he pulls out a camera and then sends the pictures to China. Although progress has been made to improve IP laws in China, it is a long long, very long way from North American standards. The Chinese can reverse engineer anything and they take pride in that ability.
6. Expensive to do business. Just to start, you will need money to hire the right consultants, to cross red tap, to build the right kind of relationship, to help you survive cutthroat competition and to anticipate any unanticipated costs (which will happen, trust me!). Not to mention, it is easy to get money into China, but hard to get it out. RMB is heavily controlled by the state, no significant sum can be brought outside of the country without some serious red tap.
China is not for the faint of the heart. But one must keep the eyes on the prize, because the payoff can be huge and long lasting. Stay tune to my next post on how to minimize your risks.
1. Bureaucracy and government involvement. If you are going to set up shop in China, it is inevitable you will have to deal with government agencies. You will be bounced back and forth more you like. The worst part is between agencies there will be very little or no cooperative effort. Therefore, the service will be terrible and frustrating and the process could be long and tedious. Getting through this part will be a true testament of your patience.
2. Trust. Trust is a funny thing in China. If you look at Chinese history in the past 200 years, you will discover foreign presence hasn't exactly left a positive impression on the Chinese. Degrading treaties and starting the opium wars to name a few things that the Chinese still may hold a grudge. Therefore, gaining their trust will take time. Ironically, Chinese people often are more distrusting of each other than foreigners. Mainly due to the business culture of cutthroat competition being so wildly accepted and expected practice.
3. Cutthroat Competition. Once you have shown some success in China, be sure there will be competitions. They will not only come at you fast, they will be merciless at reverse engineering your products or relentless price cutting. Survival of fittest rings most true in China.
4. Fast pace changing business scene. Chinese business law, regulations and even trend are changing all the time which can greatly effect your business and business strategy. If you don't find a way to keep up and can't modify your business plan accordingly, you might be left in the dust.
5. IP issue. I think this one is no secret. Here is a joke about how cheap different races can be from Russell Peters, a popular Canadian Indian comedian: A Jewish man will go into a Louis Vitton shop and only buy sales items; an Indian man will go into a Louis Vitton shop and barter with the sales clerk on sales items; a Chinese man will go into a Louis Vitton shop, doesn't buy anything, but as soon as the sales clerk turns around, he pulls out a camera and then sends the pictures to China. Although progress has been made to improve IP laws in China, it is a long long, very long way from North American standards. The Chinese can reverse engineer anything and they take pride in that ability.
6. Expensive to do business. Just to start, you will need money to hire the right consultants, to cross red tap, to build the right kind of relationship, to help you survive cutthroat competition and to anticipate any unanticipated costs (which will happen, trust me!). Not to mention, it is easy to get money into China, but hard to get it out. RMB is heavily controlled by the state, no significant sum can be brought outside of the country without some serious red tap.
China is not for the faint of the heart. But one must keep the eyes on the prize, because the payoff can be huge and long lasting. Stay tune to my next post on how to minimize your risks.
Monday, March 8, 2010
More to Come
The Olympics has finally ended. It was so exciting and the energy was fantastic. I really miss it. Not mention the daily fireworks!
I wanted to do an Olympics wrap up post. But I got sick like many other Vancouerites after the Olympics has ended. Hence, to do a wrap up now seems a little behind the times.
Don't worry, I will be back in running in no time! Upcoming blogs include: riskes you should know when doing business in China or my feature destination: Sichuan, home of the Giant Pandas. Stay tune!
I wanted to do an Olympics wrap up post. But I got sick like many other Vancouerites after the Olympics has ended. Hence, to do a wrap up now seems a little behind the times.
Don't worry, I will be back in running in no time! Upcoming blogs include: riskes you should know when doing business in China or my feature destination: Sichuan, home of the Giant Pandas. Stay tune!
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