eXcec China Business Consulting

Entering China’s market

Any company with international aspirations will at some point consider opening up economic avenues with China. Most companies already have for one or some of the following reasons:

  • Tapping its market potential. China is fast becoming one of the world’s most important markets for consumer products. The middle class is growing and rapidly becoming more affluent. Import tariffs are falling.
  • Sourcing manufactured products. China’s almost inexhaustible pool of low cost labor combined with increasing quality standards, good infrastructure and logistics have made China the factory floor of the world.
  • Out-sourcing. China is one of the most important outsourcing centers in the world. Traditionally outsourcing has been of production. As a result of improving education standards and increased capacity of the education system, China’s pool of highly qualified human resources is growing. This now also allows for outsourcing of services, back office services, customer care and technical support but also high added value services such as IT services, engineering and research.
  • Off-shoring manufacturing. Relocation manufacturing operations to China is becoming even more interesting because of the well developed supply chains and the proximity of a huge consumer base.

The Cultural Issue

The Chinese culture, homogeneous and deeply rooted in traditional values conducive to pragmatism, hard work and entrepreneurship as well as harmony and stability is perhaps China’s biggest asset and a guarantee that its development will continue to be strong and smooth. However, to Western companies entering the Chinese market the Chinese culture is also the biggest hurdle to overcome, simply because it is so hard to fathom. The difficult language and long isolation of China has made its culture truly unique in the world and the cultural distance from the Western culture is perhaps the largest between any two cultures in the world. Compounding the problem is that in the Chinese culture personal relationships in business are more important than in the West while these are also the most vulnerable to cultural misunderstanding.

Culture is a difficult, quite abstract concept and its impact on success of business ventures in or with China is often not recognized by foreign companies new to the Chinese market, precisely because of the fact that for such recognition a cultural sensitivity should already be in place. At eXcec Business Consulting we feel that mutual cultural understanding as the foundation to build trust is the most important factor for success in dealing with China.

Mission and Team

eXcec Business Consulting’s mission is to facilitate market entry and support and promote the China business of Western companies through offering practical solutions and business management as well as cultural advice.

The general manager of eXcec, Mr. Jeroen Vet, is a Dutch national who has over 15 years of China experience under his belt, is fluent in Chinese and has a strong academic and practical background in business management and IT. Together with the other expatriate and local consultants, the eXcec team, working from offices in Shanghai, can advise you on approaches best suited to the Chinese market, link you up to established networks and help you get things done here.

Services

eXcec aims to be your vanguard in China and support you while contributing to your success in offering the below services: