BMW China President and CEO Karsten Engel on how China became the company’s largest market globally, and how things are shaping up in the ‘New Normal’.
The Going Gets Tough for MNCs in China
A combination of factors such as a slowing Chinese economy, rising costs, lethal competition and increased government scrutiny are changing the dynamics of business for MNCs in China. How should they cope? In the past three decades, China was the place to be for multinational companies (MNCs): a cheap labor force, effective infrastructure and an increasingly […]
In China’s Cosmetics Market Beauty is Pocket Deep
In China’s increasingly competitive cosmetics market who will come out ahead and who should re-evaluate? Stepping into the cosmetics section of any Shanghai-based department store means entering a brightly lit wonderland of shiny displays, impossibly beautiful faces plastered on the wall, and a barrage of demonstrations. Groups of young, fashionable girls cluster around the stands, trying […]
3M Company: In China for China
Francis Hu, COO and CFO at 3M China, talks about the company’s ‘location management’ strategy and the opportunity in China’s push towards domestic consumption. The 3M Company, the American multinational giant that gave the world Post-it Notes and the Scotch-Brite scouring pads (and also adhesive tapes for Frank Gehry’s iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall in […]
China’s Fourth-Tier Cities: The Road Less Worn
China’s fourth-tier consumer markets come into their own. If you travel to China’s poorest fourth-tier-cities such as Jiangsu Province’s Taixing in the hope of leaving behind the international brands that dominate the major coastal cities, then you will be disappointed. The familiar grin of KFC’s iconic Colonel Sanders is there to greet you outside the […]
