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Are You Making the Right Moves in China?

Three new studies reveal insight into the Chinese consumer market and business environment.

(originally published by Booz & Company)

If you’re hungry for analysis on China, Booz & Company recently published three studies that look at the country’s current role on the global stage—as a powerful consumer market, as a burgeoning innovator, and as a potential business partner.

In “Winning in a Transitional China,” a report released by Booz & Company and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai this summer, we learn that today’s Chinese consumers are more discerning and digitally savvy than ever before. They care about quality and experience, not just price, and they are embracing e-commerce at an explosive rate. Multinationals and their Chinese competitors should take note and adapt their strategies accordingly: China is poised to become the world’s second-largest consumer market by 2015, behind only the United States.

Today’s Chinese consumers are more discerning and digitally savvy than ever before.

The “2013 China Innovation Survey,” a study conducted by the Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China, 21st Century Business Review, the China Europe International Business School, and Booz & Company shows that Chinese companies are making serious investments in innovation—and the result is rising competitiveness with companies based in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. Close to two-thirds of survey respondents at multinationals operating in China believe that their Chinese competitors are at least as innovative as their own companies. And Chinese companies now export goods at the same rate as foreign-funded companies operating in China do. (The Winter issue of s+b features a Trend Watch graphic illustrating this shift.)

Finally, “Sino-Finnish Paths to International Competitive Advantage,” published by Booz & Company and Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), reveals that China’s ability to develop and sustain international partnerships will be a crucial part of its growth strategy in the years ahead. The study shows how Chinese and Finnish companies can find win-win opportunities by working together.

If these reports whet your appetite for more insight into doing business in China today, check out Booz & Company partner John Jullens’s blog on the s+b website.  

Laura W. Geller

Laura W. Geller is senior editor of strategy+business.

 
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