Tips from Jack Perkowski on doing business in China

To build a business in China, you must develop a local management team - avoiding both former bureaucrats of the State-run enterprises and the country's new breed of wildcat entrepreneurs.

Forget your notions about the Chinese economy being rigidly controlled by Beijing - it is, in fact, highly decentralized and locally driven. As the Chinese say, "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away."

You must learn the real reason why China is able to produce goods so cheaply. China's different cost perspective is the most fundamental explanation of why Chinese manufacturers can make things so cheaply. To be competitive in the China market, it is essential that a company's managers have the same cost perspective as its customers and competitors.

(China Daily 08/04/2008 page12)