A year of critical and fundamental change

China will be the focus of many boardroom discussions around the world next year. What will be at the center of these conversations? I believe that it will be a debate about Chinese consumers and how they will behave in a slowing economy and, ultimately, the extent to which they will be the driver of economic growth over the next few years. Let me elaborate.

Wages

This year will likely see the lowest annual income growth in China for at least a decade, with knock-on implications across the economy. Early signs are already there. Government data show urban disposable income rose in single digits year-on-year in the first nine months of 2014, a hint at the big shift that is under way.