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China Comprehensive

  • Language Isn’t the Only Barrier

      In any business transaction it’s important to do thorough due diligence before signing on the dotted line. And when you’re considering entering the Chinese market there is a LOT of diligence to do. Beyond market research and economic analysis, there’s much more that potential investors or entrepreneurs need to familiarize themselves with to get a real grip on the business potential that China offers… and its dangers. For those considering making the move to China, the amount of information flowing from here to the West can seem like a…

    China Comprehensive July 1, 2013
  • China Trends: Go West!

      Westerners of a certain age who follow economic trends in China these days could be forgiven if they’ve had 80s synth-pop tunes stuck in their heads of late. While the Chinese government has been promoting the movement of people towards growing cities in the interior instead of the already bulging megalopolises on the east coast, the explicit economic shift in terms of development dollars and infrastructure projects only started to ramp up last year. As a result, this is a region that is just now taking off. Western brands…

    China Comprehensive June 9, 2013
  • China Trends: E-Commerce in the Middle Kingdom

      When this blogger moved to China way back in 2008, online shopping was not only in its infancy, but it didn’t seem to be something that would catch on anytime soon. In a country where relationships are everything, buying things from strangers behind an electronic screen sounded like something that would be incompatible with the culture and that e-commerce would not be as fully embraced as it had been in the West. What’s more, the Chinese tend to prefer cash transactions over credit or debit cards, so the odds…

    China Comprehensive June 4, 2013
  • There’s More to the Game Than Just A Name

      Foreign brands are taking off in China. It seems that anybody who has money in this growing market is clamoring to buy imported goods. This makes China a very enticing market for Western companies to enter, and success stories abound of corporations who have brought their brands to China and have achieved great success. But there are even more stories of disastrous, and even comical failures. A recent posting on our sister site talked about the importance of translating your marketing materials and even your brand name into Chinese…

    China Comprehensive May 31, 2013
  • The Multiple Meanings of ‘Media’

      “The media”. It’s a simple term embedded with tessellations of meaning that become all the more elaborate when one expands the view to include different countries, yet around the world, those in the PR industry and their clients often refer to “the media” very generally, assuming that everyone’s on the same page. Yet media operations in China and North America, for example, could not be more different, and while companies in both countries fundamentally realize this, there are still areas where assumptions are made about the function of media…

    China Comprehensive May 21, 2013
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