By UNC Kenan-Flagler writer Brooke Shaffer UNC Kenan-Flagler Associate Marketing Professor Nicholas Didow Jr., offers advice about what companies should consider before jumping on a plane to do business in China. Recognize the importance of relationships. Guanxi, which literally translates to “relationships,” refers to the networks of personal connections that are necessary for foreign firms to establish themselves and succeed in China. For example, when the Californian media and communications firm DMG decided to enter the Chinese market, it realized it would need these personal connections to foster citizens’ trust and support. By aligning itself with two well-respected and well-known figures, elite gymnast Bing Wu and political leader Peter Xiao, the company was able to prove its trustworthiness to consumers Read More
Tag Archives: China
Lessons for multinationals targeting emerging economies
Big-box retailers might have a lot of pull in western economies. But small merchants are nonetheless the dominant form of retailing globally, and businesses of all sizes can stand to learn quite a bit from them about making inventory decisions in emerging economies based on heuristics and not sophisticated analytical techniques. Sridhar Balasubramanian, associate dean of the UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA program and associate professor of marketing, recently co-authored research that explores the practices and performance of small retail stores in Brazil and other emerging economies. The study was conducted over several years with co-author Tomasz Lenartowicz, associate professor of international business at Barry Kaye College of Business at Florida Atlantic University. One of the reasons Balasubramanian and Lenartowicz decided to Read More
Opportunities and challenges for those seeking to do business in China
NPR’s Shanghai correspondent Rob Gifford visited UNC Kenan-Flagler to talk about the seismic changes occurring in China. He first went to China as a language student in 1987, reported on the country as NPR’s Beijing correspondent from 1999-2005, and returned as Shanghai correspondent in 2010. He is the author of China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power. Below is a Q & A with Gifford during his visit to the school. What are the biggest mistakes people make when trying to do business in China? The first is assuming that they are going into a level playing field. They are going to a place that is booming, and they’ve seen the pictures of Shanghai and thought, Read More
Taming the logistical dragon
Dr. Noel P. Greis, an expert in global logistics and supply chain management, has seen first-hand the opportunities and challenges faced by Western companies in China. She has helped a variety of companies and organizations to understand aspects of doing business in China, including its culture, infrastructure, regulatory environment and approach to business processes. Greis is director of the Center for Logistics and Digital Strategy at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC Kenan-Flagler. She also is co-director of the UNC-Tsinghua Center for Logistics and Enterprise Development in Beijing. In this post, she shares her views on the obstacles and prospects for companies looking to tap into the economic engine of “The Middle Kingdom.” China can be Read More