Coping With China’s Shifting Distributor Network
Distributing goods in China can be complicated and confusing. Although the China market is large, it is also highly fragmented. Achieving economies of scale can be elusive when distributors are […]
Does Your Company Need to Retool its Org Structure in China?
The outlook for globalisation has shifted precariously in the past few years as nationalism takes hold in many countries worldwide. The corporate pendulum swing from local autonomy to central control […]
Adapting to Sustainability Demands in ASEAN
Regulators, investors and consumers across Asia are becoming more demanding of companies’ sustainability efforts. At a recent IMA Asia Management Forum meeting, members argued that adapting to a new paradigm […]
Making the Case for China – Repositioning the Strategy
Despite political polemics and a slowdown in growth, the promise of the China market has never been greater. At a recent IMA Asia CEO Forum, a CEO with many years […]
How China’s CFOs are becoming more agile
Today, CFOs in China must navigate uncharted terrain marked by geopolitical uncertainties and ever slower growth. Looking back at last year’s data to forecast the future is no longer reliable. […]
B2B Digital Distribution: Finding the Missing Customer
E-commerce has blazed like a wildfire through China’s consumer landscape, seeding digital-first enterprises and pushing legacy businesses to adapt or die. Chinese consumers’ fast adoption of all things digital, from […]
When Will China’s Back Offices Catch Up?
Advances in financial technology have transformed how consumers buy goods in China. A few taps on the phone, and electronic payments are seamlessly transferred and recorded. But peer into any […]
China’s Ecosystems: Invest or Partner Your Way to Innovation
Following the example of China’s most successful private companies, many Western MNCs are working to participate more fully in their industry ecosystems in China. Companies, such as Alibaba and Tencent, […]
Sustainability Matters to Business in Asia
Much of the economic success that Asia has experienced has fault lines in its development model. ‘Growth at all costs’ has created unintended consequences in Asia’s environment and society. Forty […]
Driving Asia’s Growth with Innovation
Asia is emerging as a global powerhouse for innovation and becoming an increasingly important source of innovation. China has led this change and many MNCs have innovation centres in China […]
China and the World: Scale, Integration and Influence
Forty-one years after Deng Xiaoping kicked off the ‘Reform and Opening’ movement, China remains relatively closed in a world that is more open (see China and the World: Open or […]
China and the World: Open or Closed?
China remains relatively closed in a world that is more open. Yet, opportunities still abound for those who have the data, understand the dynamics, and are willing to commit to […]
Optimise or Transform with New Technologies?
It can be tempting to integrate new technologies such as AI, big data and blockchain in response to the relentless hype around them. As one IMA Asia member put it, […]
MNCs Tapping China’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship
It’s no surprise, that global corporations are seeking fresh ways to engage with Chinese entrepreneurs and tap their innovative spirit. After all, Chinese start-ups have excelled at process and service […]
Segmenting China’s Market to Increase Profits
Foreign firms in China are reining in efforts to grab market share at all costs and are taking a hard look at their bottom line. In the past, growth businesses […]
How Blockchain Can Boost China’s Supply Chain
Blockchain payment systems are emerging as a possible solution for the lack of financing that plagues small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. It hurts MNCs when supply chain partners have […]
Are Chinese Companies Up for Sale?
Controlling shareholders of China’s private-owned enterprises (POEs) face an unprecedented level of indebtedness. This may be a unique opportunity for foreign firms to grow market share through acquisitions and partnering […]
B2B Distribution in China’s Digital World
The potential of digital technology to transform businesses is finally becoming a reality for B2B firms in China. Industrial players are increasingly entering the fray. They are testing new digital […]
Lifting Profits in China’s Ever More Demanding Market
When growth in China begins to sputter, executives often reflexively seek out new growth opportunities. For some premium industrial brands, this might mean making ‘good-enough’ products in order to chase […]
Should You Still Partner in China?
Partnerships in China can be hard work and can limit growth, innovation, and margins. Yet often partnerships have been the price of entry into China due to regulatory and sometimes […]