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The
People’s Republic of China (PRC) is one of the fastest
growing economies in the world with an unprecedented average
annual growth rate of 8.6% over the past 20 years. The per
capita income doubled twice since 1980, and with a
population of 1.3 billion people, the Chinese market offers
immense opportunities for South African companies. China,
the sixth largest trading nation in the world, was able to
increase its trading volume by 20 percent in 2002, and the
country’s recent entry into the WTO further opened the
market for foreign investors.
Despite
these very promising opportunities arising in China, there
are also a number of risks associated with this market.
Still a developing country, China’s market is
characterised
by large geographic differences in social and economic
development. Also, the recent occurrence of SARS creates an
uncertainty. Most importantly though, Chinese historic and
cultural roots date back more than 5000 years and need to be
taken into account, when doing business with China.
Understanding cross-cultural differences and adapting to
Chinese business culture was according to case studies of
foreign companies operating in China a deciding factor for
either success or failure in this market.
This
was the reason for
organising
this highly successful seminar on Doing Business with
the Chinese. Close to 70 South African companies
interested in taking advantage of current opportunities in
China completed the course, which covered an overview of the
historic, political, economic, social and cultural systems
in China linking them to strategic imperatives for doing
business with the Chinese using extensive case studies.
Feedback
from delegates has been extremely positive and the only
regret mentioned was the limited time, as attendees would
have liked to engage in longer discussions on the subject.
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The
course was presented by Kobus
van der Wath, founder and Managing Director of THE BEIJING
AXIS, an international firm – registered in South Africa –
that provides management consulting and international trade
solutions to organisations with an “Africa-Asia agenda”.
Kobus
is also an advisor of Create Ventures – a London based venture
capital firm – and he has founded trading and consulting
businesses in South East Asia. Kobus is currently based in China,
doing business development for these companies in their next stage
of growth – where he has been elected as a Director of the South
Africa China Business Association.
Kobus’
extensive experience and in-depth knowledge on China
generally and the Chinese economy and business culture in
particular was unanimously acknowledged by all attendees
including Mr Ling Guiru, the Commercial and Economic
Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy, who delivered the opening
address on bilateral relations between South Africa and
China.
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