Doing business in the new China

Within three decades after the start of the economic reform in 1978, China has burst onto the world's economic stage with a force and speed that has never been seen before. It has become a pillar of the world economy, as some exemplary figures show: In 1978, China ranked number 32 in world economic trade; in 2003 it was already the fifth-largest trading nation, and the second-largest economy based on purchasing power parity; since 1980 China's economy has grown annually by more than seven percent, the highest growth period ever seen in history. China is the world's largest producer of more than one hundred product categories, such as cellular phones, cement, cotton apparels, motherboards, steel, televisions, and toys; a consumer base of more than four hundred million middle-class Chinese results in exploding domestic markets. These data exemplify the rapid growth that is changing China and, thus, the world economy. The development seems to be déjà vu of the Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese economic miracles in the 1980s and 1990s, but on a far greater scale. A major contributor to China's development is the inflow of foreign

capital and technology. China is one of the world's largest recipients of

foreign direct investment. Thousands of international companies are active in China, and hundreds of thousands of foreign managers and spe cialists work in joint ventures and foreign-owned enterprises. Westerners, however, must be adequately prepared for the challenges of doing busi ness in the new China. In this book, I provide