英闻天下——58 China's Business Trends in 2012

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　　The country has seen its economic growth slow from around 9 percent in December 2011 to under seven and a half percent in September this year.

 

　　Despite the slow-down, some key trends have appeared in Chinese business, which are paving the way for companies going forward.

 

　　To look back on the game-changing trends of 2012, we go to Joshua Hoey.

 

　　In December 2011, China Briefing released a report outlining its predicted trends for changes to Chinese business for 2012.

 

　　The report focuses on the growth of China's inland cities, the localization of knowledge in China as well as a boom in China's overseas investment.

 

　　A number of these trends have been evident over the course of 2012.

 

　　The growth in China's outbound direct investment saw very strong growth in the first ten months of the year.

 

　　Chinese ODI grew nearly 26 percent compared to 2011, reaching nearly sixty billion US dollars.

 

　　Partner at Linklaters LLP in Shanghai, Jian Fang¹, emphasizes the importance and growing diversity of overseas investments by Chinese firms.

 

　　China remains² to be interested in acquisitions, in commodities, energies and resources, but at the same tie increasing health care, technology, retail³, industrials, featuring on the top target list for China. Geographically⁵ China has grown its presence in every region in the world through outbound investment.

 

　　It is not only China's large multi-nationals that are looking to develop their overseas presence.

 

　　James Darlinton, the Head of Asia for global recruitment firm Antal International, argues 2012 has been a year of small, local companies competing on the national stage.

 

　　Small and medium sized enterprises are estimated to contribute 60 percent of China's GDP as well as 80 percent of its new products.

 

　　Darlington sees this trend developing in 2013 as SMEs grow and participate internationally.

 

　　I saw a wonderful article which said that 2013 is going to be the year when small businesses become global businesses. So we've seen so far this year, and we've supported a number of local companies on their expansion outside of China. I expect to see that trend increasing in 2013.

 

　　Elsewhere, the development of China's 2nd and 3rd tier cities has been seen by analysts⁶ as a prominent feature of 2012.

 

　　The founder⁷ of business development consultancy Retail Unlimited⁸, Felix Miao, argues firms have begun shifting away from the traditional first tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.

 

　　"While tier 1 and tier 2 cities are developing very rapidly and becoming quite mature, we are now looking at tier 3 and tier 4 cities where consumers there are less exposed to these brands and there are still opportunities"

 

　　Inland cities such as Changsha, Chengdu and Wuhan experienced annual GDP growth of between ten and fifteen percent.

 

　　This compares to economic growth in first tier cities of only around seven percent during the year.

 

　　Along with a shift in the geographic⁴ location of new opportunities for Chinese businesses, consumer preferences have taken a turn in 2012.

 

　　While some of these business trends will develop into 2013 and beyond, new trends are sure to emerge and fundamentally change the face of Chinese business in the future.

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