International Business - China Market

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The other challenge that the firm will face is about the internet. There are websites that are blocked by the government, such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook. Internet has become a conduit between business and international markets, helps to enhance firm’s capability of obtain international information and transfer knowledge in the process of internationalization. (Mathews, Healy & Wickramasekera, 2012) The blocking of the few biggest search engines in the world can be inconvenient to the firm, for the information availability and information usage will be restricted; it is not easy for the firm to perform research and development programs in China. Also, because the focus of the target market will be in second or even third tier cities, some of them are rural areas, some of the places even not having enough electricity, there might be situations that there are no internet connections in some area, this will be a challenge to the firm, the information between the firm and the people doing the project in China might not be connected, some of the instructions will not be up to dated.

Evaluate and Recommendations

The focus of the firm will be transport infrastructures, for example, tunnels, highways and railways. These infrastructures are mainly performed by government or government owned companies, in order to enter China effectively and with fewer restrictions, the firm should choose joint-venture to enter the market in China. (CHINA.ORG.CN.,n.d.)As mentioned above, there are demands for transportation infrastructures in the second and third tier, and they are looking for quality builds that can last for centuries, this is an opportunity for the company, but the restriction in laws and regulations makes the entry become difficult for foreign firms, that is why join venture is needed. Joint venture means that seeking complimentary partners to sell their products in the international market, (Killing, 2012) in this case is the knowledge and resources of the firm. It is quicker to access to the market and can fulfil the government regulations easily, the cost and risk can be shared, also can access to partner’s knowledge, such as culture difference and language barriers, these are the benefits brings by the joint-venture. It is the best way for the company to enter the China market, but there are few things that need to be concerned, for joint-venture, the control from the firm will be limited, disagreements and relationship difficult, also loss of flexibility and confidentiality. The things that need to be concerned will be choosing the company to do the joint-venture with; in this case it will be alright because while cooperating with government or government owned enterprises, the quality and the resources of the partners is ensured, sometimes it might be even easier in some situations, because the partners are from or familiar with the government, the project can work smoothly comparing to the other companies that join-venture with the private firms, this can help to gain some advantage for the company, for there are more than 140 of the best 200 architect firms has already enter the market, (Australian Trade and Investment Commission, n.d.) not to include the domestic firms in China, it is a competitive environment for the firm, having a good relationship with the government ensures long-term and sustainable partnership. In Eastern Asian economy, the government tends to have a good relationship with the business, (Qian, 2001) in both formal and informal channels, try to invite the partners to have dinner, which the Chinese consider this as making a friend, this is one of a technic of using soft power to have a better relationship with the partner, in case something happens, the government will help business in the presence of market failure, and thus the close ties is one source of Eastern Asian miracle. (Qian, 2001) One thing that need to concern is the ethical problems, the firm need to clear the line between making a good relationship and corruption, which sometimes the close ties causes corruption issues, (Qian, 2001)this is something the firm will not wanted to be involved into.

As mentioned above, it is a competitive environment in China for architect firms, there are too many similar choices for people choose from the market, some of them are having a good relationships with China firms already, in order to attack the China market, the firm will need to promote themselves more to gain the awareness in the market before and after entering the market. The firm can spread their brand to China by some methods; one of the most effective ways is to cooperate with the charity and non-profit organization, to help building infrastructures for the poverty cities and people that are needed. The urban areas of China have become wealthier year by year, while the rural areas are suffering from poverty and inequality. The government policies are more focused in benefiting the urban areas because those cities are earing revenues for the country, the problem of not getting educated, not enough electricity and other social problems is happening every day in rural areas, especially about education problems, children from poverty families are tend to go to school late and drop off school early, (Hannum & Park, 2002) the problem is they do not have the facilities to get educated, there are no schools, and the transportation is not good even if there is a school, some of the children need to spend few hours walking through muddy roads in order to attend the school, it is not just a waste of time, but also dangerous for a kid to go to school alone through the not developed roads. (Khan & Riskin, 2001)The firm can take this opportunity to help building schools or improving the way to the school, to enter the China market with a good business image, by contacting the charity groups such as Save the Children or Rural China Education Foundation, which are focusing in helping the children in rural areas to get educated, in order to run away from the poverty cycle. (Hannum & Park, 2002) The firm can use their professional knowledge to help the rural area getting developed. For this is a good experience to know more about the rural areas in China, the climate and the geographic features in the area, providing important information to the firm, and knowing the culture of China. With a good image of firm, it will be easier to enter the China market, staying competitive in a long term and sustainable way. The firm can also donate moneys and help to rebuild places after some natural disaster happens, letting the people feels thankful to the firms, giving them inspirations and leading the firm to gain awareness in China, getting well-known and achieve the objectives.

Reference

Australian Trade and Investment