China Briefing has published a very interesting piece entitled "The Communist China Price".? Western CEO's are so worried about the cost of doing business that they are going straight to the top.
Here's the intoduction to the piece
Here's the full piece? http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2010/07/21/the-communist-china-price.html
Jul. 21 ? With recent headlines that the CEOs of Siemens and BASF have complained directly to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao over the cost increases of doing business in the country, it is pertinent to dig deeper into evaluating the price of doing business in today's China.
BASF?s Juergen Hambrecht complained that foreign companies were being forced to give away business and technology to Chinese companies in exchange for market access, while Siemen?s Peter Loescher called for China to quickly remove trade and investment restrictions in the automotive, financial services and other industries. While foreign companies, especially MNCs, have long been well known for an aggressive approach in seeking concessions for their business interests, it has been some time since such an openly aggressive pitch has been made to a senior Chinese leader.
However, over the past twenty years, the pace of China?s reforms, including market access to foreign investors, has been remarkable. Back in 1990, the thought that China?s auto market would have overtaken that of the United States was unthinkable. Yet Siemens and BASF, along with countless others, have benefitted tremendously during this period, during which China has delivered beyond their wildest dreams. So are the executives concerns a touch of sour grapes, a reflection of a slowdown, investor pressure to maintain growth at ?China growth standards,? or an attempt to prize yet further concessions from a China market already saturated and internationally mainstream in global manufacturing?
A number of factors suggest not. Let?s look at the following events that have occurred over the past two of years that have directly impacted on foreign manufacturers in China.
