Possibilities of contacting Chinese companies

Medium-sized and small firms are more and more trying to benefit from export to China. However they are hindered by high investment costs and administrative hurdles. Based on the above, the following points are introduced on how a contact can be obtained and which marketing opportunities are available to companies desiring to enter the Chinese market.

• To look for a suitable partner using consulting firms, brokers, the Ministry of Foreign Trade or embassies.
• Using an Hong Kong-based trading company as an intermediary
• Attend exhibitions and lectures
• Directly contact a Chinese firm operating in a similar business sector
• Through an acquaintance with contacts to China

However, recently it has been observed that Chinese companies approach foreign entities themselves looking for means to sell their products or find business partners as well as to offer their services as manufacturers.

Such offers may be tempting but often prove to be risky. Goods that are line produced in Europe are still handmade in China due to inexpensive labour costs, which leads to relatively high rates of rejected goods. Even an advanced personal inspection of the production site does not guarantee high quality. The usual trick is to lead the foreign inspector to a production site owned by a third party that was purposely prepared for the visit.

Another problem is that Chinese suppliers continue production after having delivered the quota (and even set up a parallel production of the good during the initial contract) and flood the Chinese market with after market copies of the very same product.

As Confucius said: "I create nothing new I just copy." (not a word by word translation)- a lot of Chinese companies still follow this principle today.

The company presence in China

• Company web page in Chinese language
• Advertisements in Chinese web pages and search engines
• Advertisements in Chinese journals
• Attendance of exhibitions, customer service through personal visits to China
• Establishment of a representative office in China