The American Chamber of Commerce, People's Republic of China (AmCham-China) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai) today released “American Corporate Experience in a Changing China: Insights from AmCham Business Climate Surveys, 1999-2005.”
The report utilizes seven years of annual AmCham member survey data to shed light on medium-term business trends that have emerged in China.
Among the report's key findings: members are offering an increasing range of products and services to the local market, are seeing competition-based issues join regulatory barriers as their key challenges to doing business in China, and are expanding investment past first-tier cities.
Speaking at a press conference, Teresa Woodland, a member of AmCham-China's Board of Governors and Public Policy and Development Committee (PPDC) who has been involved with the survey since 1999, said that U.S. companies are “here overwhelmingly to serve the China market.”
She noted the improvements in China's regulatory environment, increased access to a market that she described as increasingly “sophisticated”, and the rise of non-regulatory issues, such as price pressure and human resources.
“The number one challenge this year [2005] was human resource constraints, particularly at the management level,” she said, noting that companies faced rising wages and difficulties finding skilled employees.
She also pointed out that an increasing number of AmCham member companies were looking beyond first-tier cities for investment.
marketing@alchempro.com
