In the free, global market, China is obviously not the only country to constitute both a market opportunity (in terms of new business) and a threat (in terms of competition). What makes it both more feared and more eagerly courted is its size. A massive, well-coordinated and low-cost labour force, relative political stability and extensive natural resources, combined with less tangible assets like ingenuity and determination, plus the totally legitimate right to seek new markets abroad, making the Chinese industry a powerful rival indeed. At the same time, the opening of doors has allowed foreign firms to invest and to sell in China, a huge and hungry market. While technical import barriers to trade have been, and continue to be dismantled, cultural ones still remain. This dossier is taken from research coordinated by ICE, with the support of GIMAV.
