If you are sales professional, chances are your clients are in some way invested in or impacted by a dependency on China. We do a lot of research on companies for our clients here at Finlistics, and one of the most common themes we see right now is discussion regarding growth expectations and challenges in Asia. With a total population of 3.9 billion people in Asia, and over 1.3 billion in China alone, this is a market that is too big for most companies to ignore. That being said, there have been significant challenges in China to overcome due to government restrictions, economic challenges, etc.
A recent USA today article entitled, “China’s growth rebounds but still vulnerable” (USA today.com, 1/18/13, link shown below) offers some potentially encouraging news, albeit tempered. You can read the full article, but in our opinion it will continue to impact growth opportunities for foreign companies. Mark Williams of Capital Economics is quoted as saying, “Growth of 8 percent or so is about normal now for China. There’s scope for a lot of people to be din some of the more interesting tidbits are regarding the growth rate predictions and the government policies that appointed, because many still have an inflated sense of how fast China should be growing.”
The article also says “Chinese leaders are trying to reduce reliance on exports and investment by nurturing self-sustaining growth driven by domestic consumption but consumer spending growth is slower than they want.” And that, “Consumer prices are especially sensitive in a society where the poorest families spend up to half their monthly incomes on food.”
So how might these dynamics be impacting your clients? It never hurts to find out. Are they counting on significant growth from Asia or China to meet their 2013 financial goals? Do they have current business in that area that might be at risk? Asking these types of questions may help you uncover new opportunities for your products or services. At the very least it’s an opportunity to present yourself as a business partner vs. product vendor and to show you’re paying attention.
The full article, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/18/china-economy/1844377/
