In China With Michelle Zou

“Made in China” is almost everywhere in our life, no matter which country you are living. Today we will talk about the apparel industry and the trade with China, with Mr. Benjamin Lee. For four generations, Mr. Lee’s family has been in the textile industry and later the apparel industry. They started from Shanghai then Hong Kong and expanded to many Asian countries. From 1970s, Benjamin came to the US and continued the family business with import and export in textile and clothing. What has changed in the apparel industry over these many decades? What is the competitive advantages of China today? Is China still going to play a big role as the cost is constantly increasing in China recent years? What should you know when you are considering getting in the apparel industry with China? Please listen to Michelle Zou’s interview with Benjamin Lee about trade with China in the apparel industry.

Located at the Northwest corner of the United States and by the Pacific Ocean, Washington State is the No. 1 state in USA in terms of trade volume with China. It is interesting to investigate Washington State’s value proposition, understand what major industries that are trading with China, what types of investment it is attracting from China and what kinds of projects are being invested from China. In addition, what has created such kind of characteristics that Washington state possess today which helped to shape its position with China? Please listen to Allison Clark, the Managing Director of the Business Development unit at the Washington State Department of Commerce, share her insights about these questions.

Just like an individual person, every company or brand also has certain image in public’s eyes, no matter if it is the kind of image you prefer or not. Your company or brand may have already established an image locally, and when you are penetrating the business to the China market, what messages do you want to deliver to the audience there? And what kind of perceptions do you want to establish there? You need to understand the difference between your home market and the China market, clearly craft your key messages, and utilize marketing, public relations, government relations and many other means to help build a positive image for your company or brand in the China market. In this episode, Sheila Shang, PR and marketing expert with a special focus on the US-China cross-border business communications, will share her thoughts and tips to you.

China launched a toilet revolution across the country in 2015 with an aim to make such facilities cleaner and more regulated. In 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, “China should continue to upgrade the country's toilets as part of its toilet revolution aimed at developing domestic tourism and improving people's life quality”. What does this mean beyond having cleaner and better equipped hardware? In this episode, Dr. Austin Huang, Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineering, and Diplomate of Geotechnical Engineering, Academy of GeoProfessionals, will explain his interpretation of China’s toilet revolution, and the impact to environmental water resources sustainability. He will also illustrate the problem of China's toilets in rural areas today and potential solutions to the problem. You will learn the vast opportunities that may be brought by the needs of this campaign and the associated impact in a broader social context in China.

In 2017, Chinese citizens made about 130 million overseas trips and 4.53 billion domestic trips. Among them, about 3 million Chinese visited United States, which is about 4% of the total international visitors visited US in 2017, and the number is forecasted to be increasing. The average spending by Chinese tourists on the location (exclude international flight tickets) in the US is $4,462. In addition, in the academic year 2016/17, there were 350,755 international students from China studying in the US. What does this mean to business in the United States? Why would the Chinese tourists and students come to the US? What has changed in them compared to 10 years ago? Why we believe Chinese international students are a win-win to the tourism industry in the US? Please join me to discuss these questions with Felicity Wang, President of the Greater Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and owner of a tour and travel company in the US.

The General Aviation industry in China is still a relatively green field, with vast market opportunity but a few competitors. This industry started to boom since China announced the 13th Five-Year-Plan, which is a strategic planning by the Chinese government for 2016 - 2020. To seize this huge opportunity, a Chinese company purchased Top Cub’s type certificate and all its relevant intellectual properties, after a lengthy process and lots of patience over 5 years, and finally approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. in May, 2015 along with the signature of the Secretary of State of the United States of America. Then it set up the Washington based company Topcub Aircraft LLC (topcubaircraft.com) to serve the international markets, and China based sites to serve the China market. Please join me to hear Mr. Changjia Ge, General Manager of Topcub Aircraft LLC, talks about the general aviation industry in China and their plan in anticipating the surging demand.

When an expatriate is moving to China, it is incredibly challenging, not just for the expatriate, but also for the whole family to adapt, transit, and assimilate to the unfamiliar environment and culture. Cross-cultural Development with families is an essential ingredient to assist families in their adjustment and adaptation to a new culture and environment. Lesley Lewis, a psychologist, executive coach, author, culturalist, and the founder of Culture3Counsel Limited (www.culture3counsel.com), has worked with many families in transitioning into a new home. She also works with cross-cultural families and couples to understand how the dynamics of two or more cultures can affect the family unit. She has worked with TCK’s (Third Culture Kids) and ATCK’s (Adult Third Culture Kids), which is one of her special interests. Lesley has been living in Hong Kong for over 30 years, and lived in Canada and the United States. She has over thirty years in the Human Services Field.

Do you know, as a business owner, you have access to many kinds of resources that can help you export products or services? When we, the consultants at PTCG work with American companies to grow business in the China market, we have noticed that many don’t know the resources that are available to them. Therefore, I invite Ava Bao, President of Chinese American General Chamber of Commerce (CAGCC, http://cagcc.com/), to share with us what they do to help businesses bridge the opportunities with China. In addition, Michele Ko, Business Development Manager from Washington State Department of Commerce, will explain how small businesses can leverage the Export Voucher program to offset their exporting expenses, using the China International Import Expo as an example. The Expo will be held in Shanghai in Nov 2018, and many companies expect to find buyers from China. For more information about the Export Voucher program, please go to http://www.commerce.wa.gov/.

Professor David McHardy Reid from the Albers School of Business and Economics in Seattle University has published around 100 papers, three books and numerous articles in management journals, mainly on international strategy with respect to China and Japan. He has extended experience in both industries and academics and has consulted to major corporations on both corporate and business strategy. In his most recent papers he talked about China’s innovation, and that China is going through a period he called “Absorptivity Capacity”. He also researched on which are the top cities in China with most innovations and provided practical guidance on how we can use this research to strategize our business in China. Please listen to the interview with Professor Reid to understand more about the pace of innovation and the implications to your business. More information about Professor David McHardy Reid please check his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mchardy-reid-73955b/

Many small businesses in the US are exporting to China today. David Liu, a Chinese who has lived and worked in the US for 30 years, and was a technical consultant in the IT industry, is exporting wine to China. He is one of the businesses that are planning to exhibit at the China International Import Expo in November 2018 in Shanghai. Why did David transit from his technology field to the wine business? How is he doing with his export business? What is the impact of the US/China trade war to his business? What is his plan? Please join me with David Liu to hear his thoughts about the trade and his small exporting business between US and China.

China International Import Expo (CIIE 2018) is the biggest import trade show in China, and is estimated to attract over 150,000 corporate buyers to spend tens of billions of dollars and is a unique opportunity for worldwide businesses to market their products and services to public, private and state-owned enterprises in China. The CIIE was announced by President Xi Jinping in 2017 and is hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and Shanghai Municipal People's Government as well as being supported by the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. So why should you attend CIIE? What is the difference of this Expo vs. other events? What to expect from this event? How to make the most out from this expo? Let’s hear from Yun Gao who is leading projects in facilitating CIIE to share with us his thoughts on this event.

China’s healthcare spending is projected to reach 1 trillion US dollars in 2020, growing rapidly from $356 billion in 2011. What is driving the market growth in China? What kind of challenges and opportunities are behind it? In this episode, Ms. Jing DiPiero, the founder and CEO of DPR Consulting LLC(http://www.dprconsulting.net/), will share her insights with us. Located in Portland, Oregon, USA, DPR Consulting is an organization established by industry leaders in healthcare and global business. It introduces, educates and offers comprehensive medical solutions to Chinese patients, medical practitioners and administrators. It also works with Chinese hospitals and local governments in the field of medicine, innovation and health.

We've talked about China’s healthcare market opportunities in the previous episodes, some audience are interested in how to seize these opportunities. For example, if you are a manufacturer of medical products, who should you work with to market and sell to Chinese customers? What kind of partnership should you look for in China? What is the process for your medical products to register and be distributed in China? In this episode, I will discuss these questions with Christina Zhao, Founder of two companies, Pharmed and Polycare, to understand from the agent and distributor side, how they have been helping worldwide manufacturers sell into China over the past decade. Her perspectives and experience from starting as a distributor inside China for foreign manufacturers, to becoming a source agent to introduce worldwide products to China, and to becoming an investor to develop and manufacture medical products for Chinese customers, will be informative to you.

Since China opened the door to the world in the 1980s, many foreign companies have made efforts to invest and establish subsidiaries in China, mainly for the relatively low-cost labors and materials or for the massive Chinese market. The Chinese government has issued many policies to attract foreign investment, experts and know-hows. However, some of those foreign companies have failed and retreated from China, while some have thrived and China becomes a major growth market. If we take out the macroeconomic factors such as political impact and global financial crises, and focus mainly on factors that companies have more control on, what are the major reasons for the failures and successes? What can business leaders learn from the lessons of those companies? In this episode, Weidong Chen, Founder and CEO of HAORAY will share his observations through management consulting practices. We will also discuss some opportunities and trends we have seen in the recent years in China.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a hot buzz word today. Any device that is connected to the internet is part of the IoT and is exposed to potential risks. As the biggest market that manufactures many types of devices and with the 5G infrastructure deployment is leading in the globe, China has played a critical role in the IoT world. But why China will be the leading IoT market in the future? How far away is IoT to our lives? Why IoT is important to everyone today? What are the potential risks of IoT brings to consumers and businesses? In this episode, Mr. Song Li, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Co-founder of NewSky Security, will share with us about his thoughts on this topic. Mr. Li is an expert on CPU architecture, communication protocols, web applications and cybersecurity, and an invited expert of W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) for their connected cars initiative.

With a population of 1.4 billion and among which 21% are over 55 years old in China, it is easy to understand that healthcare is a huge opportunity there. But before you jump into this market as a foreigner, you may want to understand these questions: how does the healthcare industry look like in China today? What is the difference of the China healthcare infrastructure compared to that in the US? What is the trend in healthcare delivery in China? What are the areas you can touch or should not touch? You will get valuable information from this interview with Dr. Tingting Zhang, who has graduated with a PHD in Cancer Biology from Columbia University and then returned to China with a dream to improve Chinese patients’ health.

Many people know China is a huge market and they cannot ignore it, but they also have concerns about working in a market they are not familiar with, and especially after having heard stories about intellectual property protection challenges in China. What should a successful partnership look like? How do you build business partnerships in China? Who should you work with? What resources you can tap into? What are the industries you need to concern about IP protection and how? In this episode, Andy Wilson, Chair of the Washington State China Relations Council, will share with you his thoughts about these questions. Andy has been a leader in international economic development, innovation, and China-U.S. trade for more than 25 years. Working predominately in the corporate sector, he has led the growth of a series of technology and consumer products companies across Europe, North America, and Asia – and particularly in China.

The Chinese New Year in 2018 is right at the corner on Feb 16, and how would businesses in China celebrate this holiday and how is it going to impact your business? China is a big country, what different social customs and habits do people have from different regions in China? In this episode Michelle Zou and Alex Lu will share with you how global and local companies in China run their rhythm of business accordingly to the Chinese traditions and holidays, and what you want to know about the sub-cultures inside China. Knowing these basics will help you be more effective in communicating with Chinese and running your business.

Major social media services such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are not accessible in China today. But China has its own social media service and is being used by over a billion users. The China market is incredibly unique and dynamic. With the increasing purchasing power of Chinese middle-class consumers and the desire of living a quality life, international brands now have a fantastic opportunity to sell to this 300-400 million lucrative Chinese population. But how can foreign companies reach this group of Chinese consumers? How much would it cost? How difficult it is to do so? Brad Chen, the CEO of ecommerce solution provider WeMart, will introduce you an ecommerce-through-social media approach to help international brands sell to its target consumers in China.

How big is the China market? What kind of purchasing power do Chinese consumers have today? Why should your business consider the China market? For foreign small and medium size businesses that want to sell into the China market, what are some ways to do that without spending a big budget? Why digital marketing works? What are some successful examples from western companies selling into the China consumers? What industries can consider using digital marketing to sell into China? And what to look for in a good Chinese partner? If you have any of the above questions, you will find the answer from Anderson Liu, CEO of Westwin. By collaborating with major search engines and social media platforms in China and globally, Westwin provides cross-border digital marketing strategies and solutions for Chinese and foreign advertisers and serves as the window for businesses to enter into the China market.