Living without American goods in China?
You could live, but it would not be comfortable, says Zhang Quan, an
executive at a Beijing-based securities company.
"It means computers without Microsoft, movies without Hollywood, drinks
without Coca-Cola and sport without Nike. Where's the fun?" asks the 30-year-old
man who was born in a small town in eastern China.
His first taste of things American was when he ate KFC chicken wings for the
first time 15 years ago on a trip to Shanghai.
The American lifestyle, along with innovative products, dominant brands and
profitable business models, has firmly seeped into the consciousness of China.
China's exports to the United States may seem huge if the trade balance were
the only criterion but American exports have had a pervasive effect on China,
too.
US companies are coy when it comes to questions of profit-making in China,
typically claiming that investments here are strategic.
But Bernhard Hartmann, vice-president of well-known US management consultant
A.T. Kearney, refers to a recent survey of 1,800 US businesses in China by the
American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, which found that the profit margins for
42 per cent were higher than their average worldwide margins.
"It is interesting," says Hartmann.
A story in the Wall Street Journal in February has a more direct answer: It
quoted the US Bureau of Economic Analysis as saying that US-affiliated companies
in China earned US$3 billion in 2004.
Perhaps it does vary from sector to sector, but there is a higher collation
by experience than by sector, says Emory Williams, chairman of the American
Chamber of Commerce in China.
"The longer companies have been in China, the more profitable they are."
Perhaps those not profitable do not last here too long, he says.
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