US-China relations remain companies’ greatest challenge in the China market, and despite the truce, both governments continue to release new economic security policies. Against this backdrop, the business environment remains challenging for most companies. This year, China’s macroeconomy returned as companies’ second-biggest challenge.
Because of a highly competitive and culturally different operating environment, ensuring adherence to corporate ethics and compliance policies remains a concern for many US companies doing business in China.
Rising costs have been a concern in China for many years, but this year’s survey suggests that the increases may have outpaced company expectations of tolerable expense increases.
Trade secrets have increasingly become a critical component of companies’ intellectual property (IP) portfolios in China alongside more visible forms of intellectual property, such as patents and trademarks.
In recent years, China has established a clear goal to rebalance its economy through increasing imports and growing domestic demand. In line with those objectives, the US-China Business Council (USCBC) has developed this paper to identify sector-specific recommendations government officials may consider to achieve these goals.
As the US-China commercial relationship has developed over the past four decades, US law firms have increasingly invested in China, and have sought to help foster a compliant and mutually beneficial business environment for foreign and Chinese clients.
China has made considerable progress in recent years in its efforts to boost innovation and intellectual property (IP), with an improved legal and regulatory framework, stronger efforts to enforce intellectual property rights (IPR), an expanding body of registered IP, and the growth of corporate research and development (R&D) activities.
PRC officials made a series of commitments in 2011 to break existing links between indigenous innovation and government procurement preferences – a significant concern for the US-China Business Council and its member companies.
