The Assembly of French Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ACFCI) was the host and organiser of the first SMEs roundtable, which took place in September 2009 in Paris.
China is a top priority for the French chambers of commerce which have been running a strategy called “Plan Chine” for the last 3 years. This strategy aims to promote and assist French SMEs in China, provide them with information, help to do business in China and encourage the development of a European strategy for SMEs. Moreover, a working group of international affairs advisors has been created within the network of French chambers of commerce, which tackles specifically UE-China business related issues.
As it would be rather challenging to gather all relevant experiences and knowledge on market access in China around one table, ACFCI decided to divide the event into two parts:
- a morning info-session with keynote speakers and
- 3 sub-roundtables in the afternoon with entrepreneurs, business organisations and academia representatives.
The first sub-roundtable worked on the strategy when approaching the Chinese market, the second roundtable focused on necessary tools to support European SMEs when setting up a company in China and the third roundtable analysed best ways to develop business in China.
The issues discussed were related to:
- Roundtable 1: how to handle Chinese culture and Chinese corporate governance system; what are the best strategies to get into the Chinese market; what are the difficulties in dealing with Chinese authorities; what kind of networking strategies could be developed; what are the most effective ways to protect innovation and anticipate counterfeiting
- Roundtable 2: the legal environment modifications; human resources issues; that need to be tackled when operating on the Chinese market; access to local finance; safety of payments
- Roundtable 3: the adaptation of China’s economy to comply with the requirements of sustainable development; the potential and limits of sectors in which European SMEs can do business; the attitude SMEs should adopt to deal with Chinese counterparts
Please find below the main recommendations that were developed based on the results of the very animated roundtable discussions among the participants.
Main recommendations to the European Commission: - European innovation policy must be strengthened as it is a way to overcome piracy, counterfeiting and technology spying
- Improve the exchange of information about the Chinese system of normalisation and certification (this kind of information is indeed currently hard to get)
- A network of large European companies could be established to assist SMEs that are eager to enter the Chinese market
- A “unique entry point” would be useful for European companies willing to develop activities in China
- There is a real need to facilitate an exchange of best practices and experiences among relevant European actors already based in China with regards to what should be the strategic regions to focus on from a business point of view
- The EU must develop programmes that support SMEs in getting better knowledge of the Chinese culture; this is important to develop successful business strategy in China
- A European focus should be put on training facilities for people dedicated to doing business in China
- A particular effort should be made by the EU to improve the policy dialogue environment in which European SMEs are doing business in China, especially with regard to:
- corruption within Chinese administration and among Chinese buyers,
- independence of the Chinese legal system from the local authorities, the latter should be committed to have laws respected,
- protection of innovation and IPR (patterns and brands)
- necessity to negotiate the opening of a vocational training market in China
> Download the EVENT REPORT and the BACKGROUND REPORT of this SME Policy Roundtable.