INVESTING IN CHINA is fraught with contradictions for foreigners.
In some quarters, the conventional wisdom is developing that
outsiders can't succeed in China, and the trail is indeed littered
with high-profile examples of failure, such as US auto makers. But
these haven't succeeded in overcoming a conviction that with the
right product, the right people and the right strategy you have a
massive number - currently 1.3 billion - of potential customers.
Certainly in the past few years some people have made serious
money in China, especially in retailing and mobile telecoms. Now
it's the turn of the world's financial institutions to decide
whether to take on China's domestic markets.
In the wake of China's accession to the World Trade Organization
last December, the People's Republic has committed itself to
opening up financial services to foreign institutions. The fiercely
competitive negotiations of the US and the EU over what to prize
open highlights the...
