【Belt and Road Portal】Necessary for enterprises to participate in global competition

January 14 , 2019

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As Chinese companies climb up the value chain, their participation in overseas markets is inevitable, and it is conducive to expanding China’s trade relations and maintaining the multilateral trade system.

They should take advantage of the Belt and Road Initiative to deepen their cooperation with third parties, including companies, governments and multilateral organizations, so as to facilitate their operations in foreign markets.

The central government founded the China International Development Cooperation Agency last year to promote Chinese enterprises’ cooperation with foreign parties and their common development, signaling Beijing’s supportive attitude to enterprise cooperation.

As trade protectionism and anti-globalization sentiments are on the rise, the global trade growth this year may slump to a new low since the 2008 financial crisis, and Chinese enterprises, as experience shows, are likely to be the targets for protectionist measures.

Chinese enterprises should heed the lessons of multinational corporations from developed economies, which have accumulated rich experience in how to make use of foreign resources to overcome difficulties, and build up their learning curve quickly in the process of going out.

For instance, Chinese enterprises can think more about how to work with foreign governments of various levels－which many foreign companies do while exploring new markets－and the involvement of local authorities can help save them many twists and turns and adapt them to local political, cultural and social conditions.

Also, some multilateral agencies, such as the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the World Trade Organization as well as some regional free trade pacts, have opened their doors to cooperation with enterprises. Playing ball with these can broaden market entry and facilitate enterprises’ investment and obtaining of funds, as well as help them to better control their business risks.