What an Autumn treat, with food for thought on UK companies doing business in China and … an authentic Chinese lunch following the Cambridge tech CEO roundtable in late September 2023.
This invite-only event was designed for business executives to share and distil the knowledge of doing business in China among CEOs /senior management of tech companies at different stages in their business journeys into the Chinese market.
Chairing the roundtable, Crayfish.io CEO Ting Zhang pointed out that China is clearly a market not to be ignored by any tech businesses who want to succeed globally. The big question is ‘how’.
Our guests came with one question : how do others tackle it, ‘it’ referring to one of a couple of problems that need solutions, such as meeting quick response targets locally, or best practice in customer engagement in China with IP safety mechanisms built in.
Three Cambridge-based tech companies shed lights and offered insights on some of the challenges and issues common to many UK tech businesses operating in China.
They did that, and recalled stories and lessons learned while reflecting on their journeys in the China market, too, speaking from Cambridge Mechatronics, ION Science, and Cambridge GaN Devices.
Out of the discussions and Q&A a couple of key issues emerged as the main challenges UK businesses are tackling with –
- Recruiting the right talents for key posts in China
- Managing working relationship with local partners
- Dealing with IP related issues
- Overcoming cultural differences in a broad sense
By the end of the event guests left with new insights, new contacts and leads to potential new collaborations between participants.
A couple of feedbacks landed in our inbox later:
“… it was great to hear some of the real life stories and considerations when deciding how to scale in China.” (Ben)
“…it was incredibly insightful…I really enjoyed meeting new leaders and understanding more deeply how Crayfish can support companies. I would love for you to come … to talk about cultural considerations.”(Katy)
Crayfish helps Western companies to succeed in the Chinese market at different stages, be it in export, manufacturing or R&D, and from entering, expanding or scaling, finding partners and handling local communications demands.
For tech companies especially, IP protection and potential commercialisation is a legitimate core concern when doing business overseas. Crayfish has the right team to assist in this regard, including legal support in China.
We look forward to hearing more real life stories at the next roundtable meeting.