As chairman of one of the working groups in the European Chamber (EUCCC) I assisted at the Press Conference in the Kerry Center Hotel on 25 November.
The Survey was carried out in partnership with the consultant company Roland Berger.

The Survey was presented by Mr. Wu Qi (Roland Berger) and Joerg Wuttke, President of the EUCCC. As the Conference and Survey received quite a lot of coverage I only report here some of the findings about European companies in China that I found interesting.
– most prefer WOFE and stick to tie 1 and 2 cities
– smaller companies overall seem to do better, maybe because they operate in niche markets
– SME tend to be run more by expats
– most newcomers are SME
– issues of concern are protectionism and economic  nationalism; environmental laws tougher for foreign firms
– many doing development (and less research) to adapt products to the local market
– little enthusiasm for M&A
– the outlook for the first half of 2009: difficult; second half “hopefully better”; lack of “predictability” on how the stimulus plan will work out
– real estate sector a concern as it affects many other sectors including white goods
– the previous concerns for the pressure of increasing costs for shipping, transport, etc. now less important.