International Marketing Brief Two: China Country Profile
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International Marketing Brief Two: China Country Profile
Country profiles are very important documents needed by any business manager or anybody intending to do business and marketing in or with a foreign country. A country profile helps a person easily familiarize themselves with a given basic and necessary information. Such a profile, therefore, helps in making important decisions in the international marketing sector. Many people would want to market their goods and products, but they cannot do this effectively without knowing their intended countries’ profile. This paper entails a brief country profile of China.
China Country Overview
China is the largest nation of all the Asian countries and is also known to be the most populous country globally. It occupies almost the whole East Asian landmass, covering nearly one-fourteenths of the land area of Earth. China is almost as large as Europe and comes third in ranking after Russia and Canada in terms of area coverage (De Jonge, 2018). Its geographic location is south of Mongolia and the Siberian landmass, west of the Korean Peninsula and insular Japan, north of Southeast Asia, and east of Central and South Asia. The country has almost 9,596,960 square kilometers and a sum of 22,117 kilometers of land boundaries with 14 other states (De Jonge, 2018). Its coastline extends 14 500 kilometers from the border with North Korea in the north to Vietnam in the south. China’s geographic features are diverse, with snow-capped mountains, deep river valleys, broad basins, rolling plains, high plateaus, sandy dunes, terraced hills, and much more available in myriad variations. Generally, China’s land is high towards the west and descends to the east coast.
China’s demographic patterns are highly growing, which explains why it is ranked number as the country with the largest population in the world. Currently, its population stands at 1,439,323,776, with an annual change of +0.39%. Chinese culture is one of the world’s valued oldest cultures, which can be traced back to thousands of years ago. Some of the significant Chinese cultural components include music, ceramics, literature, martial arts, visual arts, cuisine, architecture, and religion. It has many traditional festivals that are carried out all over the nation. Some of these include the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival (De Jonge, 2018). In addition, they also have traditional cultural values, which have been very instrumental in promoting harmony in China’s relations with foreign countries. The Chinese believe in righteousness, honesty, loyalty, benevolence, courtesy, wisdom, harmony, and many others reflected in its diplomacy.
China’s growing population has been attributed to high consumer purchases. Such growth also attracts more investors who would want to get into the country and taste their market. Culture is one of the critical elements that influence both local and international marketing. In connection to this, the Chinese cultural beliefs and norms have greatly improved business behavior. For example, the Confucian traditions have increased the business behavior patterns, particularly in the export behavior attributed to computer firms (Whyte, 2020). The Chinese Confucian values focus on harmony and having the right attitude in business. Such cultural values promote positive business behavior, marketing strategies, and attract more businesses in the country.
China Economic Overview
China is the second-largest in the global economy. It is also the largest exporter and contains the largest reserves of exchange in the world. Since the country started to reform its economy in 1978, its GDP growth has been on average by nearly 10% annually, with over 850 million individuals being taken out of poverty. Today, China remains an upper-middle-income nation and the world’s second-largest economy (Whyte, 2020). However, its per capita income remains approximately a quarter of the high-income states. Also, over 373 million citizens live below the upper-middle-income line of poverty (De Jonge, 2018). China drags in human capital and labor productivity. Its income inequality has increased in the last decade but is still relatively low. China’s high growth and development is based on or accelerated by exports, resource-intensive manufacturing exports, and low-paid labor, which at times has led to social, economic, and environmental imbalances.
China has various natural resources that earn the country income. Some of its substantial mineral reserves include zinc, natural graphite, and antimony. Other minerals include coal, bauxite, crude petroleum, gold, diamonds, lead, iron ore, mercury, manganese, magnetite, natural gas, molybdenum, uranium, tin, phosphate rock, and vanadium. Additionally, its vast mountain ranges make it have the largest hydropower potential in the world.
China is also characterized by excellent growth and developments in its transport and communication networks. The country’s transportation system has undergone tremendous growth and expansion, especially since the early 1980s. Railroads are its primary mode of transportation, and it has been improved by extending its networks to reach various parts of the country. For example, in a remote location, Tibet also has an established road transport system (De Jonge, 2018). Many larger cities in China also have excellent road networks. The highway road systems have also undergone rapid expansion, increasing the use of motor vehicles throughout China. Due to well-developed road systems in China, automobiles have risen, replacing old transportation means such as bicycles. Railroads remain the major mode of transportation in China, with their structures being improved by the country’s high technological advancements.
It has a modernized rail system that is expanding rapidly. China also has a well-established rapid transit system. The country, being among the first-class nations, has a maglev train service that ensures that the people have an efficient transportation system. Its water transport system is also well developed with excellent ports and shipping resources (Whyte, 2020). Its ports are also open for foreign shipping, which has improved its international business and foreign relations with the rest of the world (Lu, 2018). Additionally, it has good inland and coastal waterways as well as civil aviation and airports. All these wonderful transport systems have been influential in shaping both its local and global business behavior. The People’s Republic of China also has a diversified communication system that connects every part of the nation through the internet, radio, telegraph, and radio. China has the largest media market in the whole world with the biggest internet audience.
China Major Exports and Imports Goods
Being a fast-developing country, China gains much of its income through trading activities, not just local, but also has various foreign partners. China is situated in East Asia, and its neighbors significant trading partners such as South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, the USA, Singapore, and India. It engages in exports and imports with many trading partners. Its chief export goods include electrical machinery and equipment, machinery, furniture, lighting, prefab buildings, plastics, vehicles, optical, technical, and medical apparatus, articles of iron and steel, clothing, accessories, processed petroleum oils, micro assemblies, solar power diodes, and miscellaneous toys among many more (Huang & Song, 2020). China’s main imports are copper, organic chemicals, gems, precious metals, vehicles, optical and medical apparatus, electrical appliances, ores, petroleum gases, crude oil, gold, iron ore, and soybeans.
The United States of America is one of China’s main trading partners, but seemingly their trade relationship has also been facing issues related to tariffs and quotas. Today, the US-China trade does not support many jobs in the United States as it was experienced in the former years. The US companies are at the advantage of receiving more important business opportunities because of the fast-growing and highly lucrative number of consumers in China (Lu, 2018). China’s lucrative customer base can further boost economic growth and employment opportunities. Economic data gathered reveal that countries trading closely with China perform better than states having less-integrated trade relations with China. The impact of U.S. tariffs and retaliatory actions has weakened trade between the United States and China. The United States government has posed additional tariffs on the imports that China takes from the U.S., which is considered dangerous to their business relationship (Lu, 2018). The negative impacts of imposed, threatened, and retaliatory tariffs and quotas further threaten almost a third of the projected long-term economic benefits from the Jobs Act and Tax Cuts. Tariffs damage economic well-being and can also cause a net loss in the production sector and job opportunities. Therefore, the increase in tariffs on China’s imports from America is only likely to cause more problems for business growth in the United States of America. Therefore, an increase in tariffs and quotas should be carefully thought before they are implemented.
References
De Jonge, D. (2018). A Brief overview of China and cryptocurrency. Ningbo Economic Review, 1(1), 33-35.
Huang, J. B., Chen, X., & Song, Y. (2020). What drives embodied metal consumption in China’s imports and exports. Resources Policy, 69, 101862.
Lu, F. (2018). China-US Trade Disputes in 2018: An Overview. China & World Economy, 26(5), 83-103.
Whyte, M. K. (2020). China’s economic development history and Xi Jinping’s “China dream:” an overview with personal reflections. Chinese Sociological Review, 1-20.