Dan Harris at the China Law Blog writes:
I have conducted an extremely unscientific client survey regarding our clients' China plans. This survey was of about fifteen clients (to tell you how unscientific it was, I took no notes), eleven of which are American, one Korean, one Spanish, one Mexican, and one German. About half are in manufacturing and none make what anyone would describe as a low end good like a cheap toy or jewelry. I asked them how their China business was going, "in light of the economic downturn." I also asked them if the downturn was going to cause them to reduce or eliminate their China presence. Lastly, I asked them what the would be doing differently in China in 2009 due to the economic downturn. Their answers were all pretty much the same.
They said that China's downturn had made them look more carefully at their China expansion and hiring plans. They said they were going to be very "cautious" and "careful" in 2009 with respect to expansion and hiring. Many of them (5 or 6?) said they had an "official" hiring freeze in place for the first six months of 2009 or the entire year. Two said they were going to expand faster than anticipated in China because they saw now as the best time to get a jump on their less well-funded rivals. All of them said they had no concrete plans to get out of China, but one worried that the company's overall problems might force an ill-advised China exit. Many of them responded to my question about their leaving China by asking me "and go where?" I got the following comments. . .
To read more:
http://www.chinalawblog.com/2009/01/the_china_economy_for_foreign.html
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