Connoisseurs of pop music may recall China Crisis, a Liverpool band that enlightened us with hits including ‘Wishful Thinking’. Having read the results of research commissioned by the BSIA on the Chinese market, perhaps the group to which I refer should have been renamed China Opportunity, writes Chris Pinder.

When considering the issues surrounding business in the Chinese market for instance the cultural differences, distance, risks to intellectual property and the necessity for many visits from the UK to establish working relationships all of them appear to be almost insurmountable hurdles. Yet hurdles are there to be cleared, and numerous companies have taken the leap and achieved a Gold medal.

We have all seen in the media how rapidly the Chinese economy is growing. Indeed, certain sources suggest that the nation will be challenging for pole position as the world’s largest economy within the next 20 years. Such growth offers tremendous opportunities within the security sector for those prepared to accept the challenge.

The 2008 Olympic Games – scheduled to take place in Beijing – and the 2010 Asian Games are the well-known opportunities on the horizon. What’s lesser-known, perhaps, is the development of around 300 security standards in China. It’s an ideal time, then, to influence standards in the Far East on behalf of both the UK and Europe in general.

Indeed, over the past 18 months the BSIA has played host to visits from various representatives of Chinese Trade Associations concentrating on the security sector, in addition to those from Chinese Technical Committees.

Business dealings with China focus on building relationships. That is what the BSIA is doing. With the support of UK Trade and Investment, the Association intends to send technical experts to China to understand how the UK might play a greater role in both assisting and influencing standards in the Chinese security sector.

Source

SMT

Postscript

Chris Pinder is the BSIA’s general manager for the north of England