An Analysis of Market Entry into the People's Republic of China under consideration of Cultural Value Dimensions

Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Economics / Business: Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, University of applied sciences, Düsseldorf (Fachhochschule), course: Internationales Management, 70 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Before starting writing this thesis, the author asked herself one question: Was Napoleon right, when he once said: "When China wakes up, the world will tremble"1. On the following pages, the author finds an answer to this question. There is hardly another nation in the world which has changed its picture within the past two or three decades like PR China. The former communist regime of Mao Zedong has opened itself to the world since the end of the Cultural Revolution in the year 1976. This change is most apparent from the economic point of view and also from a social perspective. From 1976 on, foreign investors were allowed to enter the country to present their know-how and to provide the locals with liquid funds. As a consequence, a constantly increasing number of goods are being manufactured in PR China for the global market2. The economic trend clearly shows the increase of PR China's influence on the world market. In the year 2005, PR China achieved a gross domestic Product of CYN 18,232 billion (about EUR 18,060 billion) with a population of about 1.3 billion people. This is an income per capita of CYN 14,025 (about EUR 1,390). In the year 2000, the income per capita was only CYN 7,812 (about EUR 774). This shows an increase of about 55 per cent only within five years3. Today, Germany has a population of about 82 million people4. In the year 2005, Germany's GDP amounted to around EUR 2,244 billion, which is a per capita income of about EUR 27,365. Clearly, the level of the German income per capita is in absolute figures much higher. But the increase of Germany's GDP compared to the year before only stands at 0.9 per cent5.