Chinese firms urged to brace for tech-for-market swap with inevitable overseas expansion
- Chinese firms ambitious about going abroad urged to embrace ‘technology for market’ strategy that has let China obtain tech since 1980s
More Chinese companies would likely partner with overseas firms when they expand abroad, leveraging their technology and supply chains, in exchange for market access, analysts said, despite rising geopolitical risks and hostility.
“When companies go abroad, maybe at some point you need to get used to what foreign companies encounter when they are doing business in China,” said Xu Sitao, chief economist at Deloitte Research.
“There will be some sort of nudging for partnerships by foreign governments, sometimes forced partnerships, what we call ‘technology for market’.
“But that’s OK because that would accelerate the process for turning into a genuine local company, and also help China with communication abroad.”
Xu Sitao added Chinese firms are already under pressure from other economies to move further downstream to boost economic development and provide more jobs, while more policies will be introduced, for example, in data security.
