Virtual Assistant Service in Hong Kong

China is positioned at the epicenter of an active capitalism emerging in Asia. But due to the meltdown of financial system worldwide many enterprises and small businesses might be uncertain to establish a company in China. We all know that the financial crisis had challenged numerous companies but doing business in China includes a lot of advantages. It will also bring several opportunities for business expansion. In 2008, the overall China’s economy is recognized as the third largest after Japan and the United States with a GDP of US$4.4 trillion when measured in exchange-rate terms according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Business owners should pay attention to the different advantages that China has to offer such as tax breaks, cheap labor, and large work force. To further discuss these advantages let us analyze the key reasons why you should start your company operation in China.

First is the middle class in China which is emerging over the last few years. This emergence will serve as the demand stimulator that will significantly increase the level of demand for the products and services that you may offer. Next is the willingness of Chinese Government to give incentives to companies that want to sell their goods to Chinese business owners and consumers. For instance, the Chinese Government has established policies including tax reductions and human resource training, for those companies from other countries who aim to start their outsourcing operations in China. Last is the growing Chinese marketplace. Experts believe that China will sooner exceed the growth rate of the United States, which is known as the world’s largest economy. The emergence of China as a more advanced marketplace has recently passed Germany as the third largest economy and is expected to beat Japan as early as 2010. China has also experienced a huge improvement and most consistent annual growth rate of any major world economy. According to CNN China’s economy grew by 8.7 percent in 2009, based on the National Bureau of Statistics.

Moreover, China appears to be one of the fastest growing countries and most profitable new economy worldwide.  Its marketplace gives new opportunities for business owners and opens several doors to foreign companies who want to establish their company or expand their business operations. Setting-up a business in China is easier than ever, but before establishing a company or starting a business in China it is crucial to acquire the in-depth knowledge about all aspects of the Chinese business culture.

The continuous improvement of Internet technology has a great impact in how businesses are made and done, this is also known as E-commerce. This is a widely-used process of purchasing various products using the Internet. The increasing number of e-commerce websites simply shows that most businesses develop an in-depth understanding on how it can affect their income and profitability in a positive way.

An online business is beneficial for both sellers and buyers. Business owners can offer products and introduce their services worldwide. They can easily communicate with their prospective buyers through the internet regardless of distance and cultural differences. With this, business owners can target a large number of people and can have greater chances of getting new customers to increase their profitability. For consumers, E-commerce is very advantageous because it provides them a huge selection of products and services. It also gives a more convenient searching and easier browsing for their desired goods.

Checking the latest products and buying them online are becoming more and more popular nowadays. Online shopping is recognized as the most preferred way of consumers in getting the stuff they want to buy instead of going out and personally visiting the stores. Based on China’s statistics, there are 338 million internet users and there are about 253 million users who have experienced shopping online. It is the most popular shopping channel for numerous buyers worldwide including the Chinese consumers. The main reasons why consumers prefer buying things online are the cost and time savings along with the abundant product offerings on the internet. According to iResearch while the Chinese people prefer doing shopping online, companies are continuously investing as well. Alibaba is investing 5 billion Yuan (US$ 725 million) in Taobao.com, which is known as China’s most popular auction site. Taoboa is It is top auction site by sales volume.

In 2009, there are survey results of "Visa e-commerce consumption monitoring”, which show that internet users in the Asia-pacific region are still fond of online shopping. There are approximately 89 percent of the respondents mentioned that they have done online shopping in the past 12 months, and 83 percent of said they will continuously use electronic payment cards to do online shopping.

Here are the four countries which have a relatively high proportion on doing online shopping: South Korea (97%), China (94%), Japan (94%) and Australia (89%). Chinese consumers usually buy the most popular products such as electronics, clothes, accessories, books, audio and video products, cosmetics and jewelry, as well as home care products.

Not only small companies are outsourcing business sectors to produce more business but Fortune 500 companies are also taking advantage of the outsourcing method to reduce cost. Not only IT services are being outsourced, but also litigation services are now being outsourced offshore.

The initial of my research is the write an article on the main frame was freelancing and service outsourcing. As I gather the facts from news and reports, I feel a greater sense on writing this solely on service outsourcing due to the significant figures I have gathered. It is an actual trend towards not just small companies, but even large corporate. Like IBM, they are outsourcing their jobs to offshore and cutting down employment within US. Sounds unfair? What is reason behind all the job cuts and outsourcing? The answer is cost cutting. Obviously money always does the trick. I will not say I agree what they are doing is right or wrong, it’s just a trend. Imagine yourself on the director’s seat, what can keep your business going during this down time.

Other example like Barry-Wehmiller is also shifting its workforce to India during the hard times, hoping for a relive from the pressure of the high headcount cost in the US from its financial stands. After all, we have to face the fact that labour is only one-fifth the cost in US as to poor nations like India, Philippines and China.

As I read along more of these large corporate outsourcing their business offshore, I came across that these corporate are also outsourcing their litigation department too.  In addition, a outsourcing survey done by Ernest & Young that 70 percent of the respondents do outsource at least one sector of their business. According to 20 percent of these respondents, to further embrace themselves, plans on increasing outsourcing in the next two years is yet to come. 

A research done by Forrester Research forecast approximately between 3.3 million jobs will be outsourced between the years 2000-2015.  The outlook of the outsourcing market seems to be on an upturn in the many years coming. Although employment rate may look dim to the US, yet outsourcing will still benefits on the long run, as the companies lower their cost, their products or services will also be lower. Eventually consumers will get their needs at a lesser cost leading to higher standards of living.