FOREIGN RETAILERS IN CHINA REVISITED: WHO ARE WINNERS?
Shuguang Wang
Department of Geography
Ryerson University
Toronto, Canada
Five years ago on this very campus, I presented a paper at the First Asian Retail and Distribution Workshop, entitled “Foreign Retailers in China: Towards Further Understanding of Internationalization of Retailing.” In that paper, I highlighted the various government restrictions on the entry of foreign retailers and explained how the foreign retailers bypassed regulatory barriers to enter the highly protective Chinese market. I predicted that the winners would be European and American retailers, who possess the most resources and advanced information technologies and do business in new retail formats (Wang, 2001). Since then, significant changes have taken place in both the market conditions in China and its regulatory system including the elimination of trade barriers after China’s admission to the WTO. This has provided further opportunities for foreign retailers to expand in China. This paper revisits the foreign retailers with regard to their growth patterns and performances. The paper begins with a brief review of the recent changes in market conditions and in the regulatory regime. It then proceeds to analyze the growth patterns and market performance of the major foreign retailers to identify who the winners are. Those from Taiwan are treated as foreign retailers in consistency with China’s regulatory policies. Finally, corporate strategies are examined in relation to the variations in levels of market penetration and performance among the foreign retailers.
