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Unleashing the Fire Horse: Mainland China’s Growing Global Imprint
What factors are driving the high levels of business confidence with mainland Chinese entrepreneurs? And what are the favoured diversification strategies and key entrepreneurial trends emerging across the market?
We spoke to just over 400 business owners in mainland China as part of a global survey of more than 3,000 entrepreneurs to understand their aspirations as the market becomes a driving force in many industries. High levels of positive sentiment driven by technology and AI, confidence in international expansion and optimism from stronger business corridors with ASEAN and MENA are some of the themes that shine through.
Discover more insights in our report on entrepreneurial growth and ambition in mainland China.
Top findings:
- Entrepreneurs in mainland China are among the most optimistic globally about their business prospects and are twice as positive about the sectors they operate in compared to the global average (43 per cent vs 26 per cent)
- Global diversification is their chief growth strategy, with international expansion the preferred route (59 per cent), ahead of investing in AI (50 per cent) – although the two are often pursued together
- Technology, especially AI development, in mainland China is the biggest confidence driver. Sixty-nine per cent cite technology or AI as the main reason for their business positivity, and advanced tech is also the leading reason international entrepreneurs want to do business in mainland China (40 per cent)
- Succession planning is an important topic in mainland China, with 70 per cent of surveyed multigenerational entrepreneurs saying they want to keep the business in the family, which is six percentage points below the global average