Predeparture Research: Shanghai

PriceWaterhouseCoopers

This global company is the largest of the Big Four accounting firms. It offers services in the fields of assurance, tax, human resources, transactions, performance improvement and crisis management. According to their industry surveys, the China market has the highest level of interest of any of their growing markets. Based on the Annual Survey of Asian Tax Advisors, PricewaterhouseCoopers was voted the leading tax advisor in China in 2006. I would like to know how challenging it is for PricewaterhouseCoopers to stay on top of the rapidly evolving Chinese economy and taxation system.

CB Richard Ellis

Happy days for CB Richard Ellis. They recently announced that their earnings per share are up 108% for the first quarter of 2006, resulting in a three for one split of its common stock. The company specializes in commercial real estate and has offices in over fifty countries and, of course, CB Richard Ellis has a strong presence in China. In their May newsletter, CB Richard Ellis states that the expectations for China’s property market are “bullish” because of the possible increase in the valuation of the yuan. The company is an excellent position to experience this “bull” market if it takes place. I am curious to discover how much expansion has the company experienced in China over the last five years.

Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

It is an attractive facility from the pictures on the home website. Fortunately, I was able to find another website briefly describing the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall in English. The hall has a total floor space covering nineteen thousand square meters and highlights the city planning achievements of Shanghai. To put the rapid building in perspective, I hope there are many pictures from the past. I want to know how much expansion the city has experienced since China opened up its economy.

HSBC

HSBC is the largest foreign bank in China and has been in the country since 1865. With twelve branches in China and over five billion in US dollars invested, HSBC has clearly demonstrated a long-term commitment to the country. While browsing their website for China, I stumbled across their multi-currency account, which really caught my attention because of its novelty. This account allows the customer to place up to eight different currencies in his or her account. I wonder what the impetus behind this type of account was and how popular they are among their customers.

RR Donnelley

RR Donnelley has been offering print services for over 140 years and did over eight million dollars in sales in 2005. They have over 600 locations worldwide, including five locations in China. RR Donnelley entered China as a joint venture in 1993 and was the first US company since 1949 to receive a license to offer commercial print services in China. I am curious about their views on censorship and I would like to know to what extent, if any, the Chinese censors have eased up since 1993.

Microsoft Global Technical Service Center

This center has been in Shanghai since 1998 and Microsoft was the first Fortune 500 company to open a support center in the city. It surprised me that the center offers support not only in Asia-Pacific, but in Europe and the United States, as well. This makes me think about what types of support issues are prevalent in China and how do these issues differ from the United States and Europe. I also thought it was noteworthy to mention that the Microsoft Global Technical Service Center offers internships to Chinese college students.

Carre-Four

This French retailer appeared on the China scene in 1995 and has a presence in over twenty-nine countries. Carre-Four currently operates seventy-three hypermarkets and two-hundred thirty-four hard discount stores in China. A hypermarket is a large store that carries food and non-food items and stocks around eighty-thousand goods on its shelves and a hard discount store carries around eight-hundred food items. I am looking forward to visiting these stores because I am interested in discovering what types of food items the different stores offer. Are there any popular French products in China?