Management consultancy Accenture recently released a paper about Western companies needing to commit the required resources to succeed in China. The introduction to the paper put the Chinese market in perspective. Here is what Accenture had to say:
“In 2010, China accounted for 23 percent of emerging-market gross domestic product, more than the remaining BRICs at the time combined. That same year, China attracted $185 billion of foreign direct investment, more than three times the amount that flowed into Brazil, the next highest recipient among emerging markets. In terms of large corporations, there were 61 Chinese companies in the Fortune Global 500 in 2011, more than all other emerging markets combined. Moreover, while the base of growth in the emerging world might be broadening, China’s prominence will actually increase over the course of this decade. By 2020, the country’s share of emerging-market GDP is expected to grow to 30 percent.
“Look beyond the national numbers as well. If China’s provinces were countries, Guangdong would be the eighth-largest emerging market by GDP and would export as much as South Korea. Jiangsu and Shandong would be the ninth- and tenth-largest emerging markets, outranking Poland, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and South Africa. And as for the cities in China’s interior, Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, for example, is forecast to have a bigger economy than Sweden or Switzerland by 2020.
“The sources of China’s growth are also broadening. It’s no longer just a story about exports and investment. Rising wages, rapid urbanization and government policies to rebalance the economy are spurring the growth of consumer spending. The country is already the world’s No. 1 or No. 2 market for automobiles, PCs, mobile phones, luxury goods, home appliances and consumer electronics. China is expected to account for almost half of all vehicle sales in emerging markets by 2015. This means that, in volume terms, China will be roughly equivalent to all other emerging markets in this sector combined.”