Doing business with China - the SME way

SO FAR doing business with China must have seemed like a story applicable to big brands and multi nationals only. For some time however we’ve been aware that this attitude is changing. News this morning from Mitchell Charlesworth, in Manchester, goes some way to underlining the point.

The five office firm has signed a partnership deal with specialist law firm Christine Lee & Co, advisers to the Chinese embassy in the UK.

Together they hope to form a bridge between SMEs in the North West of England and China, encouraging trade in both directions.

Whatever the details of their arrangement the fact is that business opportunities are certainly not restricted to big companies nor only those in the South East of England and around London.  And while those oppotunities might mainly be in sectors like chemical manufacturing, financial services or pharmaceuticals, Mitchell Charlesworth has shown that accountants can exploit the growing links with China too.

I heard an interesting quote yesterday. It observed that US fear of China stems, not from its  communism, but from its capitalism. Proving the point to some degree, Christine Lee speculates that there are a quarter of a million Chinese SMEs seeking overseas investment or partnership opportunities.

That’s a big number and Mitchell Charlesworth will only ever being able to service a small fraction of them. There’s plenty more business to be done for UK accountants – if they want it.

(Photo: David Darlington, Mitchell Charlesworth; Christine Lee, Christine Lee & Co and Chinese embassy consul Wu Xiaomin)