ISCA Lunch Talk: Navigating The Chinese Market

The ISCA Lunch Talk on July 10 was led by executives from Yonyou Network Technology, a provider of cloud services, software, and financial solutions. Titled “Navigating the Chinese Market – Strategies, Challenges, and Success Stories”, the event at ISCA House attracted a capacity crowd of finance and accounting professionals. They were eager to know more about China’s business environment, challenges in managing multinational businesses, and success stories of companies operating in numerous countries.

Yonyou Marketing Manager Ilysia Tan started the presentation with a PEST (political, economic, social, technological) analysis of China’s business environment. She highlighted several trends influencing the adoption of digital technology, including an increased pressure to use Chinese software, a robust network infrastructure facilitating digitalisation, widespread adoption of digital marketing and payment platforms, and the maturity of China’s digital ecosystem.

Business Development Manager Siying Zhao outlined several challenges companies face when establishing operations in multiple countries. These tend to centre around the areas of business, compliance, management, and accounting, and include “escalating challenges like diverse regional compliance requirements, management difficulties due to cultural differences, and disconnected management systems”.

Ms Zhao also shared the experiences of two companies that have successfully navigated operations across multiple countries. J&T Express, an integrated logistics service provider, has effectively managed its businesses in 12 countries through process digitalisation, using technology solutions for information sharing, financial accounting, and data analytics. Diginut, an electronic product retailer, adopted a single system for internal transactions to streamline supply chain processes and facilitate settlements between its subsidiaries.

The presentation was followed by a Q&A session, during which participants posed questions about managing business challenges for foreign companies in China, and those operating across multiple regions.