Multinational corporations in China: Capture market and growth opportunities

April 2022

In February-March 2022, PwC China conducted a flash survey and hosted a panel discussion with a live poll at our annual MNC Executives Breakfast event. We collected and analysed the live poll and survey results, distilling following insights:

• MNCs are most attracted to China’s market and economic growth as 70% of participants reported that they were most optimistic about China’s “market” and “growth”.
• Almost 60% of MNCs have plans to expand business in China in 1-3 years, among that, 91% of respondents say their primary objective is to “expand market/customer base for existing products/services”. East and South China are their priority regional markets.
• Talent recruitment and retentions, policy regulations, and IP protection are three major challenges facing MNCs in China, with 59% respondents citing “recruit and retain talents” as the top challenge.

In addition to these opportunities and challenges, this report addresses the hot topics from the recent “two sessions”, laying out how the government’s action plans could potentially impact MNCs in China. The implications of the “two sessions” on the business climate are addressed from the perspective of China’s macroeconomic development, key economic targets and policies, proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, further opening up of the Chinese economy, digital economy, and carbon peak and neutrality.

MNCs are facing many challenges in China, including fluctuating Covid-19 pandemic environment, supply chain disruptions, and rising inflation. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has taken measures to attract foreign investment and stabilize external trade. Many of these policies were introduced to promote openness in the telecommunications, Internet, education, culture and healthcare sectors. China is a huge but fragmented market. While the Chinese economy is continuing to mature and consolidate, there remains powerful drivers in specific sectors. Following the trends and the crowd, MNCs recognize the vast growth potential of the China market and appreciate why the government has carried out certain policies in some sectors. MNCs can always find a way to run a good business in China and find the growing areas where their company can benefit from the growth.