Insights from MNC senior executives in China: China as a key element for MNCs global strategy and business model reinvention

April 2026

Against the backdrop of a rapidly restructuring global economy, China’s position is undergoing profound and complex changes. As the world’s second-largest economy, China continues to solidify its role as a core hub for global manufacturing. In addition, it is fostering innovation clusters in the digital economy, green transformation and advanced manufacturing—positioning itself as a key strategic pivot for MNCs seeking to reconstruct their global value chains. The country’s evolution from “world factory” to “innovation hub” means it now not only offers vast market opportunities for MNCs but also plays an integral role in key decision-making processes related to global R&D, production and supply chain configuration. On the demand side, China’s mega-market continues to unlock new waves of consumption upgrading, providing a dynamic testing ground for MNCs pursuing differentiated competitive strategies. On the supply side, innovation corridors such as the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are generating multiplier effects through technological spillovers and industrial synergies, injecting fresh momentum into scientific research. At the institutional level, policy innovations such as “dual circulation” development paradigm and the upgrading of free trade zones are reshaping MNCs’ strategic framework in China.

Yet this evolving landscape is not without its challenges. The normalisation of cross-border trade tensions, global supply chain shift from “efficiency-first” to “security resilience”, evolving regulatory environments in multiple countries and intensifying competition from Chinese domestic enterprises achieving technological breakthroughs—all of these factors combine to create a complex and dynamic environment for MNCs’ strategic decision-making. They are profoundly affecting how MNCs shape their strategic direction in China. In this environment, success demands a more systematic strategic framework, more agile operational models and more forward-looking risk assessment to recalibrate how value is created in the Chinese market.

It is against this backdrop that PwC hosted its annual MNC senior executives conference in Shanghai in January 2026, under the theme “China as a Key Element for MNCs Global Strategy and Business Model Reinvention”. The conference brought together over 100 MNC senior executives across a multitude of industries—including industrial products and mechanical engineering, consumer goods, financial services, automotive, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, chemical engineering, technology, logistics and energy—to explore how MNCs in China can seize opportunities, navigate challenges and advance both their global strategies and business model reinvention in and through China.