Cross-border business consulting: the challenges for European companies in China

This article identifies and discusses the most frequent issues in cross-border business consulting for European organizations and executives working in China. In China, all issues are ultimately political. The main challenges for organizations, whether in the private or public sector, are dealing with the ambiguous boundaries between business and government, developing a localized organization while working with a diverse international management team, maintaining strong partner relations, and managing expectations at head office. Since organizations consist of individuals, the article also addresses the challenges for individual executives as they try to be effective leaders and get results in a very different and difficult market. The discussion illustrates some of the tools and methodologies used for solving these challenges successfully.