China is hardly out of the headlines these days… so it was no real surprise that todays China- Britain Business Council Conference 2013 at the QEII Conference Centre London was packed.
With the agenda starting with an address by David Cameron, The UK Prime Minister and an opening plenary session that included Ken Clark MP, Government Minister; H.E. Liu Xiaoming, Chinese Ambassador to the UK and Sir David Brewer Chairman, China-Britain Business Council it was clear from the start that this gathering was going to cover some interesting ground.
I was honoured to be speaking as well as being Chairman the section of the conference that addressed The Chinese Consumer. Fellow panelists included Dame Lucy Neville-Rolfe CMG, Former Executive Director, Tesco & CBBC Vice Chairman; Professor Sun Baohong, Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean of Global Programs, CKGSB; Mark Henderson, Director, Walpole, and Chairman of the London Luxury Quarter.
More observations to follow but my main take away point from today is that we are well past the tipping point of interest in China. The many companies that attended have realised that love it or hate it, you can’t ignore the rise in China and the impact is having and will have in the global economy. Threat or opportunity smart companies, represented by those who chose to attend, are creating and executing their China strategies Outbound and Inbound. They know that their business might just well depend on it.