Foreign companies like Uber decide to become more Chinese to survive in China. (Photo : Getty Images)
The struggle continues for foreign companies looking to expand business in China as the country proves to be a difficult market for non-Chinese enterprises.
China is a difficult market to get a significant share from, but foreign companies particularly those from the West still wish to pursue business in the world's second-biggest economy.
Tech firms, in particular, are having the most difficult time entering the Chinese market due to the strict regulations the government claims to be installed to uphold national security and not hinder business from foreign companies.
Who Has It Worse?
Companies involved in technological advances are having a particularly difficult time in introducing and promoting their products and services in China.
Be it because of the local mentality or the government's continued effort to maintain national security, there is no question that they have it worse.
In the past, Facebook and Google had repeatedly tried and failed to please the Chinese market--or should we say the Chinese government--that they are now banned from being accessed in the country.
With behemoths already having a hard time, it does not come as a surprise that the mobile cab-hailing service provider Uber has already given up and sold its China market share to its local competitor, TIME noted.
Didi Chuxing, the Apple-backed company is already dominating the entire market with Uber out of the way.
Business analyst Duncan Clark is positive that the reason why foreign companies are not performing very well in the country as much as they do in other nations is because of the heavy localization in China.
"The need to localize the product and navigate a complex regulatory environment means it is often hard [for foreign tech firms] to translate international success to domestic momentum in China," he told TIME in an interview.
Why Continue?
With the difficulties and troubles continue to rise for foreign businesses trying to enter China many smaller businesses were forced to reconsider.
Despite this, most still try to achieve the nearly impossible goal of gaining significant market share in China which would make one wonder why the firms even continue the task.
Drew Bernstein, a partner at the Marcum accounting firm in New York who specializes in Chinese companies has a pretty straightforward answer to that.
"Companies are caught up in a 'Catch-22' ... China is the second-largest economy in the world -- it doesn't seem like a smart business plan to lock yourself out of that," Bernstein explained to CNN Money.
He further explained that because of this, foreign companies are trying their best to become more "Chinese" in a process he called "Sino-fication," an example of which is Uber's sellout to Didi Chixung.
