What do businesses need to understand about the Shanghai Expo and the opportunities it will open in the market?

The next 2-5 years will see a dramatic growth in a few areas. Here’s actually my take on this.

I just attended an expo in Beijing promoting the Shanghai Expo 2010. There are two major observations and some conclusions that I can draw from the information information given there.

1) Japan, apparently known for having won the award for best pavilion several times, will probably win the award this year. Their pavilion is 80% focused on Green Technology. Their winning will be due to Japanese engineering as well as the world’s attention on Green Technology. This will draw the attention of China and the desire to step up it’s Green Tech efforts even further. Currently the stimulus plan allocated a large sum of money on this sector, except I’ve heard that it’s not easy for Foreign Companies to get direct access to that money other than with partnerships with Chinese companies. Who knows what will happen afterwards though.

2) Japan winning, as well as the world focusing so much on Green Technology will further focus China’s eyes on encouraging innovation. China, known for wanting to learn from other countries and “copy” their style, will be further convinced that in order for innovation to start coming out of China certain laws and enforcement will need to be in place. This will increase the desire for the Gov’t to protect intellectual property rights.

Out of these two results, I think we will be seeing a huge increase in Green Techs focusing on efficiency as well as alternate sources of fuel, and China trying to lead the efforts in innovation in these aspects. Based on the fact that the Gov’t here has been pushing a lot in certain “experimental” hubs to promote development of technology, I think all these things will lead to creating a “goal” for China to become the world’s innovator. How likely they are to achieve that goal is another issue altogether, but the fact that it will become a goal will reveal a lot about where China will be headed.

What does this mean to business in China? Basically, If I were to bet my future on any market in China, I’d start learning either of the following:

either a) Ecommerce and Internet, which has a correlation with intellectual property rights as well as the push from the gov’t to promote the tech sector.

or b) Green Technology.

I’m pretty confident that the pattern that China is taking will lead to these results, and my advice to all those interested in China right now is to start looking for ways in on any of these fields and get first mover’s advantage.

What do you guys think will be the effect of the Expo?

Every entrepreneur contemplating entering the Chinese market should be well informed. After taking a few “Chinese Culture” classes, one may learn of such cultural intricacies as Not giving clocks/watches as gifts, or not giving pears as gifts, etc.

But besides these what does it take to be succesful at doing Business in China? Many people who have been doing business in China for a short-while might think it involves Heavy Drinking of White Spirit Wine (aka Bai Jiu, aka, white petrol), and spending countless nights at KTVs with new prospects.

While, it is true that is one of the most direct ways to build a “relationship” with new clients, westerners make the mistake of thinking “we’ll drink with them tonight, and tomorrow we’ll sign the deal.” I see this kind of mentality over and over, in every deal and every consultation I give.

In this website, I will try to illustrate to those interested in China the proper way of doing business. You will learn what works, what doesn’t, what has already been tried and why did it succeed/fail, and what hasn’t been tried yet.

My goal is that I will be able to help as many of you as possible, and hopefully, when you have taken my advice and gotten some level of success, but aren’t sure where to turn to next, you will come to me for further help.

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Straight from Beijing, this is MarcP Goodman.