China represents 18 percent of global GDP and about one-third of global growth right now. For multinational CEOs, China represents growth and scale. It really depends on what your starting point is. For most large multinationals, China constitutes between 10 and 30 percent of global sales.
So the question for CEOs is: What will happen in China in the next ten to 20 years, and how will that differ from the past?
Multinational CEOs are facing a China today that is quite different than the one of ten to 20 years ago. China is slowing down in growth, although it still contributes one-third of global growth. Right now, China is much more mature.
If multinationals are not in China already, I think the question is: With all the different digital channels and all these different formats, are there cheaper, faster, and more efficient ways of tapping into the Chinese consumer?
Multinational CEOs are all thinking around what the transformation of their business is, what adjustments they need to make, and what their renewed expectations are of the Chinese market for their business.
For most of them, the answer is they have to keep going and try different things because this market is just too big, too important, for them not to be in it. But for some CEOs, it is around partnerships, different collaborations, different formats of how they want to run their business. So, I think it is a period for reflection and of transformation for multinational businesses in China.
