Sustainability, Tourism and China

Sustainability is often defined as a managing process companies use to manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. The three impacts are often referred as profits, people and planet. Several practises what help organisations move along the path from laggards to leaders are stakeholder engagement, environmental management systems and life cycle analysis. Corporate social responsibility, also known as CSR, refers to business practises involving initiatives that benefit society. It not only will benefit the people and planet, but also the business itself as companies can use business skills to do social goods. 

Importance of CSR principles

The Corporate Social Responsibility is based on several principles which makes a company as active according to CSR as possible. The five important principles are 1) legal compliance principle, 2) adherence to customary international laws principle, 3) respecting related stakeholders principle, 4) transparency principle, 5) respect for human principle. Together with these five principles, there are three major dimensions for social responsibility, to wit: the economic, social and environmental dimension (SSIF, 2010). 

Think environmentally or financially?

The term of economic dimension respective to social responsibility does not refer to profitability. Alternatively, it refers to commitment to ethical practices inside companies, like corporate governance, preventing bribery and corruption, protecting consumers, and ethical investment. The social dimension consists of participating in achieving the welfare of the society, and in improving and caring for the affairs of its employees. This should positively reflect on increasing a company’s productivity, developing the technical abilities, and providing professional and employment security, besides health and social care. The dimension which is defined as the companies obligation towards covering the environmental effects is known as the environmental dimension. These environmental effects result from its operations and products, eliminating wastes, achieving maximum efficiency and productivity depending on available resources, and decreasing practices which may negatively affect the country and next generations’ enjoyment of resources.

Compatibility tourism and CSR 

For the past twenty or more years, sustainable development has been at the forefront of many government agendas. Concluded has that sustainability should be adopted as the way forward to preserve ecosystems and biodiversity. Tourism has been put forth as a way to gain income and provide access to market opportunities for small and medium size enterprises, especially in low income countries. Dodds and Joppe (2005) mentioned that sustainable tourism can help overcome many of the negative impacts associated with tourism development. Based on their research it is clear that guidelines alone are not strong enough to overcome the short-term profit motive of many operators, governments and destinations. 

Will sustainable tourism be possible?

The way the tourism sector is able to be sustainable will be according the drafted guidelines. The guidelines are divided by the dimensions for social responsibility. The economic dimension will be sustainable by supporting the local community, employing local residents, monitoring economic contribution to the local environment. The social dimension can be found sustainable by stakeholders and other parties by have good labour conditions, have migrant workers, have impact on local communities and services, have involvement in local community and have for example good food safety. The third dimension, environmental, can be sustainable by sourcing standards for cleaning products according health and safety, sourcing standards for food and beverages, managing plastic use, managing the energy consumption and managing the water consumption. A mix of all the guidelines for being sustainable will help businesses be (even) more sustainable (GRI, n.d.). 

Sustainability hospitality industry China

With the rise of China’s middle class and the growing potential for international travel, China’s travel and tourism industry will continue to expand for many years in the upcoming future. To provide sufficient accommodations for the growing number of visitors, China’s hotel industry is growing nationwide. Cornell University (2016) believes that the nation’s planners are aware that the increased number of hotels can have a disadvantageous impact on China’s already stressed environmental resources. Therefore Chinese hotels can adopt the sustainability standards already promulgated by their government, what can help positioning the hotel industry for future growth. By implementing best practices in environmental sustainability measures in each stage of the hotel planning and development process, China’s hotels can become a good standard. According WTTC (n.d.) the most common indicators hotels reported for being sustainable are community assessment, diversity, programmes to avoid serious diseases and skills development and performance reviews. The most uncommon indicators mentioned are water recycling, wage rations versus local minimum wage and weight of transported hazardous waste. 

In response to the sustainability in the tourism sector and China, a lot of businesses can be more sustainable, components are supporting the local community (economically), having good labour conditions (socially) and managing plastic use (environmentally). Will the hospitality and tourism industry be sustainable? Are hotels willing to change and make it more sustainable? What will China do in order to make the hospitality industry more sustainable?

References

Cornell University (2016). Environmental Implications of Hotel Growth in China: Integrating Sustainability with Hotel Development. [Retrieved from http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=chrreports on the 13th of October 2016]

Dodds, R. & Joppe, M. (2005). CSR in the Tourism Industry? The Status of and Potential for Certification, Codes of Conduct and Guidelines. [Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEXPCOMNET/Resources/CSR_in_tourism_2005.pdf on the 13th of October]

GRI (n.d.). 40 – Hotels, Restaurants and Leisure, and Tourism Services. [Retrieved from https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/40-Hotels.pdf on the 13th of October 2016]

SSIF (2010). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Principles, Dimensions and Requirements. [Retrieved from http://www.ssif.gov.jo/EN/EN/CorporateSocialResponsibility/CSRGuide/CorporateSocialResponsibilityCSRPrinciples/tabid/233/Default.aspx on the 13th of October]

WTTC (n.d.). Environmental, Social & Governance Reporting in Travel & Tourism: Trends, Outlook and Guidance. [Retrieved from https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/policy-research/esg-main-report---web.pdf on the 13th of October 2016]

Trade risks of doing business with China

As doing business with China, like all cross border commercial activities, carries certain risks that businesses might not be aware of, should businesses investigate the market and the culture before establishing business relationships. 

Business risks

The possibility of inadequate profits or even losses due to uncertainties or some unforeseen events in the future, can cause businesses to fail. In order to be aware of the business risks the businesses should be aware of certain risks, which include commercial fraud, breaches of contract, intellectual property infringement and theft, bullying, intimidation and threats to physical safety, restrictions on movement and criminal charges for engaging in activities that may not constitute crimes under their own country’s law. 

China's corruption

Legal and regulatory risks

Regulatory risk in China is considered to be high. Although many sectors of China’s economy have become more market oriented, numerous restrictions and a massive bureaucracy still hinder full implementation of regulations and make the approval process unpredictable. Foreign-invested enterprises that plan to operate or invest in China or partner with a Chinese company need to understand how the regulations apply to them before entering into any agreements. 

Social and cultural risks

The concept of business ethics is still fairly new in China. In China’s changing economy, material gain, with little regard for how it is acquired, is often the measuring stick of individual success. Also, in many privately owned Chinese companies, one individual is still the only person responsible for all corporate governance issues. To prevent ethical breaches, companies should institute ethics training programs and perform due diligence on partners, vendors, and investment targets (US-China Business Council, 2006). Besides the business ethics itself, the legal system is ill-equipped to keep pace with this tide of misdirected entrepreneurship. Extraterritorial compliance regimes aggravate the risk for foreign companies operating in China. 

Minimising risks and difficulties for external companies

Australian Trade and Investment Commission (2016) mentions that the risk of doing business with China can be managed, as long as the knowledge about doing business with China is provided. There are a several ideas which should be thought of, to name; seek professional legal advice, undertake due diligence checks, seek trial shipments and arrange pre-export inspections, be aware of local business practices and be sensitive towards them.

Minimize the business risks

As they are all important, the third one will be one of the best solutions to make sure the shipments and transportations will be correct, as you will be able to ensure that the goods you ordered meet the quality requirements and that the business you are dealing with is a legitimate one. Employing a good local agent to consolidate, sample and verify goods prior to export can also help to ensure that what you have ordered is what you get.

References
Australian Trade and Investment Commission (2016). Minimising Risks. Exports markets – China. [Retrieved from https://www.austrade.gov.au/Australian/Export/Export-markets/Countries/China/Doing-business/Minimising-risks on the 7th of October 2016]

US-China Business Council (2016). Managing Business Risks. [Retrieved from http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/managing-business-risks/ on the 7th of October 2016]

Consumer behaviour of Chinese

To understand the buyer decision making process the elements from psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology and economics should be defined. Answering these four elements shows of when, how, why and where people do or do not buy a product. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand peoples wants and needs. Consumer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer (Sensagent, 2012). A major question to understand consumer behaviour can be: ‘why is the study of consumer behaviour important?’. Studying consumer behaviour will help businesses to identify consumers’ needs and satisfy them more effectively than competitors. It makes a business’ marketing consumer-oriented, which is a key to succeed. Knowledge of consumer behaviour is not only useful for the company, but equally useful for middleman and salesman to perform their tasks effectively in meeting consumers wants and needs more successful.

Economic growth

To understand the sales, China will be compared with the United States. The sales in the example will be divided to retail sales and e-commerce sales. Retail sales are collected data of the sales of retail goods over a stated time period, typically based on a data sampling that is extrapolated to model an entire country. The e-commerce sales are all purchases made of goods and services over an electronic network, primarily the internet. Both sales methods are operating in all four market segments: business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business. In the figure below (figure 1), the retail sales and e-commerce sales are shown. 

Figure 1 Retail and e-commerce sales from China and USA in 2015

Visible is that the retail sales of China, compared with the United States, is more than U.S. $1,5 billion below. But since China’s opening up, China’s growth percentage reached an average of 13,2 percent from 2010 until 2016. Since China’s sales are still growing very fast, the e-commerce sales will representing a high-growth sector. Forbes (2016) is mentioning that the volume of online sales in China now exceeds that in the U.S., as shown in the figure above, and online sales are expected to grow 20 percent annually by 2020. Now China’s e-commerce sales will be growing fast, it will be important for other businesses to pay attention to the Chinese businesses as China’s new marketplace sellers are expanding internationally, leveraging their direct access to Chinese workshops and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) factories. Global consumer-goods players should be ready to face competition from Chinese small and midsize enterprises and microbusinesses selling directly through marketplaces in emerging economies.

Consumers in China

In the past decades, Chinese consumers’ shopping habits have changed dramatically, as indicated earlier. Their incomes have risen and new concepts and products have entered China’s market. The habits continue to evolve every day, and examining generations of consumers can reveal specific trends. Though increased wealth can change some preferences, most Chinese consumers’ habits are identified by their objective living conditions and limited earnings. The current Chinese consumer population can be separated into several groups with distinguishing characteristics, for example the ‘wealthy retired’ and the ‘new generation’. 

China's urbanization

As incomes seem to increase and the young generation becomes the main population of consumers, the Chinese will gradually turn from buying only the basics necessities to leading comfortable, high-quality lifestyles. US-China Business Council (2011) indicates that the following product categories will expand rapidly in the upcoming 5 to 10 years: toys, convenience foods, pet products, personal care products, wine and whisky, snack foods, health food and products, baby products, auto products and products for the elderly. 

Consumer behaviour Chinese outbound tourists

As the Chinese consumers income is increasing, they also find the possibility to travel abroad. Indicated is that the number of Chinese tourists travelling abroad is constantly growing and could be doubled in 2020 to reach 234 million of tourists, which means 100 million more than the year 2015. This new tourism wave will have several characteristics that can be listed. The new generation of tourists will not be travelling in groups; they want to travel independently. According the boom in the digital era in China, the tourism shape will shape China with an infatuation for booking their trips on internet through mobile, which is already 53 percent of the Chinese tourist travelling abroad. As they book their trip online, they also prepare their trip online. The most common platforms are WeChat and Weibo. Besides the developments according the increase of income, China’s government’s effort increases as well, as the government has developed all the means to attempt changing the behaviour of Chinese, to be adapted to other countries. The government appears to support its citizens to travel more abroad (Marketing China, 2016).

References
eMarketer Inc. (2016). US Retail Sales to Near $5 Trillion in 2016. [Retrieved from http://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Retail-Sales-Near-5-Trillion-2016/1013368 on the 2nd of October 2016]

Forbes (2016). China’s E-commerce addiction has serious market potential. [Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/2016/07/16/chinas-growing-e-commerce-addiction/#7427205a3b01 on the 2nd of October 2016]

Marketing China (2016). Top 5 trends of Chinese outbound travel market for 2016. [Retrieved from http://marketingtochina.com/top-5-trends-chinese-outbound-travel-market-2016/ on the 2nd of October 2016]

Sensagent (2012). Consumer behaviour. [Retrieved from http://dictionary.sensagent.com/CONSUMER%20BEHAVIOUR/en-en/ on the 29th of September 2016]

Statista (n.d.). Retail e-commerce sales in China from 2014 to 2018 (in billion U.S. dollars). [Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/289734/china-retail-e-commerce-sales/ on the 2nd of October 2016]

Statista (n.d.). Retail sales in China from 2009 to 2016 (in billion U.S. dollar). [Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/295540/china-retail-sales/ on the 2nd of October 2016]

US-China Business Council (2011). Understanding Chinese Consumers. [Retrieved from http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/understanding-chinese-consumers/ on the 2nd of October 2016]

Vertical Web Media (2016). U.S. e-commerce grows 14.6% in 2015. [Retrieved from https://www.internetretailer.com/2016/02/17/us-e-commerce-grows-146-2015 on the 2nd of October 2016]

Alibaba's e-commerce

Information technology and the Internet have had a major impact on business operations. Companies are making large investments in e-commerce applications but are hard pressed to evaluate the success of these e-commerce systems (DeLone & McLean, 2014). This also had a huge impact on Alibaba, led my Jack Ma. Alibaba is part of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, which is a Chinese e-commerce company that provides different sales services, include business-to-business (Alibaba.com), business-to-consumer (Tmall.com) and consumer-to-consumer (Taobao.com). Jack Ma is reportedly the first to have launched a commercial website in China (TechNode Inc., 2016). 

Development of Alibaba

Alibaba.com is the first commercial website launched in China. In September 1995 Chinapages.com, a directory of companies, goes online and within ten years Jack Ma grows it in one of the most successful Internet companies of China. At a certain point Jack Ma decided to hire foreign experts to come in and help the company globalize. Attracting these experts to run the company was an important step, because the people in China had very little management experience. Alibaba has been very successful in the Chinese domestic market. The initial business model of Alibaba was very simple, namely to facilitate a 24/7 platform for suppliers and buyers around the world. From its start Alibaba did not only connect them, but the second goal was to connect importers and exporters around the world with each other (TechNode Inc., 2016). 

Alibaba's founder Jack Ma

The road to success has been a long one and sometimes painful for Alibaba. Jack Ma personifies the saying ‘failure is the key to success’. When Ma founded Alibaba in 1998, he had to face a lot of obstacles. In the first three years of its establishment, the company made no profit (Diligent Media Corporation Ltd., 2016). One of the company’s main challenges was that it had no way to do payments, and no banks would work with him. Therefor Jack Ma decided to start his own payment program called ‘AliPay’. The program transfers payments of different currencies between international buyers and sellers. “So many people I talked to at that time about Alipay, they said; this is the stupidest idea you have ever had, I did not care if it was stupid as long as people could use it” said Jack Ma. Nowadays 800 million people use AliPay (CEO Lifestyle, 2015). 

Alibaba´s (inter)national competitors

Alibaba’s primary competitor is JD.com Inc. in the e-commerce space in mainland China. In contrast to Alibaba’s e-commerce services, JD.com warehouses, markets and ships merchandise directly to Chinese customers through its own national network. JD.com has recently made impressive gains in the market to become the largest online direct-sales retailer in China. This was made possible due to the direct control JD.com have over its supply chain, together with the developed reputation for authentic, reliable products and fast shipping. 

Logo of JD.com, Alibaba's primary competitor

Next to JD.com there are several smaller national competitors across China. Alibaba’s two biggest international competitors are Amazon.com and eBay (Investopedia, 2016³). Amazon.com Inc.’s model is much closer to the traditional style of retailing, as it indulges in direct selling, owning distribution centres and warehouses, unlike Alibaba.  Amazon had built a powerful reputation among its consumers by serving satisfactory consumer experience and service. The competitor eBay is closer to Alibaba in its model, as both e-commerce companies are bringing buyers and sellers together on the platform, and provide them a payment system, called AliPay (Alibaba) and PayPal (eBay). Though Alibaba and eBay have similar models, it would be hard for Alibaba to decrease eBay’s good brand recognition. These companies are likely to compete with each other for markets outside the United States and China, but it is unlikely that these brands will unseat each other from their homeland (Investopedia, 2016²).

Failures of eBay to enter the Chinese market

In 2004, eBay had entered China and was planning to dominate the Chinese market with eBay EachNet. Alibaba was at that time a local Chinese company that helped small- and medium-sized enterprises conducting business online. EBay began with aggressive campaigns to dominate the market and counterwork competitors. Soon after Alibaba’s Taobao was launched, eBay signed exclusive advertising rights with the intention of blocking advertisements from Taobao. Taobao’s was focused on the consumers, to make it as user friendly as possible, also free of charge. Unlike eBay EachNet, which charged its sellers for listing and transaction fees (Forbes, 2010).  After Taobao was established it did not take long before in 2005 Taobao overtook its U.S. rival eBay, the previous market leader in the consumer-to-consumer market in China (TechNode Inc., 2016). 

Consumer-to-consumer market leader; from eBay to Taobao (source: JingLiang, 2014)

Will Alibaba sets foot out of China?

As described before, it is unlikely to unseat competitors from their homeland. Alibaba will not be able to be a daily go-to-site, but instead just the name of an exotic stock with growth potential. Jack Ma is on record as planning to use the newfound inflow of money to expand his idea to the West (Investopedia, 2016¹). This expansion led to an announcement that Alibaba will open its first office in Melbourne, Australia. This first office is part of a company’s globalization strategy to reach two billion customers in the next two decades (Forbes, 2016). This all leads towards the fact that Alibaba is expanding their market. Alibaba is a confident organisation and will become even a bigger by expanding outside of China.

References
CEO Lifestyle (2015). 5 stories of massive failures that lead to success. [Retrieved from http://www.ceolifestyle.io/blog/2015/9/6/5-stories-of-massive-failures-that-lead-to-success on the 20th of September 2016]

Delone, W. & McLean, E. (2014). Measuring e-Commerce Success: Applying the DeLone & McLean Information Systems Success Model. [Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10864415.2004.11044317 on 20th of September 2016]

Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. (2016). Alibaba’s Jack Ma was rejected by nearly 30 companies before he set up shop. [Retrieved from http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-alibaba-s-jack-ma-was-rejected-by-nearly-30-companies-before-he-set-up-shop-2123055 on 20th of September 2016]

Forbes (2010). How eBay failed in China. [Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/china/2010/09/12/how-ebay-failed-in-china/#38e40a237abf on 20th of September 2016]

Forbes (2016). Australia is the next stage for Alibaba’s global expansion. [Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/07/21/how-significant-is-australia-for-alibabas-global-expansion/#2d4d68491edc on 20th of September 2016]

Investopedia (2016¹). Alibaba’s Goal: Supplant eBay, Amazon and Paypal. [Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/092314/alibabas-goal-supplant-ebay-amazon-and-paypal.asp on 20th of September 2016]

Investopedia (2016²). Alibaba’s Top Competitors. [Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/110714/alibabas-top-competitors.asp on the 20th of September 2016]

Investopedia (2016³). BABA: Who are Alibaba’s Main Competitors? [Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/042716/baba-who-are-alibabas-main-competitors.asp on 20th of September 2016]

JingLiang (2014). Who is Alibaba? [Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140909090202-9546435-who-is-alibaba on 20th of September 2016]

TechNode Inc. (2016). A brief history (and future) of Alibaba.com. [Retrieved from http://technode.com/2009/01/22/a-brief-history-and-future-of-alibabacom/ on 20th of September 2016]

China's developing outbound travel

In the first quarter of 2016, more than 30 million border crossings took place. This is an increase of almost 2,5 percent in comparison with last year, which is the lowest growth since 1997. Although, many Chinese people travelled in 2015, to be specific, over 120 million people (Arlt, 2016). These outbound tourists are travelling all over the world, as well to the Netherlands. To anticipate to this, it is important to know what trends and developments are current and which are upcoming. After analysing the trends and developments, opportunities and possible threats can be described.

Trends and developments

As noted in the introduction, the outbound travel from China is over 120 million. Many forecasts were made, but could not say something valueble according the Chinese outbound tourists, until Premier Li Keqiang gave a speech during the First World Conference on Tourism for Development in Beijing in may 2016. Prognoses indicate that by 2020, both the travel times of Chinese tourists and tourism revenue will double on the current basis (XINHUANET.com, 2016).

Chinese premier Li Keqiang giving a speech during the First Wirld Conference
 on Tourism for Development in Beijing, China

In 2014, the amount of Chinese outbound travellers who stayed overnight is 249.000 Chinese persons. Compared to the year before, it shows an increase of 15 percent. The travel motive to visit the Netherlands was divided into three purposes, referred as business, leisure and other. The primary purpose to travel to the Netherlands was business; in fact 55 percent of the Chinese outbound travellers had this purpose. 44 percent of the Chinese had leisure-purposes and only 4 percent had other reasons to visit the Netherlands. More than half of these travellers have the intention to visit the Netherlands again, and an additional 23 percent will probably travel to the Netherlands in the future (NTBC, 2015).

The Chinese outbound tourists, who are visiting the Netherlands due to leisure purposes, undertook several activities. The top five activities they undertook during their stay is respectively shopping, walking, visit a museum, walk through the city and visit the Red Light District in Amsterdam. The main important activity is to have a walk through the city (NTBC, 2015).

Opportunities

Blogging is known all over the world, as well in China. One of the opportunities for the Netherlands, that emerge from the trends and developments, is the Chinese webblogs. In 2011, the Netherlands is mentioned almost half a million times in these Chinese webblogs. The popular subjects the blogs are about, are attractions such as the Red Light District, the Navy Museum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Dam Square and the National Museum. The added photographs were taken from the typical Dutch culture, for example the windmills, tulips, canals and wooden shoes (NTBC, 2015).  

The famous windmills of the Kinderdijk in the Netherlands

Another great opportunity for Europe and the Netherlands is the growing populairity of Europe. The current market is at an early stage and the outbound travel market of China is growing very rapidly, also due to the easing of visa applications (China Travel Trends, 2012). Together with the growing consumer interest in visiting less European countries during their tour, the future demand will result in longer stays at single destinations, which will double the overnight stay in the Netherlands (Saxion, n.d.).

Threats

Besides the opportunities for Europe, an unforgettable threat is the fact that Chinese tourist will choose other destinations to travel to. Forbes Media LLC (2016) mentioned that recent terror attacks and the unresolved refugee situation have resulted in many European destinations taking a hit as the Chinese visitors are being scared away from travelling to Europe. Even the quite calm Switzerland received almost 20 percent fewer Chinese visitors in the second quarter of 2016 compared to 2015. In the case of leisure travellers, the Chinese tourists seem to look for a safe destination, New Zealand for instance. This development has resulted in more Chinese tourists to Australia and New Zealand.  

Chinese tourists in front of the Opera House in Sydney, Australia

As described, the Chinese outbound is growing; the forecasts tell that in 2020 the Chinese outbound will be doubled. More than half of the Chinese leisure travellers have the intention to visit the Netherlands again, and 23 percent will probably travel to the Netherlands in the future. A big opportunity for the Netherlands are the Chinese webblogs, as the Netherlands is mentioned almost half a million times, in 2011. Together with the Netherlands, the European popularity is increasing, as the outbound is growing, as well due to the easier visa application. Unfortunately a threat for the Netherlands and the rest of Europe; the Chinese tourists seem to look for a safe situaton, due to the terrorist attacks in Europe. That is the reason for the growing Chinese outbound to New Zealand and Australia.

References

Arlt, W.E. (2016). 30.2 Milion Chinese Outbound Trips In The First Quarter of 2016. [Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/profdrwolfganggarlt/2016/05/23/30-2-million-chinese-outbound-trips-in-the-first-quarter-of-2016/#30b4478639a1 on 8^th of September 2016]

China Travel Trends (2012). Essential China Travel Trends 2012. [Retrieved from http://sete.gr/_fileuploads/entries/Online%20library/GR/120423_Essential%20China%20Travel%20Trends%202012.pdf on 8^th of September 2016]

Forbes Media LLC (2016). Chinese Tourists Choose New Zealand Over Europe Amidst Terror Concerns. [Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/profdrwolfganggarlt/2016/08/10/when-remoteness-becomes-an-opportunity-chinese-tourists-choose-new-zealand-over-europe/#522f90b22f30 on 8^th of September 2016]

NTBC (2015). MarketScan China 2015. [Retrieved from https://leren.saxion.nl/bbcswebdav/pid-1311649-dt-content-rid-9623716_4/institution/HBS/HBS-breed/CHIN/MarketScan%20China%202015%20NBTC.pdf on 8^th of September 2016]

Saxion (2016). Tourism from China: trends and developments.

XINHUANET.com (2016). Full text of Premier Li Keqiang's remarkt at First World Conference on Tourism for Development. [Retrieved from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-05/20/c_135376068.htm on 8th of September 2016]

Introduction to 'PRC Talk'

Welcome to my blog about China and doing business with China! The blog is called PRC Talk. PRC stands for People’s Republic of China, the official name of China. 

My name is Bas Soetekouw and I am a fourth year Business Management Studies student. Currently I am following the minor ‘Doing Business with China’ to get to China better, to learn their language (Simplified Chinese) and to visit China in a couple of months. This blog will be written in the context of the minor. 

My first name (Bas) in Chinese calligraphy

The name of the blog is chosen to give a first impression; talk about the PRC. The target group will be people who are interested in China and doing business with China. The upcoming blogs will have all kind of different subjects, for instance trends and developments, consumer behaviour, social media and internet innovation, e-commerce and m-commerce, legal aspects and sourcing and CSR. 

If you have any questions about the minor, the context, the subjects or the blog, please do not hesitate to contact me or use the possibilities to comment below the blog. 

Kind regards,

Bas Soetekouw.