China remains for many manufacturers a major threat or a major opportunity but companies attracted by business opportunities need to keep a sense of balance stressed Frank Roevekamp, head of business planning, strategy and corporate development for Bayer MaterialScience AG (BMS) told a London Conference on Plastics in China on Feb. 23.
Some 25% of BMS's total sales are expected to come from China by 2007. China is important; China is growing: China is important in Asia he said but China is not the whole world, not even all of Asia.
Roevekamp urged executives to carefully manage risk in China by, among other things, paying attention to the business cycle, keeping costs to their advantage for years to come and finding trustworthy personnel in China. "Select people carefully and early," he said.
