Local businesses looking for new markets might find them in China, says Ann Dugan, executive director of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dugan traveled to China as a delegate to a conference for more than 300 Chinese economic development specialists interested in setting up programs similar to the small business development centers in the United States.
“Their small business economy is beginning to swell, and they need the knowledge to guide and foster those entrepreneurs,” says Dugan.
Some of the best opportunities in China for U.S. companies are for chemicals, telecommunications equipment, computer software, consumer-oriented franchises, plastic materials and resins, pharmaceuticals, pollution control equipment and certain agricultural goods.
With China’s economy well on its way to becoming the second most powerful in the world, you may have good reason for getting into this huge market.
“Building relationships with the Chinese people is time-consuming,” Dugan says, “but the payoff will be well worth it in a country of such enormous possibilities.”
How to reach: Katz Graduate School of Business, (412) 648-1544 or at www.pitt.edu/-sbdc/
Ray Marano
