As it's very difficult to manage a Chinese business from one's home country, good local helpers and managers are crucial to starting and running businesses in China, veteran investors in China said in Beijing Monday.

"It's difficult for outsiders to directly deal with all the local regulations and procedures. Good local helpers save all this trouble, as well as litigation costs if you should break the local law," said Joseph Ha, vice president for International Business and Government Relations of Nike. Inc.

The advice was extended at a panel discussion of the 37th International General Meeting of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, being held from June 25 to 29. Other panelists of the discussion, entitled "Selling to the China Market: Advice from the Veterans", shared this opinion.

But it's important to find helpers that are both talented and reliable, said James Miller, chairman and CEO of PRC Direct Ltd.

Annie Wu, vice chairmen of Beijing Air Catering Ltd., echoed this advice and recommended some routes to find good helpers.

She said business associations, either in the home country or China, could prove very helpful in locating suitable helpers and she recommended the China Council for the Promotion of Industry and Trade and the All-China Federation of Industry and Trade in China.

The discussion also covered other aspects of doing business in China, including the direction for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the prospects in China's vast west and the importance of connections.

James Miller said SMEs have huge opportunities in China, especially in China's fledgling service industry. Service industry accounted for about 78 percent of the national economy in many countries, but only about one third in China.

He said that China's west, and other areas where market competition is still not so harsh, constitutes a good starting point for SMEs.

Miller recommended that potential investors should personally come and have a look in China. Despite all the information one can get about China, nothing can compare with the first-hand feel.

Sam Su, president of Yum! Restaurant China, said the company's businesses in China's west are doing well. The market potential is great there, and the issue of human resources isn't much of a concern.

The west also has good college students. Besides, the issue of human resources only concerns certain sectors, not all, he said.

He noted that good connections with government staff are important for doing business in China, but cautioned that investors should develop connections in a proper way. China is taking great and conscientious efforts to clean the government, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2004)