Business Development

The most important aspect of Occient’s Business Development service is that we develop business for our clients, we do not just tell it should be done. Occient is also well aware of its clients’ risk profile, which is considered throughout the project.

Occient assists companies considering entering the Chinese market and companies who already are present in China. Depending on the client’s intention to either source products in China, distribute products, establish a representative office, set up an operation (production) or simply develop their business, Occient will develop and implement a pragmatic and result oriented solution.

Strategy Development

When developing the business development strategy for the client, Occient considers following factors:
1. Clients’ business model, risk-profile, available resources and expectations
2. Regulatory issues in China e.g. restrictions, local tax incentives, IP protection
3. Market information e.g. market size, growth, maturity, fragmentation etc.
4. Operational issues in China e.g. access to labour and material, maturity of supply chain

In the most cases the Strategy Development begins with office research and obtaining complementary information from the business community. Based on the analysis of this data, Occient develops in cooperation with the client the most suitable concept to enter the Chinese market. Such a concept will for example address questions as if a modification of the business model is required or if a Joint Venture (JV) partnership is necessary.

This concept will also make recommendations to the best location. China is not one single market but consists of different regional markets since it is a geographically vast country with diverse habits, cultures, languages and very different income and education levels. While China’s macroeconomic indicators are as impressive as important, business is often more dependent on the microeconomy.

Implementation

The most important aspects of the implementation are finding the potential partners and closing the deal with the right partner, Occient assists with both.

Depending on the approach chosen, potential partners can be suppliers, licensees, franchisees, distributors or service partners. For green-field operations, another type of partner is needed; the local government with a suitable Economic Development Zone.

Occient functions as the primary service-partner for the client in China by cooperating or supervising the necessary other service-partners e.g. lawyers, auditors, HR companies etc.

Should the strategy suggest an M&A approach, please read our financial advisory section, this also includes JVs.