Next step in China - Ernst & Young - Sverige

Next step in China

THE GREAT TRANSITION – an opportunity to exchange views and experience with other HQs on China strategies and China businesses beyond the entry phase.

Many more Swedish parent companies have over the last years successfully established a presence and a business in China, the world’s second largest economy. In that process you have had to make strategic decisions regarding the right choice of business model for China, the right locations, eventually also the right choice of partners, and all this at the same time as learning to understand and manage the local commercial and cultural conditions.

For many parent companies it is now time to begin developing strategies to support the China business to articulate the “one face to China” and finally the integration of the China business into the global context. Sweden already has a number of companies that have made this transition from entry phase to finally global integration and they have done it by applying different approaches and strategies.

The Sweden-China Trade Council event offers you an opportunity to share your HQ experience and views with other parent companies and during the final panel discussions challenge such views or be challenged, all for the good of learning from or benchmarking with your peers.

Over lunch you can continue to exchange information and share experience. In addition you will have the opportunity to listen to China’s Ambassador to Sweden, who will outline his view on Swedish companies’ role in China’s continued economic development. The half-day event will finish with two parallel workshops, one on M&A in China and one on Taxation in China, both reflecting on the special conditions that you have or will be encountering and that you have to understand and manage in the Chinese cultural context.

Welcome and wishing you a successful Dragon year!

Speakers

• Claes Pollnow, HR Director China, SKF
• Frédéric Cho, Special Advisor Asia Corporate Finance, Handelsbanken Capital Markets
• Hans Sandberg, Senior Legal Advisor, Atlas Copco
• Jan Carlson, CEO, Autoliv
• Julie Hao, Partner, Ernst & Young China
• Klas Eklund, Senior Economist, SEB
• Thomas Lagerqvist, Senior Counsel, Mannheimer Swartling and Chairman, Sweden China Trade Council
• Ulf Öhrling, Partner, Mannheimer Swartling
• Zhang Jun, Director, Ernst & Young China
• Zhou Shan, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young China

Program

The Panel

The panel discussions will highlight areas where experience shows that China offers some serious challenges. Although they are not unique for China they are so critical to building a successful business in China that you need to know how to handle them, especially during a transition from phase one into phase two to three. The moderator and the panelists all have long experience of these issues. The discussions will focus on e.g. how to handle technology, R&D and intellectual property issues in a business expansion, as well as HR issues like how to recruit, train and retain key personnel. The discussions will also cover questions on how to deal with Chinese partners, the importance of properly nesting your China efforts into the organization as a whole and how to recognize and limit the particular risks of operating in the Chinese business environment.

Focus Sessions

“M&A in China – not difficult, only complicated”
With China’s state capitalism as a prime mover in the Asian giant’s economy, Western corporations often face the task of doing business in unchartered territory. From a European perspective, standardized and well known business procedures such as due diligence and M & A operations are more often than not the source of frequent mistakes committed by well-meaning companies who put their next step in their China venture at risk, jeopardizing vital business opportunities.

More recently, we have seen how business operations have become larger and more complex. Permission regulation as well as structural issues and other complications that come in the wake of leveraged transactions, create challenges that require special expertise. Fundamental cultural differences also affect the acquisition process and must be taken into account when outlining business strategies.

All these issues will be addressed in this breakout session. You will meet a number of experts who will share their vast experience in operations for Nordic corporations in their acquisition activities in China.

“Confronting the challenge - Recent China Business and Tax Development"

As one of the major emerging markets, China economy develops fast and so does its business and tax environment. There are various changes from regulatory perspective such as foreign investment industrial guide, foreign exchange control, and there are new regimes introduced which may affect the operation model for foreign companies doing business in China.

In addition, foreign companies may be affected by recent tax developments concerning anti-avoidance rules, transfer pricing, non-resident tax rules, tax treaty interpretation, and government VAT pilot project and much more.  Meanwhile, this section will also cover hot topics related to investing in China, including cash repatriation, M&A strategy and financing strategy.

Without following the recent tax and regulatory developments, foreign companies may lose their tax savings and may have a potential non-compliance risk.

Invitation only

For further enquiries, please contact: Victoria Wang, China Business Service Nordics, Ernst & Young, mobile: +46 727 19 90 18.

Date: 29 March 2012
Time: 08.30 – 14.00 including lunch break. Breakfast is served between 08.30 – 09.00
Place: Ernst & Young, Jakobsbergsgatan 24, 103 99 Stockholm

Free of charge.