"For many small and midsize enterprises in Europe and North America, the prospect of doing business in China can be daunting. In fact, as a result of their reluctance, such companies seem increasingly vulnerable on several fronts: they are not only forfeiting opportunities to sell goods and services in China and to source low-cost products in its factories and workshops but also face new Chinese competition at home.

But rather than wait passively for the day when these competitors show up on their doorstep, they can pursue strategies that could help them overcome the barriers to entering China's domestic and export markets. To be sure, those barriers are considerable. Many small and midsize companies are hardly eager to deploy scarce management resources to identify qualified Chinese vendors or to research and understand the tastes of the country's consumers. Nor do they have the time and resources to recruit staff and manage operations there."