E-Commerce In China And Its Risks And Opportunities For US Companies

China is the fastest growing Internet economy in Asia/Pacific, with Chinese Internet users forecasted to account for approximately half of all Internet usage in the region by the end of 2005. Chinese companies are also proving to be the largest investors of Internet infrastructure equipment as they turn to the Internet to increase business and information flow. As the Internet permeates all corners of the globe, small to medium-sized businesses may be pondering the move to a multilingual ecommerce website to increase their reach, and may be enticed by the potentially huge Chinese market. While a larger corporation can make the transition to a multilingual site with relative ease, small to medium enterprises (SMEs) must be concerned about the cost and effort involved, as well as how to go about the actual translation process and handle complications. Chinas accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO) has opened up many opportunities, especially to expand their operations in the outside world, and has also changed it from a minor trading country to one of the worlds major trading countries. Some companies are already starting to take advantage of these opportunities, making now the key time to get a foothold in the market before everyone else makes their claim. The countries as a whole and its individual companies begin to face a range of issues that will have a direct impact on the course of the countrys further development. This research paper will examine business environment in China for US companies to analyze risks and opportunities of E-commerce in China.