Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#1

Post by dmfjfj » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 12:56 PM UTC

Some US companies flourish in China (e.g. KFC, Costco) while most end up being defeated by local rivals due to multitude of reasons. For those that entered, has the money and effort been worth it? What ended up costing more of your time than expected?

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#2

Post by mscasts » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:24 PM UTC

I know of a Swedish company that made a deal with a Chinese company, the Swedish company no longer exist.

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#3

Post by anonu » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:26 PM UTC

mscasts wrote: post #2

I know of a Swedish company that made a deal with a Chinese company, the Swedish company no longer exist.

Does correlation imply causation here? What are the details behind this anecdote?

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#4

Post by yitchelle » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:26 PM UTC

mscasts wrote: post #2

I know of a Swedish company that made a deal with a Chinese company, the Swedish company no longer exist.

Did it morph into a Chinese company?

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#5

Post by Fillsev » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:26 PM UTC

Hey,what’s it is?It so bad((

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#6

Post by mscasts » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:28 PM UTC

anonu wrote: post #3

mscasts wrote: post #2

I know of a Swedish company that made a deal with a Chinese company, the Swedish company no longer exist.

Does correlation imply causation here? What are the details behind this anecdote?

I am not really certain about all the details, but it looked like a good deal at first but it turned out that they probably just wanted to copy their stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#7

Post by anonu » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

Abro certainly regretted it: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/03/15/702643451/epis...

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#8

Post by robin_reala » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

Why US companies specifically?

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#9

Post by mscasts » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

yitchelle wrote: post #4

mscasts wrote: post #2

I know of a Swedish company that made a deal with a Chinese company, the Swedish company no longer exist.

Did it morph into a Chinese company?

No, it got bankrupt. Now I've read that the Chinese company have an almost exact replica of their product.

Re: Ask HN: Do US companies regret entering China?

#10

Post by coldtea » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 1:30 PM UTC

mscasts wrote: post #2

I know of a Swedish company that made a deal with a Chinese company, the Swedish company no longer exist.

Funny, I know of a Finnish company who placed as its CEO an ex-executive of an American company.

The company then adopted said American company's platform, had consecutive huge losses (for the first time in decades), and was forced to sell several divisions to the same American company...