Can Foreigners Still Do Business in China?
A Q&A with entrepreneur Xavier Naville, author of “The Lettuce Diaries,” on why outsiders could benefit from the Chinese government’s moves to impose tighter control of the business sector.
Multinational companies face challenges in China, but there’s still money to be made.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
This is one of a series of interviews by Bloomberg Opinion columnists on how to solve the world’s most pressing policy challenges. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Shuli Ren: In recent months, as the Chinese government has imposed more control over private enterprise in the name of the so-called “common prosperity,” there’s been a prevailing sense that China is no longer a friendly place to shareholders or foreign business interests. You’re a Frenchman who moved to Shanghai in 1997 and founded your own company, Creative Food, in 2000. You sold the company for $20 million and have published a book, “The Lettuce Diaries: How A Frenchman Found Gold Growing Vegetables In China,” on your experiences as an entrepreneur in China. Over the years, many multinationals have tried and failed to gain a foothold in the Chinese market. What’s the most common mistakes foreigners make in China?
Xavier Naville, founder, Creative Food and author, “The Lettuce Diaries”: Entrepreneurial success is often described as a linear story. One of the reasons I wrote this book is to show that it’s never linear — it’s always hard, there are ups and downs — and maybe to give courage to people to come and do the same thing in China.