High Growth Markets in China are expanding at healthy rates of growth. For most of the years during China's period of economic reform, the country's overall economy has grown at or near double-digit rates. The most recent round of growth, which culminated in a 13 percent increase in the country's GDP in 2007, was triggered by China's entrance into the World Trade Organization in December of 2001.

By becoming a full-fledged  member of the world's economic community, China not only signaled to global companies and investors that it would not turn back on economic reform, but also signaled to Chinese companies that they would no longer be protected and would have to compete in their home market with the best of the global players.

As a result of government actions taken in late 2007 to slow an overheated economy and the global financial crisis in the final months of the year, GDP growth in China slowed to 9 percent in 2008. China reacted quickly to the global economic crisis putting in place a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus program in November 2008, followed by an 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) program targeted at health care in January 2009. 

The Chinese government predicts that its economy will grow by 8 percent in 2009.

An Embryonic Economy Though China trails only the United States and Japan in size, the country's economy is still in an embryonic stage of development, with many product, technology and service "gaps" needing to be filled. Much of China's economic growth to date has been based on the manufacture of relatively low value-added  products for export and the country's evolution as the "workshop for the world."

In the years ahead, China's manufacturers will focus on producing higher value-added products that require access to the best technology from around the world. Large industries such as health care, banking and financial services lag the country's development in manufacturing and are in need of upgrading. New and innovative solutions must be found to pressing problems such as the environment, and China's increasing wealth is creating new opportunities in the services sector.

Little Understood For all the notoriety it has gained due to its rapid development, knowledge about China is relatively limited. That makes China a level playing field and provides small and large companies alike the same opportunity to win. While most of the largest companies in the world have operations in China, they are still learning how to do business in the country. By successfully implementing a well-thought-out strategy in what will soon be the largest market in the world for any product or service, every company has an opportunity to become tomorrow's global leader.