Navigating the 'New Era' of Great Uncertainty

What do current regulatory directions portend for the future MNC operating environment in China? 

The current operating environment in China is being shaped forcefully by the vicissitudes of the COVID pandemic and intensifying domestic economic imbalances on one hand, and by government initiatives to rectify what China’s leadership has identified as serious ideological deficiencies in the commercial and social spheres associated with “disorderly capital expansion” and societal disarray.

The system risks currently being targeted by China’s leaders have recently aimed at the massive wealth accumulation by Chinese entrepreneurs, the capture of market data by private firms, and the oligopolistic business practices in the marketized parts of China’s economy.

To address these risks, the increase of Party/state control appears to be happening everywhere – “north, south, east west,” as the General Secretary has said, from ecommerce to finance to education to entertainment – areas that, for the last two decades, have been powerful engines of innovation and economic growth for China.

Debate is rife about whether these current developments are primarily political and control oriented, or visionary and “managed reform” oriented and aimed at resolving longstanding social and economic problems to create a better and more egalitarian future for China. This question is of huge consequence for foreign investors in China. 

This China CEO Council held on November 11-12, 2021 examined the economic, market, and political dynamics shaping the new policy agenda in this so called “Third Era” of the People’s Republic of China.