[photopress:Tianjin_1_2.jpg,full,alignright]An informational session was hosted at Schneider National headquarters in the United States with representatives from the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) in northern China.
While the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area has drawn investment from big companies like John Deere, Motorola and Coca-Cola, it is also seeking mid-sized and small businesses for investment in China.
Zhong Qiang Yang, vice president of the TEDA Administrative Commission, said through a translator, ‘There’s a huge potential market in China in terms of the biggest population in the world. In the TEDA, the average investment return rate is about 10%. It is not achieved though cheap labor costs; it is achieved because of the size of the market you’re gaining.’
Zhong Qiang Yang said, ‘For the medium- and small-sized businesses, there are two scenarios: They can follow the bigger players, such as Motorola who attract small-sized companies which can be their customers or their suppliers.
‘Another type of small- and medium-sized enterprise are the pioneers, they can see the potential market opportunity in China, so they invest and some of them grow pretty fast.’
He said they have set up their system to provide technical and market support along with grants for high-tech industry to firms interested in moving to the region.
Schneider first went to China in the fall of 2005 to provide transportation and logistics consulting. Earlier this year, the company was granted authority to operate as a domestic carrier and logistics services provider in the country.
Schneider — which has a logistics office in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area — has been working toward the acquisition of a trucking company in China.
Source: Green Bay Gazette