Conclusion

Quietly but surely global businesses originating in China are in the making. Over the 1990s, a growing number of such businesses have taken the entire globe as their markets and operating theatre and are becoming ever more aggressive and assertive in the global economy. ‘The spread of China Inc.’ has increasingly captured the world’s attention and imagination (Newsweek, 3 September 2001). As this book goes to print, Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation (SAIC) made the headline story in the South China Morning Post on 14 October 2002 by its acquisition of 10 per cent of GM Daewoo Auto and Technology worth $57.9 million. SAIC has thus become the first Chinese mainland automaker to expand overseas (South China Morning Post, 14 October 2002). Following Premier Zhu’s call for implementing a strategy for Chinese enterprises to ‘go out’ and invest beyond Chinese borders, Minister Shi Guangsheng claimed at the 2002 Forum on International Investment in September that the globalisation of the world economy, China’s entry into the WTO and economic reform in China combined ‘have created right conditions and ripe opportunities’ for Chinese firms to engage in ‘going out’ strategy.