Looking at China Manufacturing Alternatives? Here Are the Websites to Read

Posted by Reading Time: 4 minutes

Op/Ed by Chris Devonshire-Ellis 

Our firm, Dezan Shira & Associates is now in its 27th year of operations in China. During that time, we have assisted many foreign businesses in establishing their presence here in China. Initially, this meant opening Representative Offices, when back in the day they could only be housed in designated hotels with a business floor added on.

This eventually followed helping set up Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises (WFOE), Joint Ventures, Foreign Invested Commercial Enterprises (FICE), and Limited Liability Partnerships, as well as managing issues concerning foreign NGO’s and non-profits.

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China Briefing has played a pivotal role in this regard, and the publication celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Beginning from a small, photocopied four-page newsletter in the pre-internet days, it is now one of the most popular China business websites out there – our Alexa ranking is currently 112,739. To compare with China sites that Alexa identifies as like ours (it isn’t), China Law Blog ranks at 515,865.

At Dezan Shira & Associates, our lawyers, advisers, accountants, and auditors not only pay attention to how our clients are doing but also what challenges they face and where else might they benefit from new opportunities. This was supported by our opening new offices across Asia early on, before many of our competitors thought it worthwhile. Here are some websites worth looking at when considering a China alternative.

Vietnam Briefing

This site, which we began way back in 2008, featured as its first magazine edition – “Global Manufacturing Moving to Vietnam.” Now the country has become a serious China alternative and Vietnam Briefing has an Alexa ranking of 350,754.

Dezan Shira & Associates has offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and is considering a third in Da Nang.

A handful of articles to look at when examining Vietnam as a China alternative? Try these:

Our recent complimentary magazine:

ASEAN Briefing 

ASEAN includes the South-East Asian nations of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. We’ve been writing about it collectively as a destination for foreign investment since 2013, based from our office in Singapore. We also have offices or representation in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, and know the region well. ASEAN Briefing ranks at 395,449 on Alexa.

Here’s a taster:

And another complimentary “how to” magazine:

India Briefing

India is also picking up a significant amount of China manufacturing – its workers cost less, and it also offers access to a significant consumer market in its own right. We’ve had offices in Mumbai and Delhi for over a decade now and are about to establish a third office in Bangalore. We began India Briefing in 2007 but now have a well-established practice and many, many global clients in the country. India Briefing ranks 181,931 on Alexa, showcasing a significant reader popularity for a country many still regard as difficult.  It isn’t – if you know how.

Try these:

One of our recent complimentary magazines:

We haven’t just been limited to Asia. Geopolitical changes are occurring, and China’s Belt and Road Initiative is very much a part of this. We launched Silk Road Briefing just under two years ago, and it is currently one of our fastest growing websites. Take a look:

Silk Road Briefing

There’s a book for the Belt and Road scholar too:

Although Russia is a little off the radar for many Western businesses from an investment perspective, it too is of huge interest to Asia as Russian capital piles into the region, looking for alternative sources of supplies and investment returns. We deal with that on our Russia Briefing website, which is also of huge strategic interest to businesses in China. It, too, is a rapidly growing site in terms of global readers looking at acquiring Russian investment.

Russia Briefing

These websites – and there will be others to come in due course – are among some of the most globally successful online in terms of bringing regular, quality business intelligence, legal, tax and operational advice to foreign investors, not just in China but across Asia as well. Complimentary subscriptions can be obtained here.

About Us

China Briefing is produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The firm assists foreign investors throughout Asia from offices across the world, including in Dalian, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Readers may write to china@dezshira.com for more support on doing business in China.