UCC online modules help firms targeting China

UNIVERSITY College Cork has launched a series of online modules aimed at aiding Irish companies looking to expand into China.

The service — which is partially funded by the Department of Enterprise and has been endorsed by the likes of Enterprise Ireland, IBEC and IDA Ireland — offers detailed guidance, over five separate modules, on doing business in China, setting up there, dealing with local governance and legislation, and identifying strong consumer areas of the country. Two further modules — looking at the local banking/finance climate and marketing — will follow later this year.

UCC’s School of Asian Studies, which is behind the programme (the modules are co-produced by Dublin-based e-learning specialists, Intuition), will also be undertaking bespoke workshops for individual clients in the autumn.

Professor Deirdre Hunt, who runs the service with faculty director Fan Hong, said that the service — for which there is a fee — has attracted interest from a variety of clients (ranging from SMEs to large corporates) across many different sectors and is helpful to those looking to expand into China as well as those already there, but in need of help.

Prof Hunt added the service can save companies significant costs.

“We co-authored the programme with Chinese experts and this enabled us to access material from obscure ministries and have them translated for the first time in the West. The modules provide introductions to China: its history and culture, the current economy, the rising affluent consumer, politics and regulation, as well as banking and business protocols — like registering your company,” she said.

“We’ve downloaded and translated the business registration requirement document with a step-by-step guide. If a company hired an agency to do this, it could cost up to €2,200, whereas after reading our modules, the company would find that everything could be done for €170,” Ms Hunt added.

The School of Asian Studies plans to follow the Chinese modules with programmes aimed at markets such as Japan, South Korea and India.