BizChina

3G mobile phone market in China is a booming mobile phone market, and there are three main players - China Mobile, China Union and China Telecom - in the playground. The competition among them reach a cruel level.

As a newbie to China's 3G mobile phone market, "going cheap" is the only way available for fixed-line dominator China Telecom to extend its market share in the newest sector in China. In a purchasing agreement signed this week, China Telecom is aiming to attract more grassroots consumers by selling 3G handsets at entry-level prices. China Telecom will sell 3G phones starting at $73 each by the end of this month.

The green shoots that some economists see peeking up through the recession may not be made of bamboo just yet.

China's economy continues to suffer, a raft of economic figures released for July reveal, but Beijing's enormous $585 billion stimulus program seems to be catalyzing spending at home.

"With the global recovery unlikely to be smooth, domestic demand is likely to remain the primary engine of growth in the remainder of 2009," Jing Ulrich, the chairman of China equities at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a research note.

China's explosive growth, as in much of Asia, has been a story about exports. But with the recession making it harder for Chinese companies to sell their goods to cash-strapped foreign buyers, the central government needed to pump money back into the economy to encourage both consumers and Chinese companies to spend more.

China Law Blog recently ran a chilling post about an executive who found himself held captive in a hotel until his company paid money it owed his kidnappers--even though his firm had declared bankruptcy. The article pointed out that holding executives until their companies pay up is not uncommon in developing countries; it advised that any business expecting to go into default get its foreign personnel out of the country first.

Is that really what happens when you don't pay a Chinese creditor? Americans used to be afraid Chinese businesses would stiff them; now it's the other way around. With thousands of American firms declaring bankruptcy, many companies in China have been left unpaid and angry. How your firm deals with your Chinese partners can make the difference between maintaining a valuable business relationship and losing out on a critical market--or worse.

Retail sales grew 0.6% in the U.S. in June. That beat expectations, but it shows how the American consumer is continuing to cut back on spending, shopping and dining out. Meanwhile China's economy remains robust, with gross domestic product growing 7.9% in the second quarter, making it a must-win market for even the largest businesses, like the restaurant company Yum! Brands, which generates a third of its revenue in China. General Motors has enjoyed a 43% increase in sales through July this year in China, year over year--even as it has gone through bankruptcy in the U.S.

Traditionally companies double-down during recessions and focus on their core target markets. This is no longer enough; they need to look for growth in developing markets like India and China, whose economies have remained buoyant. They should look especially to the women of China.