US companies have become much more concerned about complying with local Chinese laws in the wake of Beijing’s highly-publicised corruption crackdown, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
The chamber surveyed 400 US companies operating in China for its annual China Business Report, and found that the GlaxoSmithKline corruption scandal last year and Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign have spurred 40 per cent of those surveyed to plan more spending on compliance.
About a quarter said they had already made changes to commercial practices or incentives in China as a result. The survey also found companies were less worried about an economic slowdown in China, but more concerned about risks to their business from increased enforcement of anti-corruption, pricing and competition laws.