The Chinese online market: opportunities and challenges for Italian SMEs

Abstract

The Chinese online market represents a great opportunity and a great challenge for Italian SMEs. Because of the economic and financial crisis that hit the "western world", seeking international opportunities has become a necessity for those companies that until now have looked at China with suspicion. The Chinese online market is, as a matter of fact, one of the largest digital markets in the world. This dissertation aims to build upon existing literature, analyzing the opportunities and threats for Italian SMEs on the Chinese digital market, with a main focus on the B2C market. The study will first analyse the Chinese internet infrastructure development and legislation formulation, focusing on the strong support the Chinese government has had in such matter. The following chapters will analyse the Chinese digital market and the changing patterns of it, the SMEs characteristics in the global economy, the benefits of exploiting digitalized international markets and the inhibitors of e-commerce at international level. The following chapter will concern a case study based on a summer 2019 internship I participated in between Shanghai and Hong Kong, concerning the manufacturing and selling of Italian-style bags and accessories exclusively for the Chinese online market. Lastly, the final chapter will reprocess the research data focusing on the following questions: should Italian SMEs enter and focus on the Chinese digital market? What are the best practices to adopt in such a market? The chapter will use Porter’s Five Forces model, SWOT analysis and proceed with the formulation of the best practices for Italian SMEs operating in the Chinese digital market.