Foreign companies heap praise on Shanghai business environment

Multinational companies have spoken highly of Shanghai's improving business environment and have been bringing new products to and opening new stores in the city, reflecting their long-standing confidence in efforts and achievements in streamlining administrative affairs.

"In recent years, the Chinese government has vigorously promoted reform and opening up and continued to optimize the business climate. As a foreign-funded enterprise, LANXESS has witnessed the internationalization of China's business climate and progress toward rule of law,” said Ming Cheng Chien, president of LANXESS Asia-Pacific.  

“Our plants spread across chemical parks nationwide in China, and we find the services provided by the parks more complete and convenient, which further strengthened our faith in China," he added.

Due to the ease of doing business in Shanghai, LANXESS is increasing investment here.

In September 2019, LANXESS and the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park (SCIP) signed a memorandum of understanding, which will provide LANXESS 20 hectares of land for construction of an integrated production base.

In addition, the company plans to establish its Asia-Pacific Application Development Center (AADC) in Shanghai.

In 2005, the German chemical company based in Cologne set up its China headquarters in Shanghai. In August 2018, LANXESS established a new Asia Pacific structure and set up its Asia Pacific headquarters in the city.

Beauty giant L’Oréal has been speeding up the launch of new products in China benefiting from simplified customs procedures as well as an expedited import process for research raw materials.

"We believe that the development and implementation of the Foreign Investment Law is an important part of China's transformation from an opening up based on commodities and factor mobility to a rule- and system-oriented opening up," said President and CEO of L’Oréal China Fabrice Megarbane.

As part of this process, L'Oréal has become the largest beauty group in China, making the Chinese market the group's second largest market in the world and the Asia Pacific Zone L'Oréal Group’s largest regional market.

"We also believe that China's equal treatment of all investors will not only help China achieve its own development goals, but will also provide wide-ranging opportunities for companies from all countries to carry out cooperation in China, and the more the business environment improves the more confidence we have in the Chinese market," he noted.

Starbucks said it's seeing positive feedback and has upgraded some of its existing stores into Starbucks Reserve Cafe & Bar Mixato, which opens late into the night and offers a fusion of coffee and cocktail art.

Its first overseas “Reserve Roastery,” a flagship store combining gourmet coffees and a bakery, was also established in Jingan District thanks to simplified business licenses for a food and beverage outlet at the downtown area.

The newly-renovated Starbucks outlet at the Shimao Festival City on Nanjing Road which opened last month is also the latest testament to Starbucks' confidence in the local consumer market.

Bar Mixato extends the company’s passion for coffee to the cocktail scene to better cater to consumers' demands for light food, snacks and drinks in the night time as the city also hopes to boost leisure spending.

Another example is the US electric carmaker Tesla, which has a factory in the Lingang New Area. It also benefited from the simplified procedures and infrastructure support offered by the local government.

The factory is Shanghai's largest foreign manufacturing project to date and Tesla is also the first foreign auto company to benefit from a new policy allowing foreign carmakers to set up wholly owned subsidiaries in China.

About 11 months of construction work, the factory began trial production, reflecting "Shanghai speed and Lingang service," and the auto company plans to use preferential policies to support the development of the intelligent networked vehicle industry.