New York's status under threat from Chinese stock market

Research by
Global Futures
& Foresight of more than 700 business leaders from around the world has
found that while Western companies are scared by the potential of China, they
are also ill prepared to act, and lag behind Asian-based companies.

According to the GFF report, The Future of China’s Economy, the path to 2020
– opportunities, challenges and uncertainties, 89% of respondents think that
international companies will consider it essential to be listed on a Chinese
stock market, while 78% feel the same stock market will overtake the New York
Stock Exchange in size.

On top of this, almost a third of respondents believe that the Chinese
economy will overtake the US economy by 2025, with almost three-quarters
thinking this would happen by 2035. Almost half believe that key industry and
market decisions will soon be taken in China.

Despite this, however, 65% of respondents admitted to having no direct
Chinese business experience; the same percentage say they receive no revenue or
profits from China. By 2020, 25% of Indian respondents to the survey expect to
earn more than 40% of their profits from China – this compares to just 8% of
Europeans and 12% of North Americans.

“Many still seem to hope the ‘China issue’ will go away,” says Rohit Talwar,
joint CEO of GFF and the report’s author. “But hope is not a strategy.”