5.
4.
3.
b.
How to accomplish? Regular liaison with Government at Secretary level is required. Contacts with opinion formers in Exco and Legco need to be nurtured as will relationships with both the English and Chinese press. Increasing the seniority of companies' representatives on Chamber committees will contribute to all of this. The routing of effective lobbying in the China context needs to be reviewed but this should not be restricted solely to the Xinhua News Agency (see below on improving promotion activity in China).
Adequate feedback to members of the results of lobbying efforts will be required.
Information
3.
What is needed? Members are looking for information that will help them understand their markets and lead them to new business opportunities. This should not merely replicate facts that can be culled from standard sources. Relevance may only be achievable on a fairly narrow front and will probably be most successful when specifically commissioned by a member, or group of members, from a particular sector.
b.
How to accomplish? should continue.
On a broad front the Magazine is of good quality, well respected, and
Focussed seminars on specific topics are appreciated. Given busy work programmes half day or shorter duration are probably more effective.
Position papers and background information on specific areas of interest (especially on the emerging China market) will require additional research staff. Emphasis should be laid on such reports being concise, well informed, and preferably on subjects which are not easily available from other sources, e.g. Banks. Clearly, the experience and knowledge of existing members will also prove invaluable as a source for this service which ideally should be individually commissioned.
Promotion in China
a.
b.
What is needed? With interest in the China market rapidly increasing, members are looking to the Chamber to promote their interests on a much wider scale in China.
How to accomplish? Liaison with the British business community in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong needs to be developed. The existing organizations in those cites should be able to provide guidance on where contacts and lobbying efforts would be most effective/appropriate. An arrangement with the Association of British Business in China will contribute here. Many of these are likely to be at senior, even Ministerial level. The State Planning Committee in Beijing will be an especially important contact given the centrally planned nature of the economy notwithstanding decontralisation to coastal states in the south. Provincial Governors and Mayors are also key targets. Care and skill will be required to emphasize the apolitical nature of the Chamber's activities given the current delicate relationships between the Chinese and British governments.
Measurement
a. What is needed? It will be necessary to assess, on a regular basis, whether the Chamber is indeed
meeting its objectives, and to be aware of the possible changing interests of its members.
b.
How to accomplish? An in-house "customer satisfaction” survey should be conducted on an annual or biennial basis in order to tailor the Chamber's performance and activities to best suit the changing wishes of its membership.
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