the potential for restaurant franchising in shanghai china特许经营在中国上海餐厅的潜力.doc

AMERICAN FRANCHISING COMPETITIVENESS IN CHINA Ilan Alon Associate Professor of International Business Crummer Graduate School of Business Rollins College 1000 Holt Ave. - 2722 Winter Park, FL 32789-4499 ialon@ Phone (407) 646-1512 Fax (407) 646-1550 Mark Toncar Associate Professor of Marketing Williamson College of Business Administration Youngstown State University Youngstown, OH 44555 mftoncar@ Lu Le Shanghai University for Science and Technology  American Franchising Competitiveness in China Ilan Alon, Mark Toncar, and Lu Le -- ABSTRACT Consumer tastes and preferences are converging around the world as a result of advances in communications and transportation technologies, the liberalization of world trade, the formation of regional trade agreements, and the increased mobility in labor and capital. With 1.2 billion people, China is the largest consumer market in the world containing about 20 percent of the world’s population. The purpose of this article is to investigate the environment for foreign restaurant franchising in the Shanghai market, the main economic pole for Mainland China with a population of about 15 million people. This article examines environmental opportunities and threats, the consumer characteristics, and the marketing strategies that may be employed by restaurant franchisors considering entry into China.  INTRODUCTION Over the last two decades Asia has been the fastest growing region in the world. Within Asia, Mainland China has been the fastest growing country, with the highest growth rate of GDP brought about mainly by domestic market demand. With the largest consumer market in the world and an accelerating economy, China is hailed as one of the most important consumer markets of the 21st century. By 2005 the country is projected to have more than 230 million middle-class consumers earning more than a $1,000 per year (Chan et al., 1997). This paper investigates the potential for restaurant franchising in Shanghai, China. The Shangha