UK creative industries have yet to take advantage of China’s growth. This paper looks at the barriers to doing business in China, and ways of overcoming them.

Key findings:

• The UK’s creative industries are punching below their weight in Chinese markets.
• A particular stumbling block in China for UK creatives is the uncertainty around local demand for their products.
• But UK creatives have an opportunity to take advantage of online social networks such as Douban to boost their fortunes in the Chinese market.

This paper examines why creative industries in the UK have yet to fulfil their potential in emerging markets such as China, and looks at the novel role social networks can play in gaining deep insights into consumer demand and behaviour.

The uncertainty and risks involved in plunging into a new and unfamiliar market can overwhelm even the most canny operations, but the research drawn on in this paper by Nesta has shown that technology offers ways of unlocking export opportunities to China.

Authors
Hasan Bakhshi and Philippe Schneider