Monday, January 16, 2012

Trade-offs of Entering China Wind Turbine Market

This article is an oldie but a goodie. It describes some of the difficulties that companies outside China face when entering Chinese markets, in this instance the wind turbine market. Gamesa, the new entrant, took a big dive into the Chinese market in the early days of China's wind boom. Then in 2005 Chinese officials imposed very stringent domestic production requirements for turbines (an "open secret" violation of W.T.O. rules). Gamesa opted to invest significant resources in training and supporting wind turbine component suppliers in China, who were then able to sell to domestic manufacturers as well. In very short order, Gamesa was undercut by domestic turbine makers on price, due in part to the manufacturing capacity that they had helped create. Ultimately, though, Gamesa was still able to keep a small piece of such a huge "market pie," that it made financial sense.

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