Currency move won't affect expansion plans

Denis Yip, senior vice president, EMC Corp, and president, EMC Greater China

Companies in China are facing the challenge of rising costs. Will this affect your plans in China or will you continue to invest in the country? Do you have any plans to relocate to the US or elsewhere in the region?

No, China remains as one of the important markets for EMC. EMC is committed to the steady and increasing number of Chinese customers in need of massive IT transformation. We don't have plans to relocate elsewhere in the region. We will continue to invest more in China in anticipation of the future growth of cloud and big data.

How has the depreciation of the yuan affected your company? Will this play a major role in your decision to continue to invest and expand in the country and region?

On a constant currency basis, our Asia-Pacific and Japan revenue in the second quarter of 2015 was up 5 percent, while with the depreciation the number was down 1 percent year-on-year.

The currency depreciation itself won't affect our investment decision and expansion in China and the region because our customers consistently tell us that they believe in our vision, that they drive significant value from our collective federation offerings, and that we are helping them deliver outstanding results through our broad and deep products, services and solutions portfolios. Currency is not a China problem; the strong US dollar is a cost of doing business anywhere outside the US

The Chinese government believes in a stable investment environment and has rolled out policies to help international companies here by increasing transparency. What other measures would improve business efficiency and competitiveness?

I believe it is a strong alliance with local partners. Expanding into the local ecosystem is an important part of EMC's five-year plan in China, outlined in 2013. The number of EMC China's channel partners will be increased to 20,000 in five years. We will continue to team up with local industry partners to implement localization investment and cooperation. Over the past few years, EMC has not only cooperated with leading IT players such as Digital China, Lenovo Group, and Ufida, but also explored the development and joint venture sectors.

What are the greatest challenges your company faces in China, and how will you deal with them?

The greatest challenge for me is to incorporate and leverage these elements: EMC's global strategy, business environment and economic development in China, and Chinese customers' needs for the next three years. We choose to be open and to collaborate with leading local players. We aim to gain trust and confidence from the Chinese government and our partners by aligning with the government policies and creating a more localized EMC brand.

Chinese companies have been looking at the US for investment opportunities as they increase their global footprint. What cultural and social issues do they face, and how would you deal with those issues?

Chinese companies will need to adapt to the US way of doing business and the speed of aligning with US partners.