China among riskiest places to do business

China is one of the riskiest countries in the world and a place where companies would avoid doing business because of the prospect of corruption, a recent survey by international business advisers AlixPartners found.

The survey, which covered China for the first time, interviewed lawyers and executives of multinationals involved in compliance and found 25 per cent of the companies avoided China and the Middle East for fear of corruption, while 39 per cent avoided Africa.

"The risk of corruption in China has risen due to such factors as the increased focus by US and British regulators, combined with the slowdown in China and the increased Chinese government focus on foreign and domestic entities in food and product safety as well as on the pharmaceutical industry," said Mike Murphy, the managing director of AlixPartners.

Globally, 15 per cent of the respondents had pulled out of an acquisition for fear of corruption, while 30 per cent had ceased doing business with a partner due to possible corruption.

Of the respondents, 41 per cent said corruption was unavoidable in China. Africa took the top spot with 56 per cent and Russia was in second place with 46 per cent.

Eighty per cent of the executives at Asian companies said their industries were exposed to significant corruption risk, with 54 per cent of them saying corruption was unavoidable in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.