Coronavirus: desperate overseas firms turn to China as lockdowns hit home

As infections spread in the US and across Europe, lockdowns are halting business operations

Senior managers are also unable to return to China, leaving firms also looking for stand-in CEOs and chief operating officers

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The US and four European countries, led by Italy and Spain, now top the tally of coronavirus infections globally after surpassing China. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:15pm, 6 Apr 2020Updated: 2:44pm, 7 Apr 2020

As China slowly grinds back into activity after a two-month hiatus, the opposite is happening elsewhere, meaning amid widespread lockdowns, global businesses desperate to maintain operations are now looking for solutions where economies are gradually improving.

A Shanghai-based photo and video production business has been receiving a series of cold calls from companies in the United States, Europe and Australia looking for help with television commercials and corporate photography.

Central Studios, which has seen a rise in work coming from outside China, said companies are desperately looking for available manpower to finish projects after their usual service providers went into coronavirus containment lockdowns.

Small to medium-sized entrepreneurs, who have businesses based in China but cannot get back into the country, are also seeking help to keep their operations going.

As they are all in quarantine now, and with suppliers coming back online now in China, they are trying to keep their production timelines moving forward smoothly

Rodney Evans

The US and four European countries, led by Italy and Spain, now top the tally of coronavirus infections globally after surpassing China. European countries have also tightened and extended their lockdowns, while the US has extended its social distancing for another month.

“As they are all in quarantine now, and with suppliers coming back online now in China, they are trying to keep their production timelines moving forward smoothly,” Central Studios’ CEO Rodney Evans said.

Elsewhere in Shanghai, CDI Global’s mergers & acquisitions consultant, Dan Senger, has also been busy. He has been receiving calls from banks in the US and Europe looking to co-partner with his firm on existing merger deals with Chinese biotech and chemical companies.