Foreign Credit Cards in China: To Adapt or Not to Adapt?

ABSTRACT A relatively recent area of foreign market entry into China is that of foreign credit cards branded with the acceptance marquees of American Express, Mastercard or Visa. These have now been marketed in a variety of Chinese geographic markets, including Shanghai and Beijing. Like many other areas of foreign market activity in China, the issuing of foreign credit cards–and associated services–in China raises, at least conceptually, the issue of the degree to which they should be adapted or standardised to meet the need of Chinese consumers. Recent research on areas such as education (foreign sourced programs in China) indicate that products and services of high status and value seem to be best delivered in an unadapted manner so as to preserve their international status and image (Willis, 2003). Other authors, however, have viewed the issue rather differently, arguing that foreign companies need to adapt their products and services to meet the needs of the local market since, logically enough, ever...