Gone is the era in which the developed economies of Western Europe and North America ruled the global business landscape with their well-developed markets, massive middle-class populations, considerable levels of disposal income, well-established institutional intermediaries and continually growing economies.

The current global business landscape is characterised by multidimensional changing paradigms wherein the global core of trade and commerce is shifting toward Asia, especially China and India.

As the erstwhile communist philosophy that ruled China for decades was gradually pushed aside to embrace the capitalist, free-market economy, the Chinese market emerged as a global behemoth. It boasted an enormous local market, an ever-increasing middle class and gradually growing second- and third-tier cities, prompting a global rush among major corporations to set up shop.