Chinese Foreign Development Initiative

¶ … Belt, One Road Were I an external consultant for Lenovo, I would outline a number of opportunities and issues for this Chinese company operating in India. I would begin by detailing the various opportunities afforded by the One Belt, One Road plan initially revealed by China's president in 2013 (Kennedy and Parker, 2015). The most significant of those opportunities relates to the infrastructure ambitions of this initiative. China is planning to unite the majority of the countries surrounding it with unified infrastructure.

As such, this goal presents an opportunity for companies in countries close to China (such as Lenovo in London) to assist with the building of this physical infrastructure across roadways. Such building would include roads, highways and railways (Kennedy and Parker, 2013). Additionally, there is a maritime element of this plan. China is also attempting to connect its surrounding countries via ports and the means of sailing from major cities in this part of the world (Foreign Ministry, 2015).

The same opportunity for construction that is present with the land infrastructure exists with this oceanic infrastructure as well. However, one can argue that some of the more cogent opportunities are in the ramifications of this particular plan on the part of the Chinese government. Such unified infrastructure will need some sort of information technology supplement as well (Kennedy and Parker, 2015), in order to exchange information across the various countries and cities part of the One Belt, One Road plan.

Linking these disparate IT systems, or possibly constructing and implementing new ones, is a huge opportunity for companies that are savvy in this area of business. If Lenovo cannot specialize in this area of business itself, it would do well to finance a company for this opportunity, which is certain to yield significant monetary value. Furthermore, there are opportunities for trade and cross-border communication and supply chain materials made available by this plan as well.

Some of the issues that Lenovo needs to keep abreast of apply to the scope and magnitude of the One Belt, One Road factor. This plan is exceedingly ambitious, and has more than a few risks. Some of the more salient of these pertain to China's history of building infrastructure, particularly outside of its own country. It has not had a substantial amount of success in this area, particularly due to the criticism it has drawn from its treatment of workers in foreign countries (Kennedy and Parker, 2013).

Furthermore, even if it was the most competent infrastructure builder in the world, this undertaking is particularly hazardous in terms of its unpredictability. Some of the locations along the Silk Belt and Silk Road are remote, not easily accessible, and could exacerbate plans for construction easily. Also, this project places an undue stress on diplomatic relations between foreign entities. International relations are somewhat tenuous and difficult to stabilize. This fact is particularly true for entities that do not share the same culture, or similar aspects of it.

One can argue that part of the reason that the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement has succeeded for as long as it has is because those countries share a.