RAISING STAKES
Joining the WTO will permanently change China's economic landscape as foreigners rush to boost investment in the mainland.

In the last six months, Germany's chemicals company BASF and the Anglo/Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch/Shell each announced they are launching major petrochemical joint ventures in China. The total value of the two projects tops US$7 billion. That's a lot of plastic. And it looks like that's just the beginning.

After 15 years of negotiation, the World Trade Organization finally admitted China into its fraternity on December 11, 2001. To gain this prize, China agreed to a host of commitments, from lowering import tariffs to improving intellectual property protection. Best of all, the rules of doing business in China are no longer a game of blind man's bluff - Beijing promised greater transparency and fair competition. Companies the world over are responding - foreign direct investment in China this year is expected to top US$40 billion, once again making it the world's largest magnet for capital expenditure.

In this section we look at the implications of these changes - from cash management to human management - and report on the results of an exclusive survey of CFOs worldwide.

Give Them Hope: Cheap labor doesn't equal profits for those investing in China. Creating audacious goals does.

The Foreign Invasion: An exclusive survey of nearly 700 CFOs and senior managers around the world.

Cash control: Cash managers in China play catch-up to foreign-invested enterprises.