Arkansas business owners were advised on Thursday at the Arkansas-China Business & Economic Summit that doing business in China can be challenging, but ultimately rewarding.

“If you do your due diligence, China can be a thriving market,” said Erin Ennis, vice president with the U.S.-China Business Council, which supports 235 member companies that do business in China.

Ennis was one of several high-profile speakers who gathered on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway for the inaugural event, for which Gov. Mike Beebe provided opening remarks.

The benefit of doing business in China is its huge market and emerging middle class. Disadvantages, Ennis said, include talent recruitment and retention, administrative licensing and other governmental hoops, and competition with Chinese companies.

Officials from Arkansas-based international firms Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods and Acxiom provided their own perspective of doing business in China.

“These corporations make it clear that Arkansas is a global player,” said event emcee Lance Grahn, UCA provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Wal-Mart operates 344 units in China, most of them Supercenters, with plans to grow with the country’s emerging economy.

Jill Anderson, vice president for international planning and analysis for Wal-Mart, said the company wanted to take advantage of the opportunity for retailers to help support China’s growing urban infrastructure.

Its goal, she said, was to become the most admired company in China and for Wal-Mart to be viewed in China as a Chinese company.

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