business opportunities in China. Without first-hand impres-
sions from China, it is easy to understand why top man-
agement at the Danish headquarters can have the initial
impression that "it must be easy to sell something in China
with so many potential customers" in particular, if they
already are present in China in the high-end segment and
now want to expand further down to the mid-market. In re-
ality, however, establishing a position on the Chinese mid-
market is not a quick win and it takes substantial resources
to overcome all the barriers to enter the market. Conse-
quently, there is often a misalignment between HQ and the
Chinese subsidiary about the resources required to start a
new business initiative in China and scale it up.