It is vital for companies doing business in China to ensure they have robust crisis management procedures and a thorough intellectual property protection system in place, said speakers at a seminar on Nov. 20.

The event on crisis management and intellectual property protection, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong, was jointly hosted by ALB, private security service company China Cityguard and IP protection firm Sinofaith.

Speaking at the seminar, Richard Jiang, marketing director at China Cityguard, outlined the key principles, critical indicators and procedures of crisis management solutions.

Jiang said that the primary crises that foreign companies encounter in China were labour disputes caused by redundancies and massive layoffs, conflicts with external stakeholders like vendors, customers, landlords and victims of pollution, as well as internal corruption.

Joann Chan, vice-president of business operations at Sinofaith, spoke about the rising demand for IP protection services, and what steps companies should take to secure their IP portfolios.

Chan said that in 1995, there were 705 customs enforcement cases in China. In 2012, the number had surpassed 15,000.

Jacky Zhang, general manager at Sinofaith, spoke about online brand protection. He described the company’s creation of the "social early warning system," which monitors social media outlets like Weibo as an early warning tool to track counterfeit goods being sold online.

“We monitor social media platforms, especially Weibo, because social media is becoming a low entry barrier online marketing platform, especially for fakes,” said Zhang.

Kanishk Verghese is North Asia journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.