"The regulatory environment in China is getting much more clear than it was five years ago. Sometimes it is clear in a good way. Sometimes it is clear in a bad way. But what is important is it is clear. That is what business people need," he said. He says it is also easier for foreign companies to recruit talented people from the local workforce than it was just a few years ago.

"Even if they have not had a chance to go outside of China, they have a much more international outlook," he said.Tse at Booz and Co said that whether foreign companies entered China five or 10 years ago or now, it has always been one of the more difficult foreign markets.

"If an American company goes to Europe or a European company goes to the US there are differences but the differences are not as great as when they go to China. It has the longest continuous civilization in the world and the culture and the way of doing things is very different," he said.

"China is not only an old nation but a new nation, which in my mind came into being when the veteran Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visited Shenzhen in 1992 (when he called for the creation of a socialist market economy). It is a very odd combination."Wu Changqi, professor of strategic management at Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, said it is difficult to make a case it is harder to enter China now than in the past because it was never easy in the first place.

"The Chinese market has never been an easy market for multinationals. Companies which have come to China have always needed to do a lot of homework and preparation. It is not easy to do business here," he said.Wu adds there are areas where it has become easier rather than harder in recent years."There have been a lot of improvements institutionally. The government is more transparent. Government bureaucrats have become more competent and professional.