The September issue of Fortune Magazine in China features retirement issues – from financial services to senior living analysis – from the point of view of potential Chinese customers. In the magazine, I have a feature article outlining the key challenges and opportunities Western operators must meet if they are going to be successful expanding into China. The full article can be read here. A big thank you to Cole Wright with Merrill Gardens in China as well as at Harvard for participating as sources in my column. Their input was, as always, deeply appreciated and highly valued.
The article was slightly different than others in that it was written with an eye towards educating potential Chinese developers and customers as they entertain senior housing options either as potential customers or investors. From the article:
The second mistake Chinese developers must avoid is under-estimating the complexity of senior housing as a business. In contrast to traditional commercial and residential real estate, developing senior care facilities – including senior housing – is more involved. Developers who view senior housing as simply another way to unlock the value of their existing real estate are going to be disappointed. Those that survive this disappointment will learn and go on to build successful senior care developments; however, like what happened in the US during the early 80s, it is possible some elderly Chinese will move into newly built senior care facilities only to find that the businesses behind these operations run out of money because the developer did not understand the lifetime costs of running a senior care facility.
The full article can be read here.
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