Sterling Auto International (Scenario) Sterling Auto International is a successful car manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Over the past year, the company implemented multiple efforts to expand its overseas operations. At a recent shareholder's meeting, attendees questioned the CEO's motivations for authorizing certain aspects of the expansion efforts. One shareholder wanted clarification about a research effort that investigated the possibility of setting up a plant in China. The CEO explained that serving China's rapidly growing middle class population would enable Sterling to increase the size of its customer base dramatically. In China, the CEO was most likely interested in ________.

China and India are the two countries with the largest populations in the world, around 1,400 million people each. Since China´s population is rapidly growing from rural poor farmers to middle class workers, the market for new products is HUGE. During 2017, 23.56 million cars were sold in continental China compared to 17.24 million cars sold in the US.

The potential buyers for new cars in China is just too big to be ignored by any company in the world. They already represent the largest markets for several European brands including German luxury brands. If Sterling Auto International wants to increase its car sales then China is the place to start selling.