CIC was founded to give decision-makers a clearer read on cross-border opportunity, not through a single national lens, but from both sides of the transaction.
CIC was founded in Chongqing in 2020 to help decision-makers make sense of complex cross-border opportunities. Our founders had seen too many good businesses stumble, not on the quality of their products, but on decisions made with an incomplete picture of an unfamiliar market.
Chongqing is a considered base for that work. As a centre for manufacturing, logistics, and automotive supply chains, and as a gateway to Western China, the city sits close to the industries and trade routes our clients care about. It keeps us near the questions we are asked: where demand sits across China's regional economies, how supply chains are put together, and how Chinese businesses can build a credible position abroad.
Today we advise in both directions: Chinese companies weighing European and international expansion, and international investors and corporations evaluating opportunities in Western China and beyond.
Simple to state, harder to hold to. We treat these as conditions of the work, not aspirations.
We form our own view from the evidence and say what we find, including when it is not what a client hoped to hear.
Analysis is only useful if it can be acted on. We design our work around the decision a client actually faces.
We work between China and international markets, and read each through the other rather than in isolation.
We handle sensitive commercial questions carefully and treat client confidentiality as a condition of the work.
A small senior team, close to every engagement.
Managing Director, Cross-Border Strategy
Li Wen leads CIC's cross-border strategy work, advising Chinese and international clients on where to compete and how to enter. Her background spans corporate strategy and transaction advisory across China and Europe.
Director, Market Intelligence
Chen Yao heads the firm's market-intelligence practice, building the demand, competitor, and customer evidence that sits under CIC's recommendations. He focuses on turning fragmented data into conclusions that hold up.
Director, Europe Advisory
Sophie Laurent leads CIC's Europe advisory, supporting Chinese businesses entering European markets and European investors weighing opportunities in Western China. She has worked across mobility, industrials, and consumer sectors.
Every engagement is different. The discipline behind it is not.
We start by defining the choice precisely: what is being decided, by whom, and against what criteria, so the work stays pointed at it.
We assemble the market, customer, and competitor evidence, triangulating from independent angles rather than leaning on any single source.
We set out the realistic options, test them against the evidence and plausible downside cases, and make the trade-offs explicit.
We stay involved as the decision moves into action, refining the plan as new information comes in.