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The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) 2007 compared the two economies, and found Chinese and UK business leaders remain worlds apart on many of the key business issues of the day, from their approach to globalisation to their ability to secure finance.

Stephen Weatherseed, Grant Thornton Partner and Head of the firm's China Group, said, "Many UK business people misjudge just how different the business landscapes are between the two nations, resulting in too many tackling the country with inadequate cultural advice, and legal and financial support."

One of the key differences was outlook towards globalisation, with 71 per cent of Chinese business leaders seeing it as an opportunity, while less than half (46 per cent) of their UK counterparts felt the same. Overall economic optimism also mirrored this, with Chinese business people reporting an optimism/pessimism balance of +86 per cent, while the UK was below the global average (+45 per cent) on just +43 per cent. In terms of expected turnover over the next 12 months, China had a +88 per cent balance compared with a +64 per cent balance in the UK, while profitability predictions offered balances of +78 per cent versus +57 respectively.

However, it wasn't all positive news for China. Despite money flooding into Chinese capital markets, the percentage of Chinese businesses having difficulty securing working capital (41 per cent) and long term finance (38 per cent) was much higher than in the UK (13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively). In addition, senior Chinese business people experienced much higher levels of stress than those in the UK, with 84 per cent reporting an increase in stress in the past 12 months, compared with 37 per cent of UK business people.

"Strong awareness of Chinese business culture should be a foundation on which to build opportunities, but there are still those entering the market with little understanding of how China really operates. The concept of 'guanxi', or building social capital to influence business dealings, is one of the keys to success in China, just one of the cultural factors to work into any business plan involving this giant market," Weatherseed said.

In terms of risk management, there were two key areas in which China had a great deal of work to do. Just 36 per cent of Chinese businesses were prepared for IT failure, compared with 77 per cent of UK businesses, while only 32 per cent of Chinese companies have planned for disaster recovery, compared with 77 per cent of their UK counterparts.

Weatherseed said rapid expansion of the economy had left some areas of business infrastructure as lacking, including enough mature financial institutions and venture capital funds to back business start-ups and expansion.

"The Chinese economy is playing a game of catch up, and often the most successful UK businesses in China are those that can facilitate this rapid growth through support and advisory services, while adapting to the Chinese style of doing business.

China did do surprisingly well in certain specific categories. Average payment periods in China (25 days) were almost twice as short as the UK (47 days), while the percentage of women in senior roles was 32 per cent in China, compared with just 19 per cent in the UK.

The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) 2007 was carried out among  more than 7,200 respondents in 32 countries, representing 81 per cent of global GDP.