Just five years ago, the top global wireless telecommunications equipment makers were all western. Today, two of the top five are Chinese: Huawei Technologies and ZTE are leading a charge into global markets that scores of other Chinese companies in many industries are following.

What should western (and Japanese) multinationals do in the face of this onslaught? It’s a question that has already a thousand answers, many of them of book length. In its latest contribution to the debate, Boston Consulting Group says 1. take the fight to the Chinese and invest in emerging markets; and 2. develop services, where established multinationals still have a competitive lead.

In a study published on Wednesday, BCG examined seven industrial equipment industries in which Chinese groups are already among the top global producers – solar panels (four Chinese companies in the top five), coal power equipment (three Chinese), rail rolling stock (two), wind and power transmission (one each), and civil aerospace (no Chinese in the top five).