A good introduction by William Bao Bean, partner at Softbank India&China Holdings, talking about how companies can survive in the current financial crisis. The video dates from May 22, 2009, so some parts are a bit outdated. But a few of the ways to make money in the crisis, still work:
Giving people access to money, as banks are reluctant to support starting companies
Wang Chuanfu, heading China's BYD car manufacturer, junped 102 places on Rupert Hoogewerf's annual rich list Hurun, after his venture got the backing of super-investor Warren Buffett, reports Bloomberg. Buffett increased his earlier investment with 500 percent.
Wang is now worth 5.1 billion US dollar, eclipsing the winner of last year, paper mogul Zhang Yin.
Bloomberg:
Wang’s worth leapt from $880 million last year after a unit of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in BYD. The company’s F3 has also become China’s bestselling car this year, as BYD pushes beyond its traditional focus on making rechargeable batteries for mobile phones.
Buffett’s company announced a year ago it would buy 225 million new shares in BYD for HK$8 apiece. The shares, which have surged 387 percent this year, fell 7.5 percent to HK$61.85 in Hong Kong trading today.
The full list of China's 1,000 richest people will only be published next month.
"The government did a great job of stabilizing the economy. In the process, it created a bit of an asset bubble," said William Overholt, senior research fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government...
"Investors don't want to be in the speculative Chinese stocks or speculative Chinese real estate. Because if they are, they'll get burned," said former investment banker Overholt.
Commercial William Overholt is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you are interested in having him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.
Celebrity author Zhang Lijia recalls for the weblog China Beat, at trip to the new Beijing museum, dedicated to a famous song, "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China". (See below).
The museum complex felt like a mini-‘Red Base’. By the foot of the mountain, three national flags flapped in the chill wind. In the main hall, staves of the song’s music, in gold, glared on a red wall, behind a golden hammer and sickle. As someone who grew up in China and knows the lyrics by heart, I couldn’t help but start to sing aloud, to the amusement of the museum staff. In the revolutionary spirit and against the market economy trend, entrance is free.
Zhang Lijia grew up in Nanjing, where she worked in a state-owned long-distance rocket factory. She documented her youth in her book "Socialism Is Great!": A Worker's Memoir of the New China. Her view on the Communist' party future is more nuanced than that of those who expect its imminent demise.
The Chinese Communist Party has about 74 million members, nearly a quarter of whom are under 35. Defying all predictions, it has proven very resilient. While loosening control in certain aspects and granting people more personal freedom, the Party has stepped up its effort to ensure the loyalty of the population, young people in particular. Funds have been allocated to build or upgrade museums that are designed to inspire the citizen’ patriotic feelings or nurture their nationalist attachment. For example, a museum to commemorate the ‘Rape of Nanjing’ was first built in 1985 and upgraded in 1995 to become state-of-the-art. Revolutionary song competitions are still held regularly at schools, universities and government organizations. Popular songs such as ‘The East is Red’ and ‘Socialism is Great’ are featured on Karaoke lists.
Commercial Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Currently she is following the prestigious International Writers program at the University of Iowa. For next year we are planning an additional US tour. When you are interested in getting more details or would like to invite her at your conference, do let us know.
Shaun Rein uses the two stabbing incidents in Beijing to explain how government in China works. The National Day on October 1, when The People's Republic of China celebrates its 60th birthday, is a crucial moment for many careers of officials, he writes in Forbes.
While it is impossible to rule the country on a micro-scale, losing face through this kind of incidents leads to an overreaction by those smaller officials who are eager to save their jobs, even when it means banning all knives from the stores. Rein:
Finally, the knife ban in Beijing shows us the importance of face in China. The central government will do whatever it takes to ensure that the festivities on Oct. 1 come off magnificently. Whether it takes banning knives or trying to manage rainfall, shutting down businesses at the last minute or closing airports, the government will do almost anything to save face by having a camera-ready event.
The subtle balance between central and local governments, and its eternal power struggles, are seldom good understand, argues Rein:
Policies set by the central government are implemented at the local level, and there can be different motives there. For instance, as I wrote in "China is Pulling Ahead on the Environment," it is clear that the central government is moving quickly to reduce pollution and improve working conditions. Yet local officials may not be so willing to close a soot-belching factory or a sweatshop that provides most of the jobs and tax revenues in their small city.
Advertisement agencies and media buyers are slowly finding their way from traditional media into the digital future, says William Bao Bean, partner at Softbanks's China and India Holdings, the Hollywood Reporter, The market share of online media in China went up last year from 7 to 11 percent of the total expenditure. The Hollywood Reporter:
... [T]he rise is attributed to a change in attitude by advertising agencies and media buyers, which are redeploying their key staff from traditional to digital media. Consumer attitudes are also changing as younger demographics prefer digital to traditional media. Also, in a country where most payments are still made using cash, enabling technologies on mobile phones also helps the growth in online ad spend.
Commercial William Bao Bean is also a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your conference or want to pick his brains otherwise, do get in touch.
We have just sent off our September newsletter to the subscribers, with the latest on our speakers, tips on how to get the best speaker (this month about the timing) and many more background information on the China Speakers Bureau.
You can subscribe to the next newsletter on this website, or visit our online edition of the September Newsletter here.
The famous Chinese IT company Tencent, operator of the popular QQIM service, will start soon an international leg of its popular application. I have been asked to join QQ and help to moderate its business section. While details are still up in the air, I have started to make an account (@fonstuinstra) and will get additional information late in the week. Let me know if you are interested in joining.
You can also read me at QQ International ID: 1265806143.
Upcoming leader Xi Jinping was to many's surprise not elected as Vice-president into the Central Military Commission (CMC), a step needed to replace current president Hu Jintao in 2013. Political analyst Victor Shihexplains in Bloomberg Hu wants to hang on a little big longer after 2013, just like his predecessors did.
Bloomberg:
Xi may still be named to the post in coming days or weeks or at a party meeting next year. Should he fail to be appointed, it may be a signal that Hu wants to hold on to his role as the commission’s chairman beyond 2013, delaying Xi’s full assumption of power, said Victor Shih, a professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois who studies elite Chinese politics.
“If Xi indeed did not gain ascension into the CMC, it is indeed surprising,” Shih said. “My take is that Hu wants to delay Xi’s ascension into the CMC so that he himself can serve another full term as chairman of the CMC before fully retiring at the 19th Party Congress” in 2017
“For now, Xi accepts his exclusion from the CMC,” Shih said.
Victor Shih is one of few people with real insight of what is happening behind the curtains at Zhongnanhai. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch with the China Speakers Bureau.
A very optimistic Shaun Rein expects that China's luxury market will replace in size the Japanese one already by the end of this year, he tells Bloomberg. Especially the Chinese women have been moving up in the picking order for the more expensive goods.
Regardless of their disposable income, many Chinese still buy big ticket items. Rein: "The Chinese want it big".
He singles out a few foreign luxury brands that have been doing well: Ports, Louis Vitton and Gucci.
Commercial Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you want to share his insights at your meeting or conference, do let us know.
The relations between the Obama administration and China's central government have been excellent, despite an averted trade war. But on the internet US and Chinese citizens are stirring up the Sino-US relations, warned Kaiser Kuo earlier this week at a CLSA China conference in Shanghai, here quoted in Business Week
He said the internet is leading to increasing polarization of views between China and the U.S. in what he describes as “Red necks vs Red Guards.” Ironically, he notes that Sino-U.S. relations since Obama took office have been better than in any time in recent memory. But while things look smooth offline, online “things have deteriorated really, really badly.”
This matters because the Chinese leadership is becoming increasingly sensitive to views disseminated in chat rooms and blogs within China, and popular opinion is, for the first time in the Middle Kingdom becoming something Beijing is wary of. “It is not just in western democracies where populism is percolating up to national policies,” he said. “Unchecked this will strain the political relationship [between the U.S. and China] and constrain policy choices.” The internet is making us “more tribal, more fractured, more polarized…..people are touching noses but not seeing eye-to-eye in Cyberspace.”
He proposed several ways that western readers might help close this chasm of opinions. First, they should drop their condescending attitudes that assume because the Chinese are caught beyond the Great Firewall that they are to be pitied. Second, try to learn what the Chinese think when they aren’t on the defensive. Third, learn some Chinese history, especially from the last 150 years. And finally, take advantage of bridge bloggers who monitor the Chinese internet and provide a summary for non-Chinese speaking readers.
Relatively large changes in our top-10 of most-sought speakers at the China Speakers Bureau for September, compared to August. At least four newcomers, although the top-2, Shaun Rein and Kaiser Kuo remain unchallenged.
Highest newcomer is the respected China-author Jasper Becker who appears on the third position. While by now every old-China hand has written their book on the Middle Kingdom, Becker has an impressive list of publication on China that cannot be matched by any other author.
The good news for our European customers is that Jasper Becker has temporarily moved his residence from Beijing to the UK, so flying him into Europe is a less complicated operation. What is good news for our customers in Europe is not-so-good news for those in Asia, of course.
With the upcoming 60th birthday of the communist party and the take off of the political season after the summer, it is not strange that two of our high-profile speakers on China's politics, William Overholt and Victor Shih, both respected academics from the US, moved up in our raking.
Recently, we got a few - what we call - panic assignments. While we are able to move fast in most requests for speakers, a lead-time of at least three months is advised to make sure the process goes smoothly.
One year after the collapse of the US bank Lehman Brothers, capitalism has not died, but the ball game has moved to Asia, with India and especially China as the new players, argues Shaun Reinin a new commentary in Forbes. One year later, the power brokers are different, not the game, leading the world in economic growth.
Not a day seems to go by without another Chinese company acquiring a stake in an iron ore mine in Australia or completing a deal for oil in Iran or Sudan. China Development Bank just gave China National Petroleum Corporation (the parent of Petrochina) a $30 billion loan to make overseas acquisitions. Look for this trend to continue and look for an erosion of the U.S. dollar, not only because of worries that America is taking on too much debt but also for geopolitical reasons.
China is using money and soft power to forge stronger relations with the Middle East, Latin America and Africa and to provide a balance of power against American hegemony. It is also flexing its muscles to supplant Japan, with all its political turmoil, as the dominant power in Asia.
Rein's research firm has interviewed over the past year thousands of Chinese executives, he continues:
Far from being cowed by the financial crisis, they have said they see the downturn as an opportunity. Some 70% have told us they'll take advantage of the recession to speed the global growth they already had underway. Many have told us they have faced far worse times in their business lives, and they want to make sure they don't miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime investing opportunity. American companies will have to develop strategies to compete with these emerging market brands. They are fast improving in both product quality and branding.
After the US announced a levy on Chinese tires, many observers feared a possible trade war between two of the world's largest economies. According to Dragonomics director Arthur Kroeber from Beijing in Finfacts, a repeat of the 1930s trade wars is highly unlikely.
Finfacts:
Beijing has built a reputation for rapid but controlled retaliation during trade disputes. One Washington trade lawyer said: “China always responds, so I don’t think this escalates. It just repeats each time the US does something.”
Arthur Kroeber of Dragonomics, a Beijing-based economic consultancy, said: “Chinese tit-for-tat measures are unlikely to wreak significant economic damage . . . We don’t believe that the case marks the start of Depression-type trade wars.”
The products that Beijing is threatening to target – while denying that it is retaliating for the tyre tariffs – are politically important in the US.
Huang Rulun, one of the wealthiest business men in China and a real estate tycoon, tops also the list of top-philantropists, report several state media. According to a report by the Hurun rich list Huang Rulun has spent 580 million Renminbi (58 million euro) in less than one year time on different projects.
Huang, 58, is the board chairman of China real estate giant Century Golden Resources Group, which has long been involved in real estate, hotels, shopping malls, mine exploration and finance industries in China.
This year, the entrepreneur topped both the China Philanthropist List issued by the Hurun Report and the Forbes List of the world's leading philanthropists.
The entrepreneur proves to be of a different kind than the first generation of wealthy people, who had often not time to look beyond their money making activities. Rupert Hoogewerf:
Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Report, said Huang's acts in philanthropic causes have become a symbol of China's philanthropy industry, as he has inspired an increasing number of other business leaders to take part in those efforts.
"Huang is a leader among the country's private entrepreneurs. Under Huang's leadership, China's private enterprises have taken an active role in social causes and become a key force of charity in the nation," Hoogewerf said.
Commercial Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your conference? Do get in touch.
“The made-in-China label is really damaging and a lot of Chinese consumers don’t like it,” Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai, said by phone today. “Nestle has the ability to increase market share, partly because everybody’s fleeing the domestic producers.”
Nestle gained 0.09 percent to 43.32 Swiss francs in Zurich trading on Sept. 4, and has advanced 4.1 percent this year.
China's emissions might be high on the global environmental agenda, but Shaun Rein from Shanghai remembers the polluted days ahead of the country's economic boom and seem room for optimismm although the level of pollution is ten times as high as in New York, he writes in Forbes.
To begin with, the Chinese government recognizes that it has a severe problem and is doing something about it. This is a turnaround from just a few years ago, when the government argued that heavy pollution was a necessary part of economic development, Western countries having gone through it in the Industrial Revolution. The nation's rulers were more worried about feeding their citizens than about preserving their environment. But today most Chinese citizens have access to adequate food and shelter and are increasingly concerned about pollution's effect on their health.
Forced by increasing health care costs, the central government has put the environment firmly on the agenda and is spending much of is capital on it, offering great entrepreneurial opportunities. Large industries, like the car makers, use their emergence in China to break with the polluted heritage of the old players.
China's automobile manufacturers may be the most innovative in the world today. Unburdened by a legacy of factories, unions and gas stations, they are rushing to produce electric cars that are years ahead of anything from Ford Motor ( F - news -people ), General Motors ( GMGMQ.PK - news - people ) or even Toyota ( TM - news - people ). BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett, is selling electric cars that not only reduce carbon dioxide emissions but are stylish too. Its sales have soared 183% this year to more than 200,000 cars.
Look for the boom in electric cars in China to continue as the government adds tax breaks and pushes taxi companies and government fleets to go electric. More than 20 million electric bikes have been sold in the last three years too. The technology is improving at both the low end and the high end.
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. Her view on the Communist' party future is more nuanced than that of those who expect its imminent demise.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=55b8c004-f203-41a5-8d5b-115ea572a047)
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