China Speakers Bureau: February 2011

Educational reform key for China - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Ahead of the opening of the annual meetings of the CPPCC and the National People's Congress, Shaun Rein gives in CNBC an overview of the current challenges for the country. The mismatch on the labor market, caused by a failing education is key. Other issues: inflation, Libya and the oil prices, jobs and sustainable growth.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, education, inflation, Libya, oil, Shaun Rein

China is no Libya, but not out of danger - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

China has no Khadaffi-style ruler, lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, writes Helen Wang in Forbes. But the increased government control shows its rulers do not think China is immune for a home-made popular uprising.

The last few years saw a regression in the government’s openness. Since 2008, the Chinese government has increasingly censored the Internet, detained dissidents, and disbarred lawyers who are actively involved in civil rights and corruption cases.

If the government thinks the tightened control will help maintain stability, it will prove to be the opposite. The demonstrations in the Middle East provide a clear case that the more repressive the regime, the more chaos and protests it will brew. The “Jasmine Revolution” seems not going away. Boxun issued a new call for protest in 23 cities around China this coming weekend. It encourages people to take part of the “non-violent and non-cooperative” demonstration by “strolling, watching or pretending to pass by.” “As long as you are present,” the statement says, “the authoritarian government will be shaking with fear.”

Read in Forbes why Helen Wang thinks the government should loosen control.

Helen Wang is the author of The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You. She is also a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Helen Wang, Khadaffi, Libya

Taiwan still looking into espionage damage - Wendell Minnick

Ministry of Defense, Taipei via Wikipedia

Taiwan is still trying to assess the amount of damage caused by one of the largest espionage case, after the late-January arrest of General Lo Hsien-che, who ran the communications, electronics and information division of Army Command Headquarters, writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News.

The one-star general stands accused of compromising the Po Sheng (Broad Victory) C4I program. Po Sheng includes a fiber-optic communication cable network and procedures for sharing information with U.S. Pacific Command.
In Defense News:

Ministry of National Defense (MND)... officials announced his arrest Feb. 8, and said a damage assessment team is looking into how much Lo may have given China.
U.S. officials are pressuring Taiwan to be more transparent about the damage allegedly caused by Lo. The consequences could include losing the Pentagon's confidence in Taiwan's ability to protect U.S. defense technologies sold to the self-rule island. Taiwan is pushing Washington hard for the release of new F-16 fighter aircraft and is awaiting delivery of Patriot PAC-3 air defense missile systems and P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft. All are technologies China is anxious to learn more about.
One former Taiwan defense attaché said the MND is unlikely to dig too deeply. There's a long tradition of "making a big issue small" (da shi hua xiao) in Taiwan's military bureaucracy, the former attaché said.
"Even if the top leader asks whoever is in charge of the investigation to be completely honest, from the second level down, people will most likely try to make it sound less serious," he said.

Failing in a booming consumer market - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Home Depot and BestBuy were just two of the foreign companies in China that failed, while the consumer market is reaching record heights. Shaun Rein explains what they were missing in CNBC.
First, they get China's middle class wrong:

For one, Western brands need to understand there is no Chinese middle class in the American context. In the United States, the middle class tends to be a fairly static socio-economic group. People are born into it and their children and grandchildren tend to retain similar middle class habits like shopping atMacy's, driving Ford cars and visiting the Disney theme parks during vacations.
In China, however, the habits of the middle class are often described as anything but static. With many rags-to-riches stories doing their rounds across the mainland, many believe they, or their offspring, can also be wealthy. This optimism mirrors the conditions American Baby Boomers grew up in during the post World-War II era.

Even more complicated: Chinese want to be wealthy rather than middle class, avoiding typical middle class brands.
In CNBC Shaun Rein adds two more pitfalls.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: BestBuy, China, China Speakers Bureau, consumers, Home Depot, Shaun Rein

Consolidating cooperation CEIBS and Philips - Annette Nijs

Annette Nijs

Executive Director Global Initiative of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Annette Nijs led earlier this week a signing ceremony for a partnership between her school and the Dutch multinational Philips, a partnership focusing on health care and innovation.
From the CEIBS-website:

Annette Nijs called the event a "very special moment for us, because CEIBS and Philips have had a close cooperation since the start of CEIBS with the Philips Chair in Marketing, the Philips Chair in Human Resources, and the donation of lighting solutions for the original Shanghai campus." During the past 16 years, Philips has recruited more than 25 CEIBS graduates, and has sent dozens of its employees for training at CEIBS Executive Education programs. She added that the new partnership will develop a number of joint projects showcasing health care and innovation, including roundtable discussions, research and case studies, internships, classroom presentations, and more.

Annette Nijs is a speaker at the China Speakeers Bureau. When you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: Annette Nijs, CEIBS, China, China Speakers Bureau, health care, innovation, Philips

The fading line between graduates and migrant workers - Zhang Juwei

Zhang Juwei

More graduates take up jobs that do not require education, while more migrant workers have a college education, tells professor Zhang Juwei of the Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing in PhBeta. "Demand and supply of the labor market are imbalanced.

“The largest group of graduates who’ve taken up jobs that do not require a college diploma has grow to be blue-collar workers,” says Zhang, who has been studying the labor difficulties in the country for a lengthy time. “Many other graduates have entered simple service sectors like security and housekeeping.”
Disproportionate availability of jobs across industries is the prime trigger of the trend, he says. The number of students graduating from colleges multiplied from 3.3 million in 2005 to 5.59 million in 2008. The graduates typically are employed in service sectors and function at office.

Zhang says the country’s relatively backward economic structure and inferior position in the world industrial chain is the trigger of this imbalance. China’s economic growth has relied heavily on the second industry(manufacturing and construction), which accounts for about half of the total economic output, while the tertiary industry accounts for only about 40 percent, significantly lower than in most developed countries.

Besides, China is still downstream in the global industrial chain, which deprives it of creating numerous jobs. “Many job opportunities including designing, analysis and development, and marketplaceing appeal to and will need individuals with higher qualifications but they’re not properly or adequately distributed in China, for several goods produced here are designed abroad.”

Take iPhone for instance. While foreign designers and researchers function out the best way to add value to the product and attract far more customers, Chinese workers only assemble and package them. That is why college graduates might have fewer opportunities in China than abroad. Having compared Chinese and foreign college graduates, Zhang discovered that much less than 3 percent of the country’s graduates are likely to begin their own business compared with 20 percent in developed countries. That dries up a lot of job opportunities, due to the fact if one individual starts a business, he/she could provide employment to numerous other people.

More in PhBeta.

Zhang Juwei is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: CASS, China, China Speakers Bureau, graduates, labor, migrants, Zhang Juwei

Low profit margins force BestBuy out - Paul French

Former flagship in Xujiahui, Shanghai

The decision by US electronics retailer BestBuy to close its outlets in China hardly comes as a surprise, says retail analyst Paul French in USA-Today. "They were ahead of the consumer."

Unlike the warehouse style of top Chinese electronic chains Gome and Suning, where sales personnel push particular brands to earn commission, Best Buy provided "a much nicer retail environment," said French, at prices no higher than its competitors.

But the perception of the customers was different, they still feared they were paying a price for the better store, used it for window-shopping and rushed to the competitor when they went for a purchase.
French wonders whether switching to Five Star, an electronic retailer from Nanjing, purchased by BestBuy, will help:

Paul French by Fantake via Flickr
As independent shops and plazas, not chains, still dominate electronics sales, "the pie is going to get cut very thinly," French cautioned. "Profit margins are great if you are Apple," he said. Elsewhere, "There are too many brands and not enough people buying the high-margin items."

Paul French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your conference or meeting, do get in touch.

Labels: BestBuy, China, China Speakers Bureau, Paul French, retail

Why Weibo will surpass Twitter - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

China's twitter eauquivalent Sina's Weibo might very soon pass Twitter in popularity, writes Tudou.com co-founder Marc van der Chijs on his weblog, although the rest of the world is still largely ignorant about this internet service.

Weibo is certainly already miles ahead in terms of functionality. But most people outside China have no idea about the service and its functionality. Beijing-based blogger Bill Bishop therefore put a post on his blog today with an embedded presentation of Weibo’s history and main functions, including lots of screenshots.
Silicon Valley pay attention: this product is much better than Twitter, and Twitter (or other clones or even social network sites) can probably learn a lot just by looking at some of Weibo’s functions. It’s so good that I wonder if it might actually one day be able to take on Twitter.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Marc van der Chijs, Sina, Tudou, twitter, weibo

Most-sought speakers in February 2011

Kaiser Kuo (left) by shelisrael1 via Flickr

Our monthly listing of most-sought speakers has become a pretty stable one. In February we have one important newcomer, Helen Wang, who has been extremely active since her book The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You hit the shelves in December 2010.
Talks on US radio shows, presentations and a stream of publications have helped Helen Wang to make a difference en join our top-10 of most-sought speakers.
It might be our bias at the global offices of the Chinese Speakers Bureau, but our list does reflect the high profile speakers have in mainstream media and their sellling power as a speaker. At our Speakers' Corner, you find our selection of our quoted speakers. Here you find our 2010 list of most-sought speakers.

Helen Wang

The February 2011 list of most-sought speakers

Hardship in China, and how to survive - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Helen Wang publishes a chapter from her book on de hardship of migrant workers in China's big cities. And how they plan to pull themselves out of this misery, keeping faith in the future.

“Is that what you plan to do—become a manager?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he said. Then he added, “Well, in a few years, I may start my own business. Zhu Guofan encourages us to start our own businesses. He said he would help us. There are many opportunities.”
“Is it hard for you, leaving home and working in a big city like Beijing?” I was still probing for some sign of dissatisfaction or bitterness.
He looked at me, with a sparkle in his eyes, and said, “Only if you endure the hardship of hardships will you become the man above men” (a well-known Chinese saying)...

"When I read the story of a young American woman selling her ova for $7,000 in order to pay off her credit cards, I kept thinking about young women I met in China. They earned about $100 a month, yet saved 80 percent of their incomes to help pay for their siblings’ education."

More stories on her weblog, and of course in the book The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need her at your conference or meeting, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Helen Wang, migrants

Five books on China's economy - Victor Shih

BEIJING - DECEMBER 18: Chinese president Hu Ji...

State-driven by Getty Images via @daylife

Leading political economist Victor Shih reviews five books he recommends on China's economy for The Browser. Number one is Huang Yasheng's Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State.
Victor Shih:

The biggest misperception about China is that it’s a dynamic market economy – it isn’t. It’s a fast-growing, state-dominated economy with some dynamic, private-market aspects. If you look at investment, a main driver of growth, much of it is going to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or shareholding companies dominated by state entities. Or it’s going directly to government investments carried out at a central or local level. The misperception has abated recently following Richard McGregor’s book on the Chinese Communist Party. People are realising that the party is still behind much of what happens in China.

And on Huang's book:

Victor Shih by Fantake via Flickr
I think Yasheng goes a little too far with some of his claims. But the broad outline is correct. There was a period of healthy organic growth in the 80s, driven by the de facto private sector. Many township and village enterprises were collectives or owned by the local government. But in reality they were private enterprises. This changed in the mid-90s, especially with the adoption of the ‘grasping the large and letting the small go’ policy that circumvented the special interests in the state sector. When Deng Xiaoping was alive, his executive vice premier, Zhu Rongji, wanted to bankrupt or merge many of the smaller state-owned enterprises into larger ones. It was a political tactic to further reform. And it worked.

More in Tne Browser.

Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Deng Xiaoping, economy, Victor Shih, Zhu Rongji

If I were Groupon - Marc van der Chijs

Image via Wikipedia

China Internet veteran Marc van der Chijs has a thorough look at the already sorrow state of Groupon's effort to enter the China market, together with the domestic giant Tencent. Things go from bad to worse. After Van der Chijs describes what has happened till now, he concludes:

If I were Groupon, I would seriously reconsider their current China market entry. If they want to enter fast they need Tencent, there is no way around it. But if they give themselves a bit more time there are other ways. They made the mistake of mainly hiring foreign managers and focusing in their recruitment drive on consultants and investment bankers with MBAs. That may work in the US, but that’s not what you need to be successful in China.

Marc van der Chijs by Fantake via Flickr

The article was original written for the Silcon Valley Insider. Last night Van der Chijs wrote is last update, and things look even worse now:

Last night an article on the Marbridge Daily named the 2 managing directors for Groupon in Beijing and Shanghai. From their LinkedIn resumes (see here for Mads Faurholt and Raphael Strauch) it looks like they both got their first real jobs in 2007 and have zero operations or China experience. They seem to be very smart, ambitious and aggressive guys, which is perfect for the European or US market, but less so for cooperation with a leading Chinese Internet company.

More background in his original article.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Groupon, Marc van der Chijs, Tencent, Tudou

China Speakers Bureau in Berlin

Image via Wikipedia

The European office of the China Speakers Bureau will be holding court in in Germany's capital Berlin in the first week of March. As always we will be looking for speaking opportunities for our speakers. If you are interested in meeting us, do get in touch for the last time slots available on March 3 and 4.

Looking for China's soft power - Shaun Rein

US senator Charles Schumer via Wikipedia

Is China closing its doors, as companies like GE, BASF and Siemens say, or is it more open than ever, as the country's officials say? It's a matter of perception, writes Shaun Rein in CNBC, especially now America's economy is in trouble and politicians need easy scapegoats.

The reality is, the country is not becoming more protectionist — just that some sectors that have never been open to foreigners, have remained that way. Energy and financial services industries, for example, which have been viewed by Beijing as critical to national security, will continue to be challenging for foreign firms to operate.

On the other hand, markets like the auto sector remain mostly open, as the government is in favor of joint ventures with key foreign players like Toyota and Ford, to ensure technology transfer and help the China catch up with other nations.

But then there is the perception:

As Americans question their way of life and worry about the lives of their children, it is easy for U.S. politicians like Senator Charles Schumer, who are looking for scapegoats for America’s economic mess rather than addressing the country’s very real internal structural and cultural problems, to point a finger at China.

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

And as unfavorable as it is for China, the country needs to do a better job at soft power if it wants to stave off rising anti-China sentiment, and keep support from foreign business. While the country is not in danger in losing continued investment, things could change as its labor and costs of business soar. Already, there is talk of Indonesia and Brazil becoming the next hot manufacturing destinations.

More arguments at CNBC.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Shaun Rein, USA

Second wives key for luxury consumption - Tom Doctoroff

Tom Doctoroff by Fantake via Flickr

China's second wives account officially for one third of the country's luxury consumption, says Tom Doctoroff in the Huffington Post, and elaborates on the distinction between marriage and sex in China.

Because China has never had a humanist revolution, sex and marriage have always been relatively divorced. That is why many Asian cultures have an immensely commercialised and categorised [sex industry]. The way they separate the two is quite stunning - the choices are up on neon boards like a McDonald's menu...

Second Wives [like flashy brands] because they have to display that their man is dedicated to them. They lead very insecure lives. They are not independent and need to advertise the fact they have a sponsor.

Much more in the Huffington Post

Tom Doctoroff is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, luxury, sex, Tom Doctoroff

Inflation control here to stay - Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung

China's tools to curb inflations are here to stay with us for a long time, because inflation is going to stay with us, tells Andrew Leung at CNBC. An unprecedented urbanization and the growing consumption of China's middle class will keep pressure on commodities.

Andrew Leung is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: Andrew Leung, China, China Speakers Bureau, inflation

Inflation pushes business and workers out of big cities - Marc van der Chijs

Many do not return after CNY via Wikipedia

Tudou.com founder Marc van der Chijs warns in his weblog that higher prices and wages is forcing businesses and people out of Shanghai and other larger cities in China, getting critical after Chinese New Year:

For years prices have been rising steadily in China. The price of fuel is about 3 times as high as 10 years ago for example, but also daily necessities such as rice keep on going up in price. That is the same all over China, but especially in the big cities the housing prices are also going through the roof. They are now at such a high level that even white-collar workers cannot afford to buy apartments anymore.
I realized this for the first time about 2 years ago, when an employee came to me with a salary increase request. He wanted to buy a house and could not afford it without a higher salary. I did not grant him the higher pay so he left the company, but it made me contemplate about the relation between the level of salaries and the housing prices. They were getting out of sync fast. But housing prices only kept on rising after that, and at a much faster pace than the average salary increase.

Now the increases have reached a critical level, Van der Chijs writes:

There are signs that this may happen sooner rather than later: in Saturday’s English-language newspaper the Shanghai Daily a reporter wrote that so far 90% of the domestic staff did not return from their hometowns to Shanghai after Chinese New Year. Last year the figure was around 30% at this time. And the staff that come back are asking for wage increases of up to 30%, meaning that a full-time cleaning lady now earns around USD 500 per month. If these people are now all staying in their home towns because of better economic conditions very soon their white-collar colleagues will follow their paths.

How Cairo shocked China - Howard French

Howard French by Fantake via Flickr

While China was busy repatriating its citizens from Egypt, writes Howard French in The Atlantic, "nowhere have these stories attempted an honest explanation of why an evacuation was needed in the first place. To do so would require getting into some deeply messy topics in post-Tiananmen China about popular demands for democracy and accountability and about the military's ambivalent relationship to the political leadership."
And more:

It is hard, though, to overstate the difficulties of spinning the Egypt situation from the perspective of the star of the Authoritarian International, in the delightful phrase of Chrystia Freeland, of Reuters. Things were so much simpler when so-called Color Revolutions swept a number of constituent parts of the former Soviet Union and the Balkans in the early 2000s. Beijing could indulge in the paranoid or cynical fantasy that this was a case of the West using its insidious non-governmental organizations and funding for civil society to undermine authoritarian regimes that had traditionally been in the socialist orbit. This was cast as a hostile takeover, and Beijing used this as an excuse to tighten controls on association both real and virtual. It also spread its word of caution in the non-democratic world: "Beware. If you let your guard down, this is what the West will do to you."

More in The Atlantic.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Egypt, Howard French

As no.2, China cannot hide anymore - Arthur Kroeber

Arthur Kroeber by Fantake via Flickr

While China's rank as the second economy in the world means little in material terms, it has an important psychological effect on its international affairs, tells Arthur Kroeber in the Wall Street Journal:

But Arthur Kroeber, managing director of GaveKal Dragonomics Research in Beijing, said the No. 2 ranking may have an important psychological effect in China, where many continue to view the country as poor and believe it bears little responsibility for international affairs. In trade negotiations and international financial summitry, for instance, China often plays a peripheral role. The U.S. and Western Europe generally continue to set the global agenda. "When you're the No. 2 country in the world, you can't make the argument any longer" that China can be a follower, Mr. Kroeber said."From an economic diplomacy standpoint, there's no place to hide."
More and more, China is asserting its economic power, he noted, by agreeing to finance infrastructure and other projects in Africa, Latin America and Central Asia in exchange for a secure stream of oil, food and coal.

More other experts in the Wall Street Journal.

Arthur Kroeber is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your conference or meeting; do get in touch.

Labels: Arthur Kroeber, China, China Speakers Bureau, economy

Russian fighter jet "no option for China" - Wendell Minnick

Wendell Minnick

The Russian fighter jet MiG-29k is "no option" for China's former Soviet-built carrier Varyag, told a Russian defense official at the 2011 Aero India air show in Bangalore, writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News.

"This is not an option for China's aircraft carrier program," the Russian defense industry official said, citing unresolved differences with China over intellectual property in the Su-27/J-11B fighter scandal.
In 2009, Russian officials accused China of stealing the blueprints for the Su-27 to produce an indigenous variant, the J-11B. There also have been allegations that the design for China's new L-15 advanced trainer jet was copied directly from Russia's Yak-130.
"The Chinese are going with an indigenous option for their carrier aircraft, most likely a modified variant of the Su-33," the industry official said.

More in Defense News.

Wendell Minnick is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, military, Russia, Wendell Minnick

Monday, February 28, 2011

Educational reform key for China - Shaun Rein

Saturday, February 26, 2011

China is no Libya, but not out of danger - Helen Wang

Friday, February 25, 2011

Taiwan still looking into espionage damage - Wendell Minnick

Failing in a booming consumer market - Shaun Rein

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Consolidating cooperation CEIBS and Philips - Annette Nijs

The fading line between graduates and migrant workers - Zhang Juwei

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Low profit margins force BestBuy out - Paul French

Monday, February 21, 2011