China Speakers Bureau: March 2011

Who buys the luxury goods in China? - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

The luxury goods market in China is growing fast, says Shaun Rein in CNBC, but retailers often focus on the wrong kind of customers. The rich grab a visa and shop in Milan and Hong Kong. Aspiring young buyers still want their Gucci bags, but have to buy it at home.
China might take over Japan soon as the major luxury market, as it grows annually 20 to USD 13 billion in 2010, but the rich Chinese buy outside the country, warns Shaun Rein:

One, there’s more prestige in buying a Bulgari bag in Milan than in Beijing. Two, prices are also 30 percent cheaper abroad because of taxes and tariffs. Even billionaires don't want to waste money.
Only 40 percent of the $13 billion worth of luxury items sold to the Chinese last year were transacted in the country. That explains why Chinese tourists in France are now the highest per capita spenders there.

So, who can the luxury brands sell to?

The aspiring class – often younger people under the age of 30 who cannot afford to travel abroad and who still live at home rent-free, or those who live in second and third tier cities where it is hard to get visas to go abroad.

It is common for 25-year-old secretaries making $600 a month to save two months’ salary to buy $2,000 Gucci bags or drop $200 on a La Mer facial cream. Wealthy mining tycoons in fourth tier towns often cannot get visas, so they buy in China.
Many luxury brands are likely to fail in China as they only stock products that the elite buy when they should also be offering entry-level products for the younger, aspiring class.

More in CNCB.

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

Trade under threat of Fukushima fallout - Shaun Rein

2007 Toyota Tundra photographed in USA. Catego...

Toyota SUV in trouble via Wikipedia

The effects on trade between Japan and China cause by the Fukushima nuclear disaster is bigger than expected, warns Shaun Rein at CNBC, as Chinese consumers not only stop buying Japanese food, but Japanese products like Toyota's SUV cannot reach the Chinese market.
Rein is bullish on the home decoration market, where he expects this year a growth of 15 percent, as Chinese home owners turn to renovation as the sales of residential real estate slows down. Unfortunately, the foreign retailers like B&Q, Home Depot, but surprisingly also IKEA fail to capture that momentum.

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, Home Depot, IKEA, Shaun Rein

Why foreign DIY stores fail in China - Shaun Rein

Not popular in China via Wikipedia

Foreign DIY-stores like B&Q, Home Depot and Saint-Gobain are retreating from China despite the booming economy, and nobody should be surprised, tells Shaun Rein in The Age. DIY does not fit the image people want to have.
The Age:

"Do-it-yourself is not popular in China," Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group...
"The feeling in China is that if you do it yourself that means you are a peasant -- not the sturdy, manly image DIY chains have crafted in the US."...Rein said that on some of the few DIY items that do sell in China, both B&Q and Home Depot priced themselves out of the local market by charging much more than Chinese competitors.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you want to learn more on how foreign businesses fail in China - or can win - do ask him for your meeting or conference, and give us a call.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, DIY, Home Depot, Shaun Rein

'The Chinese Dream' to be published in China - Helen Wang

Helen Wang by Fantake via Flickr

Our celebrity author Helen Wang just announced that her book The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You will be translated into Chinese and published in August.

Helen Wang "has sold Chinese translation rights to Shanghai Wenhui Publishing House, and will be available in China in August. I am really looking forward to it!
In celebrating this good news, my heart also goes out to all the victims of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan. All the royalties of The Chinese Dreambook sales in March will be donated to Red Cross Japan Earth Quake and Pacific Tsunami Fund."
Getting a book, aimed at a US audience, published in China too is a remarkable achievement, given the huge differences in background of both audiences.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau; do you need her at your meeting or conferen? Do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Helen Wang

Military affairs advance - Most-sought speakers in March 2011

Wendell Minnick by Fantake via Flickr

Shaun Rein regained the first position again from Kaiser Kuo in a very busy media month. Mostly we have no complaints on how our top-speakers perform, but this March shows we are in the top-season for business in China.
Fastest rising star this month is our prominent defense speaker Wendell Minnick,, the Asia bureau chief of Defense news. Initially, and not surprising, the China Speakers Bureau focused on China's economic development and business affairs.
But China as a military force is getting more attention, so we were happy to include Wendell Minnick last year in our list of prominent speakers. And we can announce that his colleague Reuben F. Johnson, working amongst others for Jane's weekly and the Weekly Standard, has agreed to join us - although his profile is still under construction at this stage.
Two veteran speakers returned to this month's top-10: Jasper Becker and Paul French. A few new books on Mao's famine have hit the shelves, so the author of the Hungry Ghosts, Jasper Becker, is getting quite some hits. And Paul French has been relatively quiet for at least a month, so we expect his new book to get out soon too.

Without further delay, here is our list of top-10 most-sought speakers for March (February in brackets)

Victor Shih (no. 10)

Labels: Arthur Kroeber, China, China Speakers Bureau, Kaiser Kuo, Shaun Rein, Victor Shih, Wendell Minnick

China: less of a miracle - Victor Shih

Victor Shih by Fantake via Flickr

China's three trillion US dollar of foreign reserves and other assets might look impressive, but when you withdraw the country's debts and other liabilities, it looks no longer that special, tells Victor Shih at the US-China Institute. Local companies and governments hold those debts.

Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting of conference? Do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, debts, Victor Shih

Can China deliver on its five-year plan? - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Increased domestic consumption and sustainable growth are key in the country's new five-year plan. But can it deliver on two critical issues, beating inflation and affordable housing, author Helen Wang wonders in Forbes and on her weblog.

Reigning in inflation and providing affordable housing are important steps to foster a growing middle class. A major hindrance to increased Chinese consumption, however, is the country’s high saving rate, which reflects the underlying insecurity the Chinese feel about their future.
In writing my book The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World’s Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You, I interviewed over 100 people in China. They are from all walks of life and are the new members of the Chinese middle class. The biggest concern they have is social security. Most people I talked to save 25-50 percent of their incomes for a rainy day, as I wrote here.
Victor Ku, a hotel manager in Guangzhou, told me that he had to save two-thirds of his income. “I have to pay for my own health expenses,” he said. “In China, we don’t have security. If you get sick, you can immediately become poor.”

Can the government deliver? Helen Wang: "Most likely. Judging from its past performance, I would not underestimate the Chinese government’s ability to deliver. Will China become a more open society? Sooner or later, when the Chinese government sees it is in its own interest to let go of control."

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

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

Value creation in US-China relationship - Janet Carmosky

Janet Carmosky

What can women contribute in the debate on leadership and value creation in the US-China relationship, Janet Carmosky, CEO of the China Business Network, asks herself in her key-note address. "We know a lot about tenacity. To challenge and to protect equally."

Janet Carmosky is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Janet Carmosky, leadership

Thursday: Make competition irrelevant - Zunaira Munir

Zunaira Munir by Fantake via Flickr

Zunaira Munir will be holding a free webinar this Thurday (1PM EDT) Do Not Beat the Competition—Make it Irrelevant to Succeed in Business.

Break free from the competitive landscape by creating your market place that makes your competition irrelevant to your success. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:

Recognize the limitations of your existing approaches to growth and profitability
Generate untapped demand and create uncontested new markets
Eliminate redundant costs from your system while creating new value for your stakeholders
Identify noncustomers and convert them into customers
Innovate while minimizing risks and maximizing opportunities

You can register here.
Zunaira Munir is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Competition, Zunaira Munir

Thursday book talk in Chengdu - Bill Dodson

Bill Dodson

The Chengdu Bookworm, part of the famous chain of book stores, will host a book talk by Bill Dodson on his book China Inside Out on Thursday 24 March at 7.30PM, he announces on his weblog.

I’ve been invited to the Chengdu Bookworm to discuss my book China Inside Out this week Thursday, March 24, at 7:30pm. The Bookworm’s Literary Festival is winding down this week, with appearances by Jonathan Watts, author of When a Billion Chinese Jump, and Peter Hessler, author of Country Roads. I’m pulling up the rear.

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

Labels: Bill Dodson, China, China Speakers Bureau

China's unruly workforce - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Common complaints? “Overly confident”, “spoilt”, “mercenary”, “and disloyal” employees. Shaun Rein looks in CNBC at one of the largest problems for foreign companies in China: the lack of a loyal labor force.

"Mama Mia," the GM of an Italian company lamented to me over lunch in Shanghai, "The corruption I can deal with, but human resource issues are driving me insane. Workers are too short-term focused – 50 percent leave within two months no matter how much money and training we give."

Every year the shortage of workers increases and getting enough labor is the nightmare of many employers. Shaun Rein:

An entire generation of younger employees constantly leaves jobs when the going gets tough or when they are dangled a minor salary increase. It is not uncommon for younger workers to have 5 jobs in 5 years. The result for the country is far too many over-confident, under-trained and spoilt 20-somethings.

What happens if these young workers never fulfill their increasingly unrealistic ambitions? What happens to China if it never gets properly trained managers in place? These are serious issues China’s society as a whole needs to address...

If the situation is not fixed, perhaps that Italian GM will join a growing list of companies shifting investment out of China to sunnier investment climates.

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, labor, Shaun Rein

No salt for my French fries - Bill Dodson

Image by Fantake via Flickr

Bill Dodson

Salt hysteria has hit the East coast of China and Bill Dodson reports in his weblog from Shanghai on the difficulties of getting salt for his French fries.

My wife later that evening told me over dinner how our ayi had bought a kilogram of salt. “It was so expensive,” she told me, “a single small bag can now cost 15 rmb.” Bags used to cost a couple yuan. She explained to me the near-hysteria with which Chinese consumers were buying up salt in fear of atomic radiation blowing in from Japan should a reactor explode at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The iodine in salt, so Chinese wisdom holds, will protect consumers from radiation poisoning. She told me, “I said to the ayi, ‘What are you going to do, eat handfuls of salt?” She said the ayi had no response.
The government has remained mum on the subject, perhaps theorizing that because there is no solution should there actually be contamination, that at least salt is cauterizing pedestrian anxieties. Salt producers must be laughing all the way to the bank.

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

Labels: Bill Dodson, China, China Speakers Bureau, Fukushima, salt

Why China is not collapsing - Shaun Rein

Image by Fantake via Flickr

The main difference between Tunesia, Egypt, Libya on one hand and China? Most Chinese support their government, argues Shaun Rein in CNBC in response to those who predict China might be the next on the block of governments under siege. Shaun Rein:

Sure, the system has shortcomings and continued reforms are necessary – corruption in particular is a significant problem area. But any unrest is more akin to the protests in Wisconsin than those in Tripoli.

People are far more likely to blame local governments than the central government. Many levels of society, from the military to the middle class to even the rising lower class, benefit from the status quo – no one wants a return to the chaos of the pre-opening up era.

China is not a one-family government, but a tidbit more complicated than many foreign observers think, and on a much more solid foundation, Rein argues in CNBC.

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, Egypt, Libya, Shaun Rein

Is the Chinese dream also the American dream? - Helen Wang

Helen Wang by Fantake via Flickr

Helen Wang, author of The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You, will address on April 4 the INSEAD Alumni Association of Northern Californa in Palo Alto about the challenges and opportunities of a rising Chinese middle class. More details here.
“The Chinese Dream tells one of the most important stories of our time,” says Ken Wilcox, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank. “Helen Wang enlightens us with the possibility of ‘unity in diversity’. A comprehensive, and yet easy to read book about modern China.”

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. She will be visiting China in June and August and is available for speaking opportunities. When you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Helen Wang, middle class

Is Japan getting ready for change? - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

The current crisis in Japan could lead to a change in Sino-Japanese relationships, Shaun Rein tells CNBC. Japan could actually have a chance to trigger off long-overdue economic change and prepare for competition with China.

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, Japan, Shaun Rein

Hong Kong still has nothing to fear from Shanghai - Shaun Rein

Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok, Hong Kong

Hong Kong via Wikipedia

Since Shanghai emerged as a financial stronghold at the mainland, Hong Kong has been living in fear its would be outpaced by its northern competitor. Shaun Rein explains in the Financial Times' weblog why Shanghai, after decades of development, is still not a real threat for Hong Kong;

First, Shanghai’s talent pool is weak. Although Shanghai middle school studentsgenerally outperform Hong Kongers and Americans on standardised tests, the reality is that Shanghai’s education system does not adequately prepare its studentsfor a globalised world.

They focus too much on rote memory and not enough on training students to think analytically. The biggest obstacle for growth – according to several dozen senior finance executives we’ve spoken to – is not government regulation or corruption but the lack of qualified talent. Turnover often tops 30 per cent a year as loyalty is in short supply.

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr
Even hiring secretaries is tough as anyone who can do PowerPoint or write an email in English wants to be an analyst. Hong Kong’s relatively strong university system prepares a larger group of students qualified for low and middle management financial sector positions.

For two other reasons, China's too high personal income tax and the rising costs for expats to live in Shanghai, read on here.

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, Hong Kong, Shaun Rein

Book launch "Inside out", Saturday in Suzhou - Bill Dodson

Bill Dodson, signing his book

While already going strong, the global launch of Bill Dodson's new book China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Reshaping China and its Relationship with the World will take place this Saturday in Suzhou, he announces at his weblog:

The Suzhou Launch will be this coming Saturday, March 12, 2011, at the Bookworm in Suzhou, just off Shiquan Jie. The book talk will last about an hour, starting at 4pm; after which will be a launch party with free flow wine and beer (but just for another hour or so).
I’ll be discussing the ramifications for China of the first couple pages of chapter 2 of the book, in which I describe how I unwittingly become caught up in a revolt of middle class protesters angry about the invasion of a property developer onto land to which they hold the deeds. Now, we’re not talking peasants, here; but bonafide, certified, Chinese professionals who find themselves pitted against the local government, unscrupulous property developers, construction managers with bad comb-overs and white-helmeted police in a local, Suzhou dispute that turns very ugly.

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

Labels: Bill Dodson, China, China Speakers Bureau

The tin line between failure and success

Image by Fantake via Flickr

The March Newsletter of the China Speakers Bureau is now online, with the latest news about our speakers and an overview of the corporate failings in China over the past month, while their markets keep on growing. We look over Groupon, BestBuy, Mattel's Barby, Home Depot, Apple and many more. When you have not yet subscribed, you can look at it here.

Labels: Apple, BestBuy, China, China Speakers Bureau, Groupon, Home Depot, Mattel

Apple: A loser turns into a winner - Shaun Rein

Entrance Apple store Shanghai by randomwire via Flickr

A visit to Apple's store in Pudong, Shanghai leave no room for doubt: the company is doing very well. Shaun Rein analyzes in CNBC how the laggard from 2009 turned into a winner in 2011, where other retailers like BestBuy, Home Depot and Mattel's Barbie retreat.
When selling the iPhone, Apple was the victim of its own appeal. Shaun Rein:

Originally, Apple waited too long to get the iPhone into the market. By the time the iPhone officially sold there, early adopters had already bought around 2 million cracked versions smuggled in from the U.S. and Hong Kong.

So for the iPad, Apple used a different tack. Instead of waiting years as it did with the iPhone, Apple waited only months after it came out in the U.S. to launch the iPad in China. Consumers did not feel the need to travel abroad to shop when they knew products were coming to them soon.

When a brand does not release its new products on time in the Chinese market, the 50 million Chinese who travel abroad will pick up the products there, making a launch in China a guaranteed failure. Offering a high-standard store, not selling through dodgy retailers, did the trick for Apple's products:

Image by Fantake via Flickr

Shaun Rein

Like in other markets, Apple’s new stores are fun to shop in, have great service, and consumers trust that they are buying the real thing. Unlike with Best Buy, which sold too many of the same products at higher prices, Apple is differentiating both its service and its products from other retailers while keep a uniform pricing scheme in the country. There is a significantly wider gap in the quality of experience between shopping at an Apple Store and a reseller in a dingy electronics mall than between shopping at a Best Buy and a Gome, China's largest electronics superstore chain.

More 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: Apple, China, China Speakers Bureau, iPad, iPhone, Shaun Rein

Jasmine might still shock China - Howard French

Howard French by Fantake via Flickr

Most commentators have dismissed the so-called Jasmine revolution as an instant failure. Howard French argues in The Atlantic there is more to it than those easy analysis suggest.

At the simplest level, it is hard to understand how a call to protest can be declared a failure if it virtually causes a nation's entire security apparatus to come out in force and to take extraordinary measures of one kind after another, as has happened in China.
Ever the great builder of walls, China responded to last week's call for protesters to gather at a McDonalds in central Beijing by erecting barriers around the fast food establishment and deploying sanitation workers to hose down the streets to shoo people away. Watching over the scene were large numbers of policemen, both uniformed and plain-clothed, who didn't hesitate to use muscle to bundle away suspected foreign correspondents, many of whom were then subjected to interrogations on camera...

On reflection, this might be a good time to take the Chinese authorities at face value. By their actions, they have all but declared this Jasmine moment to be of tremendous importance. By the same token, this is a good time to reconsider the hasty verdict of failure that many attached to this phantom movement.

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, Howard French, Jasmine

Taiwan spy case focuses on disrupting communications - Wendell Minnick

Wendell Minnick

The high-profile Taiwanese spy general Lo keeps on rocking the military establishment. In the Wall Street Journal Wendell Minnick gives his take on the largest spy case in 50 years in Taiwan.
The Wall Street Journal:

Wendell Minnick, the Asia bureau chief of Defense News, an independent defense trade periodical, said he believed that Gen. Lo could have caused damage in other ways because he had access to sensitive international military cables while working as an attaché. He may also have worked as a "talent spotter" recruiting other officers to spy for China, Mr. Minnick said.
China has long sought details of the Po Sheng program. The technology featured prominently in a 2008 case in which an employee at a U.S. Department of Defense agency, Gregg Bergersen, gave out secret information about the program to a naturalized U.S. citizen from Taiwan named Kuo Tai-shen with the understanding the leaks would lead to business opportunities for Mr. Bergersen. But Mr. Kuo sent the information to a Chinese official in Guangzhou, according to an affidavit relating to the case. He was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison while Mr. Bergersen received a 57-month sentence and three years supervised release.
The Chinese focus on the Po Sheng program shows its intense interest and progress in developing the capability to disrupt Taiwanese communications ahead of an attack, according to Mr. Minnick. He added the arrest itself was also an impressive achievement for Taiwan's counterintelligence.

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, Taiwan, Wendell Minnick

Mattel got carried away with Barbie story - Paul French

Image by Zingaro. I am a gipsy too. via Flickr

The sudden closure of Mattel's Barbie store in Shanghai seems to have nobody apart from Mattel, says retail analyst Paul French in the LA Times, today. He is sceptical about the firm's announcement they are merely changing plans.
The closure comes after other high-profile closures of retailers like BestBuy and Home Deposit.
The LA Times:

Paul French, the Shanghai-based founder of retail market-research company Access Asia, said Monday he was skeptical that the closure was planned.
"What’s better than a [successful] flagship store in Shanghai?" he said.
Instead, French said, Mattel probably overestimated its cachet in China and assumed Chinese women would embrace childish brands the way many women in Japan do with Hello Kitty and, well, Barbie.
"They got massively carried away with that store," French said. "Retail is all about square footage and I never saw enough people there to justify its size. The rent there would have been big."

Paul French by Fantake via Flickr

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

Labels: Barbie, BestBuy, China, China Speakers Bureau, Mattel, Paul French

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Who buys the luxury goods in China? - Shaun Rein

Monday, March 28, 2011

Trade under threat of Fukushima fallout - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Why foreign DIY stores fail in China - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Saturday, March 26, 2011

'The Chinese Dream' to be published in China - Helen Wang

Related articles

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Military affairs advance - Most-sought speakers in March 2011

Related articles

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

China: less of a miracle - Victor Shih

Related articles

Can China deliver on its five-year plan? - Helen Wang

Related articles

Value creation in US-China relationship - Janet Carmosky

Related articles

Monday, March 21, 2011

Thursday: Make competition irrelevant - Zunaira Munir

Thursday book talk in Chengdu - Bill Dodson

Related articles

China's unruly workforce - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Friday, March 18, 2011

No salt for my French fries - Bill Dodson

Related articles

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Why China is not collapsing - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Is the Chinese dream also the American dream? - Helen Wang

Related articles

Monday, March 14, 2011

Is Japan getting ready for change? - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Friday, March 11, 2011

Hong Kong still has nothing to fear from Shanghai - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Book launch "Inside out", Saturday in Suzhou - Bill Dodson

Related articles

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The tin line between failure and success

Related articles

Apple: A loser turns into a winner - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Jasmine might still shock China - Howard French

Related articles

Taiwan spy case focuses on disrupting communications - Wendell Minnick

Related articles

Monday, March 7, 2011

Mattel got carried away with Barbie story - Paul French

Related articles

Contributors

Links

Previous Posts

Archives