The Summer NPQ ( New Perspectives Quarterly ) has arrived, with an emphasis on the dissension gripping the Islamic world. Articles include "The Essence of Islamist Resistance: A Different View Of Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas", "Iran's Crisis of Legitimacy" and "A Global Convergence Against Globalization?" The usual stable of stars serve as contributors on a number of topics, including legendary M16 agent Alistair Crooke, Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, former Kabul CIA station chief Graham Fuller, current CIA Director Leon Panetta, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz, Myron Scholes, Gary Becker and Roger Myerson, commentator Arianna Huffington, Tiananmen uprising leader Wang Dan, 2008 Nobel laureate Jean-Marie Gustav le Clezio, and others. Scope it out on the current Jackson periodical stacks.
While the rest of the world is limping along during this global recession Norway is doing quite well for itself. The contrary Norwegians have succeeded in growing their economy just around 3% last year and their government is running a budget surplus of about 11% according to an article in the NYT entitled Thriving Norway Provides an Economics Lesson. How did they do it you ask? According to experts Norway saved while everyone spent, it also helps that the government takes in large revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. According to Spiegel Online Norway applied any fiscal surplus during good times to shore up public services such as pension funds and implemented ethical guidelines to guide sovereign fund investments.
A report recently published by the Center for Public Integrity , in conjuction with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, entitled Tobacco Underground gives a good overview of the black market for cigarettes. Among the statistics cited is the fact that up to one billion dollars in revenues are lost every year in cities like New York, with an estimate of $40 billion worldwide, from an underground tax evading market in cigarette sales. Additionally it is estimated that up to one-third of the world’s cigarettes are sold on the black market and that much of the selling is done by organized crime groups to support terrorist activities. As reported by David Kaplan, editorial director at The Center for Public Integrity and editor of the report all under the watchful eye of the tobacco companies.
Time to report on the latest arrival of NPQ -- New Perspectives Quarterly. The Spring 2009 issue on our current periodical racks is titled 'Obama's Smart Power', and highlights geopolitical challenges to the President's "smart power" strategy. The issue opens with a statement by Mr Obama, followed by interviews and commentary on this and other topics from the usual gang of suspects, i.e. world leaders, including U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph S. Nye Jr, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, author Olivier Roy (Globalized Islam), Afghan President Hamid Karzai, former President Jimmy Carter, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, ex-Shanghai mayor Xu Kuangdi, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, author Fareed Zakaria, historian Francis Fukuyama, Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson, and others. Take a look.
Who will be First Lady, and Second Lady, and ... ? That is the question in South Africa these days. The newly elected President of South Africa is an avowed polygamist with two wives and a third wife to be. The practice of polygamy is legal in the Zulu culture, but gender activists view the practice as "unconstitutional", since men are allowed to have more than one wife while women aren't allowed more than one husband. However, the issue has not been tested. Will this legitimize the practice of polygamy in South Africa? Will others be willing to move to a country that accepts this life style? Stay tuned.
As is our custom, we announce the new issue of NPQ (New Perspectives Quarterly), a compendium of commentary by thought leaders and politicians around the world on topics of current global interest. Crash is the word for the latest issue cover, with opinion and observations about the ongoing financial meltdown, the Obama victory, and other matters. Contributors include the usual constellation of stellar personalities: financier George Soros, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, novelist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Peking University Dean of International Relations Wang Jisi, chess champ Garry Kasparov, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, celebrated writer Carlos Fuentes, European intellectual Bernard Henri-Levy, and more. It's all at your fingertips -- on our Current Periodicals rack in Jackson Library.
If you are a news hound, there is a site you must check out. It allows you to scroll over different cities on a world map and get the most recent headlines of selected local papers everywhere. Double click and the page gets larger. You can then read the PDF version, or click through to the paper itself through the upper right corner. Omniscience ... at your fingertips. And it's free !
Over the last few days NPR has been presenting a series on Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom. Most of central Europe depends on Russia for most of its natural gas, which has put Russia in a very powerful political position since most houses are heated with natural gas. Listen to report entitled Gazprom And Russia's Foreign Policy.
China is the fastest country in the world outside of the U.S. to reach the milestone of 1,000 restaurants. McDonald's has focused heavily on growing its operation in China over the last four years but lags behind its chief rival Yum! Brands' more than 2,200 KFC outlets in about 450 Chinese cities.
McDonald's has also started rolling out drive-through restaurants, helped by a 20-year deal with China oil giant Sinopec to build restaurants at its 30,000 petrol stations across China.
AdAgeChina, November 2008
The New Perspectives Quarterly Fall 2008 issue, now on the rack, addresses itself to globalization and power shifts. Shall the West remain dominant, or is a new paradigm at hand? As usual, a clutch of world thought leaders ponder 'big picture' topics such as China's rise to dominance after centuries of eclipse, the new "crisis of faith" facing Western secularism, challenges to globalization, and more. Contributors include German sociologist Jurgen Habermas, Chinese intellectual Wang Hui, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, author Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine), former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, political philosopher Francis Fukuyama, economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Cal Tech President David Baltimore and others. Check it all out on the Jackson Current Periodicals rack.
Th!nk began in 1991 in Norway. By 1998, it produced 1,000+ electric runabouts sold in Norway. In 1999, it was bought by Ford to meet California's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate. By 2003, EV program ended in the US and Ford sold Think. In 2006, a group of investors purchased Think for $15 million. Now Think's chief executive, Willums has raised about $93 million, much of it from Silicon Valley, to help lift Think off the ground.
The company opened an office in Menlo Park, Calif., earlier this year with plans to sell cars statewide in 2009.
Seattle Times, 7/18/08
Related news
In the welcoming address by premier Wen Jiabao to the World Economic Forum Summer Davos in Tianjin last month included the following questions posed to him in the Q&A session:
Question 1: You have a very integrated, comprehensive policy and you have here in front [of you] 1000 business leaders. What is your advice to the business leaders? What would you like to see from the business leaders assemble to you? What could they do better?
Question 2: Some of the shared challenges the world faces today from financial crisis to environmental degradation, what are the most significant global issues that you feel are not sufficiently addressed or adequately addressed among the international decision makers?
Question 3: You have confronted, as you mentioned in your speech, a number of challenges. The natural disasters including the snow storm, the earthquake, we all admire your decisive, fast leadership action you have taken. You have very positive events like the Olympic Games, the launching of the 7th space mission; you have to confront now, the last 10 days, the financial crisis. What is the profound and unanticipated lesson which you took out of this crisis management?
Replies at YouTube starting at 33:00, Question 2 starts at 38:50, and Question 3 starts at 42:00.
 Sure the US economy is hurting however the rest of the world is feeling the pinch too. Three European countries had to step in over the weekend to save Fortis bank the major consumer bank in Belgium also used in the Netherlands and Luxemburg. Benelux had to come up with $16.4 million to bail out Fortis in return each government will hold 49% of the company in their respective countries as mentioned by Bloomberg. All three countries are not interested in long term involvement in private banking as mentioned by DW (Deutsche Welle).
Time to report the newest New Perspectives Quarterly (NPQ). The Summer 2008 issue is here, trumpeting a global historical shift in the locus of power. Titled 'The Rise of The Rest', the issue considers the new world order which is emerging in the wake of the triumph of the West, with China and India as key players in the ascendant. Articles and interviews are harvested from thought leaders from around the globe, including author Fareed Zakaria, Nobel laureates Kenzaburo Oe, Desmond Tutu and Orhan Pamuk, Tiananmen Square student leader Wang Dan, Prime Minister Samdong Rinpoche of Tibet's parliament-in-exile, political philosopher Francis Fukuyama, author Xialou Guo, and financier Michael Milken. Last but certainly not least, the GSB's own Nobel laureates Myron Scholes and Michael Spence. Scope it all out on the Jackson current periodicals display rack.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, said on August 21 its first half after-tax profit totaled 64.88 billion yuan (9.47 billion U.S. dollars), which made it the world's most profitable bank.
The earnings marked a year-on-year increase of 56.75% during the first six months, ICBC, the world biggest bank by market value, said in a statement.
The bank said the biggest profit came on greater fee income and better operations to evade risks from the U.S. subprime crisis, which had ravaged profitability in many of ICBC's international competitors.
news.xinhuanet.com 2008-08-21
The last few days the US dollar has risen in strength compared to other currencies, hitting a six month high compared to the Euro. Sounds good, right? Well perhaps not. It’s looking more and more like the rest of the world is following in the economic doldrum steps the US has been taking. Speaking on the Wall Street Journal Report this weekend Jason Trennert, Chief Investment Officer Strategas Research Partners sees Europe encountering challenges such as high short term interest rates and no tax cuts.
WTO talks came to a close on July 29, 2008 over a disagreement in agricultural subsidies. China and India’s farmers would have a difficult time competing with US and European farmers. In the Business Week article Why India and China Said No to U.S. it is mentioned that soy bean imports to China increased 53%. Both China and India are under pressure from famers to represent their interests. Reuters produced a comprehensive timeline of how the Doha talks have unfolded over the years in the article Key dates in WTO's Doha Round. To address additional rising trade cost issues the WTO has put out the World Trade Report 2008 subtitled Trade in a Globalizing World.
The cover theme of American magazine (July/August 2008) highlights the energy crisis, and includes as one of its main stories a piece by former Intel Chairman / CEO and current GSB Faculty member Andy Grove. Titled 'An Energy Policy We Can Stick To', it makes a strong case for electricity, the 'stickiest' form of energy, as the power source of choice. Grove recalls an ominous incident earlier this year when the Saudi oil minister brusquely rejected our President's pleas for increased oil production, suggesting our society is a a critical juncture. He goes on to warn of potential negative political fallout in the global competition for energy if we do not strategize to avoid the wrong path. (A recent editorial by Grove in the Washington Post captures the same sentiment in shorter form.)
The New York Times Magazine (6/29/08) highlights the depopulation of Europe and other places in 'Childless Europe'. The piece by Russell Shorto speculates that birthrates in parts of Europe (and elsewhere) may be in decline because of a discrepancy between progressive hopes fostered among modern women and lingering patterns of pre-modern society which deflate those hopes. This civilizational schizophrenia leads to psychic disillusionment and a reluctance to bear children. Or so Shorto says. Benedict XVI recently lamented "Europe is infected by a strange lack of desire for the future." Is he right? Read more in the issue on our current periodicals rack in Jackson Library, or online.
The Pew Global Attitudes Project tracks a broad range of opinions across the globe, and this report  from June 2008 takes a close look at how the United States is perceived abroad. The report notes that favorable views of the United States have increased modestly since 2007 in 10 of 21 countries where comparative data are available, although it seems that many people also feel that the recent economic slump is in no small part due to the United States.
Chery, an independent car manufacturer in Anhui, China, sold 381,000 passenger cars in 2007, generating 20 billion renminbi ($2.86 billion) in sales and ranking fourth in the domestic passenger-car market. The top three are brands associated with joint ventures between Chinese and foreign automakers. Today, Chery’s Tiggo, Eastar, and A5 models can be found on the streets and roads of nearly 70 countries, and the company has seven foreign assembly plants, in Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, and Uruguay.
Looking forward, McKinsey Quarterly interviewed Chery's CEO on the opportunities and the challenges the company is facing.
Related news: GM's Joint Venture Is China's Top-Selling Brand in 2007
As is my habit, I note that we have a new issue of New Perspectives Quarterly in Jackson Library. I mention the NPQ because it affords an opportunity to get perspectives from thought leaders around the globe on the "big questions" of our day. This issue's topic is Post-Globalization. Contributors include Senator Barack Obama, economist Joseph Stiglitz, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Turkish thinker Halit Refig, elder Singapore statesman Lee Kuan Yew, French intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, geneticist J. Craig Venter and others. The issue may be found on our Current Periodicals rack near the front of the Library.
Producing almost half of the country's automobiles, the Yangtze Corridor formed by the cities of Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing hosts the major manufacturing bases of China's four largest auto groups – SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, ) Dongfeng, Changan and FAW. It is also the birthplace of China's dynamic domestic brands of Chery and Geely.
In contrast to the logistics cost for European and US automakers of 8% of sales volumes and only 5% in Japan, in China, the figure is generally above 15%. Logistics is particularly painful to Changan Ford based in the far inland city of Chongqing. Although waterborne shipping of automobiles is 20-30% cheaper than road, only 10% of the more than 5m automobiles a year are delivered by water transport. There is no policy support from the government and there is no uniform standard for car shipping. By contrast, in Japan, there is a regulation that vehicles must be carried by ship if the distance is more than 300km. In China, responsible departments have just started the establishment of standards for auto shipping.
Lloyd’s Freight Transport Buyer Asia, 1 September 2006 via Factiva database
Helen Chang of GSB News & Publications alerts us to the fact that a PBS Frontline documentary 'Young and Restless in China' will be airing Tuesday, June 17. The program features 9 smart, young and ambitious Chinese individuals trying to ride the crest of the tremendous change sweeping their nation. Among those profiled is our own GSB Alum, Lu Dong (Class of 2004). Read more to learn what's happening today in the world's most populous economy.
China opened the world’s longest cross-sea Hangzhou Bay Bridge last week running 22.4 miles from the port city of Ningpo across Hangzhou Bay to reach Shanghai. As part of an effort to boost economic integration and development in the Yangtze River Delta, it is designed to slash travel time between Ningbo and the financial hub Shanghai from four hours to two and a half.
Since its opening on May 1, police have fined more than 300 drivers, most for driving too slowly or illegal parking on the emergency lanes while enjoying the ocean view and taking photos. The $1.7-billion bridge’s much publicized sightseeing platforms in the middle of the span will not be ready for tourists for another two years, local media have reported.
Reuters, People's Daily Online
The IPO of the Chinese B2B web portal Alibaba.com last November raised a near-record $1.5 billion—at the time trailing only the $1.7 billion generated by Google Inc. in 2004 for the largest IPO haul by an Internet company.
The Alibaba Group—the parent of Alibaba.com—is China's most impressive Internet outfit. Founded in 1999, it comprises six main businesses. In addition to its B2B and the Taobao consumer auction portals, it owns China's most popular Internet payment company, Alipay, which solved the credit card problem with a bank transfer workaround. Alisoft, its Internet-based business management software, delivers tools that allow Taobao customers to communicate before making deals. In 2005, Alibaba acquired its search engine Yahoo! China. The newest entry, Alimama, allows Web publishers to list their advertising inventory, complete with prices and other pertinent information, and then advertisers can scroll for publications that match their needs and click to complete a deal. Alibaba has 4,400 employees working in 30 sales and marketing offices in China, Europe, and the United States.
Corporate Counsel, May 1, 2008
Weblog Strategic Sourcing Europe on Alisoft
Wikipedia on AliBlog
Customer Communications in North America
On 3 April 2008, Alibaba.com started their first official blog targeted for the international small and medium sized enterprise (SME) community, with a special emphasis on communicating with merchants in the United States. Their blog, the AliBlog, is marketed as "the latest word from Alibaba.com on our news, events, and community" while promising to be an official source for information and opinion from an employee's perspective on Alibaba.com.
As is my custom, I am highlighting the latest issue of New Perspectives Quarterly, a magazine specializing in big-ticket ideas and issues contributed by thought leaders and diplomats from around the world. The Winter 2008 issue lists the introductory Commentaries for issues of NPQ from 2001 - 2007. Topics covered are 'Civilizations Out of Sync', 'The Future of Anti-Americanism', 'No Shortcuts to the "End of History" ', "From the Faith Gap to Post-Liberalism', 'Globalization's New Left', 'DeGlobalize the Jihad', and 'China: From Democracy Wall to the Shopping Mall and Back', among others. Actual articles included are 'Modernization Will Arrive in Arabia From Asia', 'India: Sacred Cows and Software', and 'Hollywood in the World', for example. And the authors or people interviewed in these issues over the years? Samuel P. Huntington, Rem Koolhaas, Jorge Casteneda, Kofi Annan, General Wesley Clark, Lester Thurow, Amartya Sen, Robert McNamara, Coretta Scott King, Francis Fukuyama, Vladmir Putin, Mohamad Mahathir, Hillary Clinton, Edward Said, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Wolfowitz, Mohammed Yunus, Henry Kissinger, Carlos Fuentes, Al Gore, Gore Vidal ... and the list goes on. Read all this and more in the latest issue on the Jackson periodical racks.
Atlantic magazine January / February 2008 asks the $1.4 trillion question: Are we playing the Chinese for suckers, or are they playing us? Author James Fallows ponders the vast sum that the Chinese government has mostly placed in U.S. Treasury notes, an amount that increases roughly $1 billion per day. By his calculations, every person in the United States has over the past 10 years borrowed about $4,000 from the People's Republic of China. But there are potential future risks involved -- political and economic. And China has its own hopes. Chinese economic movers and shakers like Lou Jiwei and Gao Xiqing may in future play a far bigger role in U.S. economics than Americans would prefer. What will be the answer to the $1.4 trillion dollar question? Read more
The World Economic Forum in Switzerland came to a close this past weekend. The theme this year was The Power of Collaborative Innovation. On the agenda were Anti-corruption, extreme poverty and climate change and more which you can watch online.
2008 is the Year of the Rat, or the Year of the Mouse, as Disney prefers to call it and so enters Mickey Mouse to the China market again. The Disney campaign, called "Mickey brings you the magic of family happiness," launched in early January.
Cultural sensitivities runs high in China, however, the zodiac has helped Disney reopen doors. "Disney is about celebration, bringing families together. We did some research and the idea was very well received among Chinese," said Lance Diaresco, Hong Kong-based VP, marketing for China at Disney. To celebrate the Year of the Mouse, CCTV is putting back Mickey Mouse Clubhouse program on air during February and to rerun the show during the summer.
With limited exposure on television, Disney and BBDO Worldwide in Shanghai revamped the Chinese-language Mickey Mouse web site. With Touchmedia, a Shanghai-based media company, a Disney interactive game platform was created in taxis in China's first and second tier cities.
Read more in AdAgeChina, January 30, 2008
As a world-class provider of software and business services, India is creating a huge urban middle class. By 2025, household spending could more than quadruple, generating the 5th-largest consumer economy on Earth, up from 12th now. About 400 million Indian city dwellers—nearly 100 million more people than the United States has today—will enjoy comfortable living standards.
The average annual household spending on necessities, i.e. food and apparel, went down from 61% in 1995 to 48% in 2005. The projected discretionary spending including housing, transportation, education, and healthcare, will be 61% in 2015 and 70% in 2025.
Reported in McKinsey Quarterly Chart Focus Newsletter, January 2008
More on the subject in August 2007 issue of McKinsey Quarterly.
The topic of December issue of Red Herring is the rapid development of high-tech industry in Israel. You’ll find an interview with Orna Berry, Israel Venture Association Chair, who attributes the country’s success in maintaining the leading position in today’s global economy to huge investments in the early-stage ventures among other factors. In the interview with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president reveals some major directions of developing the economy such as massive switching to electrical cars in the near future and becoming an incubator of the solar energy. Another set of articles talks about close relations between Israeli new enterprises and Silicon Valley in creating new ventures and collaborating with VC companies such as Benchmark, Sequoia Capital, and Greylock Partners among others. You’ll find an article devoted to the state of biotech research in Israel, its successes and challenges. For more, read the magazine in Jackson Library's Periodicals section.
Can there be peace in a glass of cabernet? In Lebanon’s Bekka Valley they are harvesting grapes that will produce more than 4 million bottles of wine each year. The industry is succeeding, despite Lebanon’s diverse demographics. Christians, Sunni and Shiites work side by side toward a common goal – an exceptional bottle of wine. Religious differences are set aside as workers get to know each other as fellow laborers and human beings. Most Bekka Valley wines are exported, but the focus is to build up domestic sales. This concept may seem surprising in a country where most of the population is forbidden alcohol, but at home behind closed doors, winemakers smile, it is different. Here's a toast -- and a wish -- to an acceptance of differences.
"China is able to package their government programmes, their state-owned enterprises, their aid programmes in ways that the United States can't," said Ambassador Princeton Lyman of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Cape Town, 2007. Lyman described China's activities in Africa as "almost breathtaking. They've come with such vigor and such energy and resources."
Reported in allAfrica.com
'Made in China: From Tiananmen to Tainted Toys' is the focus of the latest issue of New Perspectives Quarterly. The Fall 2007 issue is now on the current periodical racks in Jackson Library. Included are articles '"Made in China" Label Won't Survive Without Rule of Law' with Minxin Pei, author of China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy, 'Chinese Hacking Signals Age of Info Warfare' with former Director of the National Security Agency Bobby Ray Inman, 'Brangelina vs. Chinese Mercantilism in Africa' with former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, 'Pakistan at a Crossroads' with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, 'Countdown to War With Iran' with former U.S. chief negotiator on Middle East peace issues Dennis Ross, 'Is America on Course to Fall Like Rome?' with U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, and 'The End of Darwinian Evolution' with renowned scientist Freeman Dyson. In addition, a section highlights 'The 11th Hour', a documentary directed by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and features comments by world thinkers such as Stephen Hawking, Paul Hawken, Paolo Soleri, James Woolsey, Mikhail Gorbachev and others. Come to the Library to learn more.
Japan has launched a program called “Innovation 25” with the goal to innovate Japan with an extensive long term plan extending to 2025 and beyond. In the September 17 issue of Red Herring dedicated to Japan, an article entitled Country Makeover take a look at the many initiatives the country is taking to make this work from dramatically increasing the number of foreign students at Japanese Universities to increasing investment in science and technology. The goal is to create a second wave of opening up Japan to the world.
Tomorrow evening (Thursday December 6) 4:15-5:30pm Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Science Advisor to the Cabinet of Japan will be at Stanford, as part of the Center for East Asian Studies, to speak on the topic Innovate Japan! among the topics discussed will be “Innovation 25”.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao concluded his four nation tour of Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Belarus.
Wen Jiabao said that 2007 marks the beginning of a new decade for the two-way partnership. Wen said the Sino-Russian relationship should be stepped up and interactions should be made concrete. Viktor Zubkov proposed the establishment of mechanisms to ensure long-term, stable coordination.
The two premiers agreed to improve trade standards, regularize trade structure, launch aviation industry projects, energy cooperation, joint R&D in science and technology, conserve water resources as well as increase exchanges in education, culture, public health, tourism and sports.
Abstracted from CCTV.com
Rajiv Singh, vice chairman of DLF, India's largest developer, questioned whether a 9 percent plus growth rate is sustainable without corresponding infrastructure improvement. Infrastructure issues include meeting the demand on roads, ports, airports, power supply, and even getting drinking water to everybody. There is a shortage of homes, offices, and retail space. He estimated that the growth in these three segments would be 25 percent or more a year. Meeting this demand is not without challenges. Mr. Singh mentioned too much political freedom, too many legal rights, and too much media as the major deterrents in the system to support infrastructure fixes. Other problems include the land use law, land ceiling laws, special economic zones (SEZs), and urban renewal.
Possible fixes include utilizing land more efficiently by changing land policy to allow dense developments or high-rise developments; government stepping in to buy land at market rates from minority unwilling to sell; building new cities outside the main cities to avoid political issues such as slum relocation.
Below are more articles in McKinsey Quarterly on “Building a better India":
Upgrading India’s energy and transportation networks: An interview with a leading infrastructure builder (November 2007)
Securing India’s place in the global economy (October 2007)
India's executives: Confident in their economy and eager to hire (October 2007)
Creating a modern Indian city: An interview with Delhi’s chief minister (October 2007)
Clearing the way for robust growth: An interview with India’s chief economic planner (October 2007)
Nokia opened its first flagship megastore in Shanghai, its largest retail site worldwide to date. Nokia is the market leader, with nearly 30% share based on sales volume. Motorola and Samsung, meanwhile, have market shares of 18.5% and 10.8%, respectively, according to Analysys International. The new Shanghai outlet, located on Nanjing East Road in a prestigious fashion and business district, is the seventh of 18 planned flagship stores overall and is the second in Asia/Pacific, following Hong Kong.
By the first half of this year, the total number of mobile phones users in China exceeded 600 million. The number of subscribers has been increasing by an average of 6.76 million per month.
In an age of experience-driven consumption, retailers must do more than simple advertising and product placement, said Colin Giles, Nokia's China president in Beijing. Successful retail requires a personalized shopping experience for consumers to interact and become familiar with the products.
"A mobile phone is no longer a traditional communication device, as it has become part of our daily lives and represents a new lifestyle. The mobile device that you use is representative of your lifestyle, taste, and preferences--ultimately, who you are," said Mr. Giles at the opening ceremony last weekend in Shanghai.
Source: AdAgeChina
A short time back we blogged here about a coming event at Stanford. This is just a tickler to remind everyone again that Steve LeVine, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, will be on deck November 6, sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute, talking about his book The Oil and The Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea. If interested, you will want to RSVP by November 2. Learn more at the event website.
Thomson, a media company, is the world's most transnational firm, according to the 2007 World Development Report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report's index of transnationality is calculated using the average of the shares of a firm's assets, sales and employment located abroad. Thomson has 97.8% of its assets, 96.6% of its sales and 97.3% of its jobs outside its Canadian homeland. Many of the top transnational firms are from small but rich countries, such as Switzerland, with limited domestic markets. Two notable exceptions are Liberty Global, an American telecoms company, ranked second in the study, and Honda, a Japanese carmaker.
Source: The Economist, 20 October 2007
Companies operating in China must find advantages that go beyond cheap labor. McKinsey Quarterly identified manufacturing concerns in China.
• signs of incipient wage inflation can eventually drive up labor costs
• waste is endemic in Chinese factories
• defect rates are high
• managers lack crucial skills in problem solving and industry-specific expertise
• high employee turn-over
• the rush to build new factories created overcapacity
• Chinese factories often make products in big batches and thereby creating large inventories
• poor coordination between different steps in the production process often created bottlenecks
• cultural norms stand in the way of addressing wasteful practices – hierarchical nature of Chinese organizations hinders the cooperation and joint decision making across departmental boundaries as well as up and down the chain of command
Read suggestions to closing the gap in McKinsey Quarterly, 2006 Special Edition available at Jackson Library.
 Author Steve LeVine, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, will be discussing his new book The Oil and the Glory at the Freeman Spogli Institute on November 6. Subtitled The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea, the book describes, among other things, how deals really get done in turbulent places abroad. To attend, please RSVP by November 2.
September's Far Eastern Economic Review leads off with the timely title "The 'Made in China' Stigma Shock". Other colorful articles include "China and the Subprime Scorpion", "China Mocks the Olympic Spirit", "Vietnam: Beyond Fish and Ships", "Storm in a Teacup Over Climate Change", and "Depoliticizing Comfort Women" -- as well as book reviews on an account of Pakistani struggles, a media law guide for Hong Kong, a portrait of Asians in classical music, a history of Asian business leaders, and a new book about Russia's colonial legacy in Tashkent. Editor Hugo Restall kicks things off by talking about the (occasionally weird) impact of China on today's world: how internal Chinese infrastructure spending caused the world's scrap metal prices to skyrocket -- leading to the sudden theft of manhole covers around the world. Read more in the September issue in Jackson Library.
Beijing will spend $526 million upgrading its subway system before the Olympics. The system has 4 lines totaling 114 km, carrying 2.1 million passengers daily, but it will have 9 lines totaling 200 km by 2008. The average waiting time will be reduced from 3 to 2.5 minutes. By 2020, the city plans to complete 19 lines totaling 561.5 km.
Source: XinhuaNews, McCann Worldgroup, posted at AdAgeChina
The Summer 2007 New Perspectives Quarterly has arrived at Jackson Library, with the usual fascinating mix of provocative pieces / interviews by a stellar cast of global authors, including Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, eminent Princeton historian Bernard Lewis, French futurist Jacques Attali, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The focus of the issue is the national struggle between secular and spiritual in today's Turkey: "The Two Souls of Turkey". But there are other topics as well. Read all about it in the issue in the Jackson Library current periodical racks.
The 2008 Summer Olympics are less than a year away and China has been working diligently on cleaning up air quality in Beijing. The August edition of Wired magazine in the article 'Smog and Mirrors' talks about the hurdles the Chinese government has cleared and those lying before it in preparation for the Olympics. Chinese officials have agreed to pour $12.2 billion into improving environmental conditions in the hopes of gilding China’s image, however progress in greening has been hampered by the strong growth in consumer wealth. More people are driving cars than ever in China, exacerbating the pollution problem. A report entitled Brand China talks a bit about China’s image as perceived by the country and by world.
Among the last ditch solutions, if Beijing can’t bring pollution under control before the Olympics, are pulling cars and trucks off the roads and forced last minute vacations for factory and government workers. The IOC is recommending that some teams prepare in Korea before flying to China for the games. Apparently something similar was done for the Athens Olympics, where air quality is also poor for the athletes.
Japan is tanned, rested ... and back. The American Magazine (July / August 2007) in 'Make Way for Japan' highlights a robust economy, recovered from its 'lost years' of stagnation. While China hogs the headlines, Japan, the world's second largest economy, quietly basks in its longest period of sustained growth since World War II. It has put its infamous 'real estate bubble' behind -- when the Palace grounds in Tokyo were worth more than the entire state of California -- and is moving forward. Toyota just surpassed GM, knocking it out of the top spot for the first time in 76 years. Bank lending is on the rise. Sony, Canon, Honda, Hitachi are corporate world leaders. The challenge? Shrinking demographics; Japan's population fell last year, for the first time in 60 years. Read more in the issue in Jackson Library.
A landmark report on the cost of pollution in China had been substantially cut under pressure from Beijing government ministries. The report found that about 750,000 people die early every year in China because of the filthy air and water.
To calculate levels of air pollution, the biggest killer, the report uses the globally recognised measure – which looks at the concentration of particulates measuring less than or equal to 10 microns per cubic metre of air.
Only 1 per cent of Chinese urban residents live in cities with concentrations of such particulate matter below 40 microgrammes per cubic metre of air. The WHO guideline sets the bar at 20 microgrammes.
In 2003, 58 per cent of Chinese city dwellers were exposed to particulate matter of more than 100 microgrammes, “twice the annual average standard in the US”, the report says.
Story at FT.com.
An article in yesterday's New York Times Magazine talks about the life of some Chinese workers who play World of Warcraft for a living. They work 12 hour shifts, 7 nights a week with two or three days off a month. The workers earn (real) money by collecting the (virtual) gold coin that you can win in the game. For every 100 gold coins he gathers, the workers makes 10 yuan, or about $1.25, earning an effective wage of 30 cents an hour, more or less. The boss (the supervisor) in turn, receives $3 or more when he sells those same coins to an online retailer, who will sell them to the final customer (an American or European player) for as much as $20. It's a very interesting article about a different kind of night job!
Japan is back -- but are its workers? BusinessWeek (May 28) describes the suffering of the so-called "lost" generation, millions of young Japanese working as temps or contract employees for corporations. Despite their education, in Japan's hierarchical culture they are definitely lower on the socioeconomic ladder than their predecessors. There is even a TV drama, Haken no Hinraku (The Dignity of the Agency Worker), describing the plight of a female temp who must endure office humiliation from full-timers, despite her excellent qualifications. During Japan's downturn, many of these workers, fresh out of college, took menial jobs to survive. With the economy bouncing back, companies are turning to new grads to hire, rather than these older workers, who feel left in limbo. The phenomenon has even coined neologisms like 'freeter' = people who flit from one low-paying job to the next.
"What's the most extreme emerging market on earth?" asks the May 28th BusinessWeek. The answer may surpise you: Colombia. The country's stock market has soared since 2001, foreign direct investments have more than doubled, and real estate prices have tripled in many areas. When Americans think of Colombia, images of drug dealers and death squads come to mind, but the new global interest in investment in Colombia is phenomenal. The article highlights some of the young movers-and-shakers in Colombia, such as Fernando Arbelaez, 32, Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Nicolas Santos, 29, major restauranteur, Cristina Plazas, 29, Bogota city council member, and Federico Jimeno, 26, the Government point man for visiting investors. Medellin, once associated with liberation theology denouncing the rich and rampant murder, is now hosting offices for Phillip Morris, Toyota, Renault and many other multinationals. Problems remain, but it's not your father's Colombia any more.
"China is rising, and so is Hu, both abroad and at home: people-in-the-know in Beijing say he may sweep the entire Standing Committee of the Communist Party's Political Bureau clean of rivals." So says Asia Inc (March - April 2007), whose cover story highlights China's economy and the presumed final ascension of Hu Jintao to power sometime later this year as fourth 'emperor' of the modern Communist dynasty. Hu is likely to consolidate his power at the 17th Party Congress this Fall. The article also features cameos of other top power brokers in China, such as Wu Bangguo, National People's Congress Chairman, Huang Ju, Vice-Premier, and Luo Gan, National Security Chief. "Hu Jintao has held his cards close to his chest in the past, but he may begin to show his true self when he fully ascends to the throne" one Beijing analyst speculates. Also in the issue: the potency of venerable Chinese brands, such as Tsingtao Brewery, Kweichou Mao Tai liquor, and Hengshun Vinegar, China's 'Heinz', dating back to 1840. Included is a piece on Chengdu, the large metropolitan city in southwest China, an interview with Zhang Chunjiang, Chairman of China Netcome Group Corporation, and some good blogs to keep up on the latest. China is expected to become the world's largest economy within a matter of years. Read more about key political and business currents in the issue in Jackson Library.
Japan Close-Up magazine (May 2007) targets the Shibuya district of Tokyo, with its cover story, 'Cool Tokyo'. Known for its landmark Shibuya 109 building, its crowds of trendy young Japanese women and girls and its famous statue of Hachiko, the devoted dog who waited at the station for a master who never returned, Shibuya is teeming with energy, edginess and fashion savvy. Another article highlights '@akihabara', about the area of Tokyo called Akiba, birthplace of Japanese anime, manga, video games and a "cool culture" of 'maid cafes', the Comic Market and anime-style robot contests. Interesting factoids mention the possible European origin of Japanese tempura, as well as the fact that it did not snow in Tokyo this winter -- for the first time in 47 years. And for the adventurous among us, a piece on a record-setting monster cuttlefish, 3.5 meters long, captured for the first time on video. Read all this and more in the issue in the Current Periodicals rack at Jackson Library.
The New Global Cinema is the leading topic for the Spring 2007 New Perspectives Quarterly (NPQ) magazine. Appropriately, the table of contents leads off with "Hollywood Must Portray Point of View of Others" with Oscar-nominated film director of Babel Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and "Shock and Awe vs. Hearts and Minds at the Movies" with NPQ editor Nathan Gardels and Phoenix Pictures CEO Mike Medavoy. Take away quote? "Hollywood is a dinosaur that has destroyed and occupied our minds for too long" (Khan Lee, Taiwanese indie film director.) Other pieces in the issue, featuring mostly interviews, include "North Korea Accord is a Model for Iranian Crisis" with former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, "The Cost of the Last Six Years, From North Korea to Kosovo" with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, "China's Satellite Missile Strike Raises Worries About a Pearl Harbor in Space" with former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, "Global Outlook: The Poor Will Get Richer" by World Bank economist Francois Bourguignon, "If US Picks a Fight With China, It Will Be 'Very Big Trouble'" with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, "The Challenge of Positive Freedom" with historical philosopher Francis Fukuyama, and more. Find the issue in our Current Periodicals racks at Jackson Library.
"If you think the Chinese will never catch up in creative fields like design, architecture, advertising, and fashion, you're kidding yourself." Thus saith Fast Company (June 2007) which features 'The Next Cultural Revolution' by Aric Chen. Chen wants to wake the world to the dynamic creativity bubbling up in China. The piece starts with Jennifer Wen Ma, at 33 the youngest member of the 2008 Olympics Creative Committee who, says Chen, "wants to smoke out your cliched ideas about her country" with the Beijing Olympics. Other up-and-coming stars highlighted include Ou Ning, filmmaker and designer, Lin Jing, furniture and ceramics maker, MAD Design architects Ma Yansong and Qun Dang, and trans-Pacific film icon Ziyi Zhang. As Wen Ma says, "Everyone wants to project a very modern image -- one that will stun the world. ... Everyone, it seems, is ready for a renaissance of creativity." And in a country that by 2020 will have a larger highway system than America, we may not have long to wait.
I came across a book today in the library called "From Wall Street to the Great Wall: how to invest in China" by Jonathan Worrall and Peter O'Shea. It talks about how China is emerging from decades as a controlled economy and the financial markets are also emerging and are poised far great things. If you are in the local area and want to come in to the library and check this book out, the call number is HG5784 .W67 2007.
The 'Bird of Gold': The Rise of India's Consumer Market, a study written by McKinsey, discusses how the Indian consumer will (if India continues on its current high growth path) have incomes that will almost triple over the next two decades, and the country will climb from its position as the twelfth-largest consumer market today to become the world's fifth-largest consumer market by 2025. The study forecasts that aggregate consumption in India will grow fourfold in real terms, from Rs 17 trillion at present to Rs 70 trillion by 2025. Traditionally expenditure on food, beverages and tobacco will see a remarkable drop as a proportion to overall expenditure by 2025. They may remain the single largest category in terms of spend, but their share will drop to 25% from 42%.
So which markets will thrive? Transportation (new cars, airline travel) and healthcare will become the second and third largest consumer markets.
The Deal magazine continues to publish special supplements in the series Eyes on World Markets. The spring '07 supplement is dedicated to China and its present state of investment industry. The articles are mainly written from the perspective of foreign investments in Chinese companies and touch upon such topics as new China M&A rules adopted last year in September, or how Chinese public companies change their reporting and disclosure system, or statistics on the top PE investment transactions and more. Find China supplement in the display area of Jackson library together with The Deal.
The April 2007 issue of Far Eastern Economic Review opens a window on the swirling sociopolitical currents within contemporary Asia. Articles include "The Rise of China's New Left", suggesting that China's tolerance of a Western market economy may be dwindling; "Do or Die for Japan's Radical Right", looking at Japan's right wing extremists and the rise of mainstream conservatives; "Have China Scholars Been Bought?", questioning how independent Mainland academics really are; "Bombay's Growth Gets Shanghaied", on how Indian democracy is shaping Mumbai's rapid development in imitation of Shanghai; and "The Curse of the Chinese Internet", about reasons foreign Internet firms are struggling in China. Read all this and more in the issue on Jackson Library's periodical racks.
Forbes.com reported that China added $135.7 billion to its reserves between January and March, taking the total to $1.2 trillion. The increase was more than half the total growth of $247.3 billion in reserves during 2006. Economists calculate that the trade surplus and foreign direct investment should have boosted reserves by $73 billion in the quarter. The other $63 billion was explained away by Bank of China. One was that major state banks raised $42 billion in offshore IPOs in the past couple of years. The funds have flowed back into China in expectations of yuan appreciation. The rest may be the unwinding of currency swaps between the central and commercial banks in which case the central bank gives out US Treasury Bonds to the commercial banks. The commercial banks in turn are putting money into foreign bonds as a result of the falling value of US Treasuries and last year's clampdown by the authorities on domestic lending to avoid an overheated economy. Yet another explanation was that the central bank wants to pull back onshore as much as it can of the country's foreign currency holdings ahead of the establishment of a new state investment fund. The fund is intended to put $200 billion to $400 billion of China's foreign exchange reserves to work to earn better returns than it does from investing in U.S. Treasuries.
McKinsey Quarterly has devoted their 2007 'Special Edition' to Latin America. The issue ponders questions about Latin American economy, political risks, poverty, educational needs ... and bureaucratic red-tape. Although the region isn’t growing as fast as other emerging markets such as China and India, it does have high-growth industries. Commodities and financial services are particularly attractive. Articles from top Latin American scholars will give you new insights into the future of business in this part of the world. Browse this special edition of the Quarterly on our Current Periodicals rack in Jackson Library.
An hour drive north of Shanghai makes Suzhou a popular weekend getaway for Shanghainese. Noted for its picturesque gardens, watertown, the nearby Taihu Lake, and Su silk embroidery (suxiou), Suzhou has been a tourist attraction since antiquity. Today, the city has become a popular manufacturing base for multinationals based in Shanghai. In 2005, the city's gross domestic product (GDP) reached nearly $50 billion. The ownership of mobile phones and DVD/VCD/LD players is at 79% and 61% respectively. Personal computer ownership at 42% still has room to grow, said ACNielsen's director of client service in Shanghai, Rita Chan.
Story and Fast Facts at AdAgeChina. (Stanford users may obtain access at the Information Desk of Jackson Library.)
'Let's Die Together' -- name of a startling article in the May 2007 Atlantic, describing the contemporary cult of anonymous group suicide in Japan. Disparate groups of people are killing themselves, after making arrangements over the Internet. And many of them are taking instruction from The Perfect Suicide Manual, an infamous 1993 book by Wataru Tsurumi that details how to off oneself by various means: hanging, electrocution, drug overdose, asphyxiation (this last method seems most popular.) "There's nothing bad about suicide" the author intones. Japan has a long history of families committing suicide together, as well as dishonored samurai perfoming seppuku (ritual disembowelment), but anonymous groups meeting to kill themselves is something new. Read more in Jackson Library
We've blogged about the New Perspectives Quarterly before, and the Winter 2007 issue looks like another treasure trove of provocative "big ideas". The theme is 'Making Globalization Work', and the roster of writers is led by Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel-winning economist, with his "Rich Countries, Poor People?" Other pieces include "China: The New Global Model for Development" by Wei-Wei Zhang of the Center for Asian Studies in Geneva, "President Bush: Talk to Kim Jong Il" by former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, "US holds key to Non-Proliferation" by former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, "Back to Realism" by Dr Henry Kissinger, "The Last Hope for the Republic" by commentator Gore Vidal, "Taking on the Pro-Israel Lobby" by former President Jimmy Carter, and a recap of the famous 'Clash of Civilizations' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali of the American Enterprise Institute and Harvard Professor Samuel P. Huntington. Read it all in Jackson Library.
In recent years India has been a poster child for dramatic business expansion, but BusinessWeek magazine (March 19) raises major concerns in The Trouble With India. The piece begins by describing Hosur Road -- a prime access route to Electronics City, the office park in Bangalore -- as 'pure chaos'. Cars, trucks, lorries, buses, rickshaws, donkeys and cows contend for every inch of this crumbling, hole-filled road -- while pedestrians cower for their lives. India's high-tech business has driven the country's fast rate of economic growth, but the boom may rest on shaky foundations. The normal apparatus of a major industrial power -- highways, modern bridges, reliable power, clean water -- are sadly lacking. Economic losses from congestion alone run up to $6 billion a year, while the nation turns only 4% of its GDP into infrastructure (compared to China's 9%.) Will India be able to build a smooth highway to success?
Audencia Nantes School of Management opens its first overseas office in Shanghai, China. Partnering with Tongji University’s School of Economics and Management, the Audencia office will be based on Tongji’s campus, with the Chinese university in turn establishing its own office on the French school’s site.
Read the news story at Audencia Nantes, and Tongji University information in Wikipedia.
The news that the People’s Republic of China is probably going to pass a law on Friday protecting the private property of its citizens is mainly being covered by foreign press, very little of it has been mentioned in China’s press. The international community is waiting to see how the socialist market economy will be affected by the redefining of public and private property. It was February 35 years ago that Nixon made his famous trip to China opening relations with China. You can read more about the new laws about to be passed at Jurist.
Update on the votes taken by China's Parliament on private property.
By 2015 the international currency of choice will be the Asian dollar, and the world's most popular movie will be a drama set in ancient China. So says Zhang Yue, ebullient Chinese multimillionaire industrialist and architect of "Broad Town", a city-within-a-city on the outskirts of metropolitan Changsha, China. Highlighted in The Atlantic magazine for March, Mr Zhang, head of Broad Air Conditioning, has created his own 'utopia', a model of tidiness and recycling complete with a Versailles-like palace, a pyramid, employee housing and an employee club. Singing company employees are regimented like an army, roused each day at 6 AM for physical training. Clearly this tycoon has more than money on his mind. After hanging with Zhang in his Broad Town, author James Fallows concludes, "China will bring more than mere commerce to the world." Read more in the issue in Jackson Library.
Beijing is revving up for its 2008 Olympics. According to an Economist article, Olympic cities often experience an economic surge before the games, and China's capital is no exception. With 18 months to go before the opening ceremonies, Beijing's economy -- and China's as well -- is growing apace. Some government leaders are concerned that the pace is unnervingly fast, and that there could be an uncomfortable 'slump' down the road. Two Beijing academics recently concluded that the end of the Olympics would coincide with a cyclical downturn in China's economy. Will China get the gold medal for economic foresight? Wait and see.
GramIT is a small non-profit providing low-income villagers a chance to stay with their families in their native homes. In the village of Ethakota, in India’s Andhra Pradesh state, most of the villagers are subsistence farmers, barely making ends meet. According to BusinessWeek, when Gram-IT set up shop in this small village it had a profound impact on the village, slowing the debilitating migration of young adults to the crowded cities, and allowing them to keep both village and culture intact.
Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, minister of economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since 2004, is one of the most prominent female politicians in the Middle East.
Sheikha Lubna has steered the country’s economic modernization by diversification into oil- and non-oil-based manufacturing and service activities, encouragement of the private sector, and reform of the capital markets.
In order to create an environment for economic growth, surplus money from the oil bloom is used to invest in infrastructure and major projects in greater Middle East and beyond, to support joint ventures with other countries in the region, and to facilitate FDI.
Sheikha Lubna earned BS in computer science in 1981 from California State University, Chico and MBA in 2002 from the American University of Sharjah. She is the first woman in the country’s history to assume a cabinet position.
McKinsey Quarterly (Web exclusive, February 2007) reports the interview with Sheikha Lubna.
- Lenovo brings computers to Tibetan kids through road show visits to 1,000
tier five and tier six cities and towns across China, leveraging its Olympic
sponsorship at home. With the promotion about two-thirds finished, sales in
China's tier five and six cities have grown over 50%. And 80% of
participants said the roadshow improved their image of the company.
- Pepsi Cola followed the habits of young, urban Chinese by launching its
seasonal campaign via mobile phones to celebrate Chinese New Year this year.
- Coca-Cola spends more than $10 million on Coke brand advertising in China
annually, according to ACNielsen.
- Advertising expenditure in the top three categories -- pharmaceutical,
toiletries and retail & service -- accounted for over half of the total
growth in all fields in China.
- An estimated total of $41 billion spent across TV, newspapers and
magazines, China recorded an increase of 21% in the 12 months to March 2006
- China will be the third-largest ad market in the world, after U.S. and
Japan. The numbers are predicted to go up as the nation gears up for the
2008 Beijing Olympics.
Read more in AdAgeChina. Stanford users may inquire about access to the site at the Information Desk of Jackson Library.
The New York Times reports today that the Chinese internet company Tencent co-founded by Mr. Pony Ma, has rivaled Google in performance and popularity. No other Internet company in the world — not even Google — has achieved the kind of dominance in its home market that Tencent commands in China.
China Business Review January-February issue targets tourists with 'The New Face of Tourism in China'. Gone are the days of risky adventures and dubious lodging in the Mainland; China's tourism experience has dramatically improved in the last few decades. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, China's travel and tourism industry generated almost $354 billion in 2006. And the 2008 Olympics in Beijing are on the way. By 2010, China is expected to become the number three global destination. Articles in the issue include coverage of the Chinese hotel industry, trade shows, maps of tourist destinations -- and Disneyland in Hong Kong. Read more here or in the issue in Jackson Library.
Was oil responsible for the end of the Soviet Empire? Can it spell doom for Iran? Thomas Friedman discusses oil’s impact on the fall of the Kremlin, and finds parallels with Iran in this New York Times op-ed piece "The Oil Addicted Ayatollahs" (2/2/2007)
Stanford users can access the article online via the Factiva database.
Visitors to Shanghai would not want to miss having xiaolongbao (小籠包, known as soup dumplings) for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The famous place for this traditional steamed delicacy is at Nanxiang (南翔) Steamed Bun Restaurant in Yu Garden (豫園). Nanxiang is opening up restaurants in Indonesia, Singapore, and Hong Kong in addition to its branches in Japan and Korea. Its stiff competition is Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐), a restaurant chain from Taiwan, located in Xintiandi (新天地).
Many said that Din Tai Fung makes better xiaolongbao than Nanxiang. If you are in Los Angeles, a Din Tai Fung restaurant is located in Arcadia. The chain has many branches in Taiwan, Japan, U.S.A., China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Indonesia.
You can read about xiaolongbao in Wikipedia. Read also Economist.com's Cities Guide - Shanghai - Restaurants.
Internet population in China reaches 137 million from 111 million reported in January of 2006. At a growth rate of about 24%, China is set to surpass U.S. in 2 years.
Read more at Metrics 2.0.
Shanghai is a shopper's paradise as you can find everything as if you were in New York, Beverly Hills, Paris, or Rome, and at the same time you can get good Chinese silk, embroidery, pearls, jade, etc. at deeply discounted prices, although bargaining is a must in the traditional markets in Shanghai.
Major shopping streets and centers in Shanghai are in Puxi, west of the Huangpu River. Starting from the Bund, the area along the west bank of the Huangpu River is the world famous Nanjing East Road. It's about three and a half mile long with the eastern side closed to car traffic. Here's the place for fashion shoppers, who can find any high-end brands imaginable. Equally delightful is Huaihai Zhong Road, parallel to Nanjing Road to the south where you find many bars, all kinds of restaurant, shops, and department stores. The infamous Xiang Yang Road noted for copies of named brands crosses Huaihai Road in Xuhui District. A third place is a traditional market at Yu Yuan (Yu Garden), south of the Bund on the east side. Here you try out your bargaining skills at purchasing silk goods, gold jewelry, and pearls. The fourth great center is Xujiahui to the west in Xuhui District where you find gigantic department stores ten times the size of our San Francisco department stores here. So there you have it, starting from the east end is Nanjing East Road and Yu Yuan in Huangpu District, in the middle is Huaihai Zhong Road in Luwan District, and to the west is Xujiahui in Xuhui District.
There are many more shopping places for specific items, more next time.
McKinsey Quarterly has an article on Shanghai Shopping and you can read about Nanjing Road in Wikipedia.
China will have over 32 million mobile video users in 2008, driven by interest in the Beijing Olympics. About 27% of these consumers will use broadcasting technology, and 73% will use unicast streaming technology. Many are likely to use both.
Read more at AdAge China. Stanford users may inquire about access to the site at the Information Desk of Jackson Library.
The AdAgeChina Conference in Shanghai on Branding was attended by approximately 300 professionals. Major sponsors were GroupM and Sports Illustrated (Chinese version) with speakers from McDonald's, Motorola, Lenovo, P&G, JWT, NBA, Adidas, Pepsi, Ogilvy, and Visa.
Tom Doctoroff, CEO of JWT Greater China presented the 10 things to avoid for multinational managers:
- Don't take your global CEO to dinner at M on the Bund. The Bund view
from the M can be misleading as to the prosperity of China. China's middle
class: about 100 million making Rmb5,000+ (about $645/month).
- Don't get your company Chinese name wrong. For example: Rolex translated
into Chinese characters means muscular laborer; Lux means muscular warrior;
Google means valley song? The good ones are Coca-Cola, [good for the mouth
and enjoyable]; BMW, treasure horse; Budweiser, all powerful; and Ikea,
pleasant home.
- Don't ignore the mass market. Brands can't be too pricey at the
launch. Downward extensions enable the brand to achieve scale. Ignoring the
mass market can restrict your market share. Balance high price and mass
affordability. Mass market thrust is critical in building brand leadership.
- Don't support too many brands, don't spread yourself too thin. Mass
media in China is expensive. Beijing and Shanghai can be as expensive as
European markets. For example, Unilever, Nestle have worked into one master
brand.
- Don't start at the bottom. International brands still actively
preferred. International brands must come in at a premium level. Chinese
consumers want the cool factor in foreign brands, they want to be modern,
international, but not western. So start at the top and then go downward,
for example, Buick Regal to Buick Sail.
Continue reading "Branding in China - 10 Things to Avoid" »
The New York Times (December 19) reports that eBay is expected to close its main Web site in China and enter into a joint venture with a Chinese company instead. eBay will take a 49 percent stake in the venture, with Tom Online Inc., an Internet company based in Beijing, taking the majority share and administering the venture, yet to be named. Analysts were not surprised. "It's an admission that they failed in China, on their own at least," said Tim Boyd of Caris & Company. "But I think that's something the market already knew." The decision was also seen as a sign of the pressure the government puts on foreign companies to set up joint ventures.
The December issue of The Japan Journal highlights recently elected Abe Shinzo, first Japanese prime minister born in the post-war era. Abe's political positions and challenges are described, as well as his cabinet. Other articles in the issue speak to larger economic and cultural issues facing Japan: 'Innovation Drive: Finding a Way From the Lost Decade', about the malaise following the burst of the economic bubble, 'New National Energy Strategy', noting mid-to-long term objectives of the nation's energy policy, 'The Wind in the Poplars', on Japan's struggling publishing industry, 'The Falcon has Landed', describing spacecraft Hayabusa and its mission, 'Love of the Common People', a memorial to film director Imamura Shohei (1926-2006), and 'In Praise of the Sun', on Japan's own 'Stongehenge', the Oyu Stone Circle. Check this and previous issues out in Jackson Library.
Mainland China is overwhelmingly atheist. Or is it? 'Christianity Comes to China's Cities' is the title of a cover story by Leslie Hook in the December issue of Far Eastern Economic Review. The author claims that the number of Christians in China today is probably far underestimated; one Chinese pastor quoted even suggests that 1 in 10 Chinese is now Christian. More significant is the fact that the religion is spreading, and making major inroads for the first time among the middle classes and intellectuals in cities. The phenomenon has huge implications for China's social and political development. Serious debate is taking place in China about the links between Christianity and capitalism, Christianity and democracy. But perhaps a clue to the future lies in the response given by Communist Party members, "If you're a Party member like we are you can't believe in another religion ... But religion is just fine for non-Party members."
It's been a tough day, and you're ready to turn on the TV, sink into the couch, and knock back an icy ... REEB. Huh? As James Fallows points out in 'Postcards from Tomorrow Square', REEB is a Chinese workingman's beer -- one of many brewed concoctions he samples and describes is this article in the December Atlantic magazine. While exploring the megalopolis of Shanghai, Fallows notes lingering Chinese post-WWII resentment toward Japan, the blossoming new transit system in the city, the powerful rising class of Chinese educated in America, dubious Shanghai air quality, and China's counterpart to 'the American Dream.' Writes Fallows: "I have not before been anyplace so controlled and so out of control. The control is from on high ... What's out of control is everything else." Check out this issue at Jackson Library.
From Bloomberg Markets magazine December issue comes a sad expose of 'The Secret World of Modern Slavery', by Michael Smith and David Voreacos. The cover story argues that hundreds of thousands toil without pay in Latin America, producing timber, gold and the charcoal used to make steel. More disturbing yet, the authors say, is that these materials are bought by companies with household names -- including GM, Kohler, Toyota and Whirlpool. Despite the fact that slavery officially ended in the Americas by 1888, the International Labour Organization maintains that nearly one million workers labor for little or no wages as virtual forced laborers in Latin America. Perhaps the final word should rest with Nucor Corporation's Douglas Gunson: "Any amount that is sold with the use of slave labor is too much." Check out this issue at Jackson Library.
'De-Globalize the Jihad'. Thus the provocative cover story of the Fall 2006 New Perspectives Quarterly -- with accompanying pic of Osama Bin Laden. And the contents don't fail to disappoint, with the usual NPQ all-star cast. Included are pieces such as 'Al-Qaida is Down, But Not Out' by former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, 'A More Humble US, A Better Europe for Muslims' by Senator John McCain, 'Muslims, the Pope and European Identity' by Oxford scholar Tariq Ramadan, and 'Only Democracy Will Break Pakistan's Terror Link' by former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Another section tackles the Lebanon War, with entries by Shimon Peres, Walid Jumblatt and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Finally, a mishmash of items on the recent Mexican elections, Darfur, global warming and Chinese pollution, by Carlos Fuentes, Paul Wolfowitz, Michael Milken, Daniel Kahneman, Stanford Professor Emeritus Myron Scholes and others. Where else do so many world opinion makers fit on so few pages? Read more about it in Jackson Library.
Not feeling "up" these days? Japan Close-Up magazine for October takes note of the 'Nothing Makes Me Happy' syndrome they say is sweeping Japan. A pervasive apathy seems to have gripped the country. The article is couched as a selection of "mutterings" of a range of disenchanted citizens, including a typical company man, a bookkeeper, a millionaire and a Tokyo University student.
Also in this issue: An interview with Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera. Titled 'For the Good of the Public', it outlines Inamori's management philosophy. Memorable quote: "The most fundamental purpose for a company must be to protect the livelihood of its employees and their families now and in the future so that every one of them can lead a happy life." Now if that doesn't lift your spirits .....
Titled 'China's Global CFO', the October cover story of Finance Asia extensively highlights Mary Ma, perhaps the most prominent CFO in China today. A senior executive of Lenovo, the world's # 3 PC maker, Ma played a crucial role in negotiating the complexities of the takeover of the firm in 2004. She is now seeking opportunities to "trim down" the computing giant and surmount challenges in achieving savings and operational efficiencies. She notes some of the hurdles she's already faced: "One of the biggest changes in my job is the amount I have had to learn about international markets. In China, we were more focused on small businesses and consumers. ... the PCD (personal computer division) is more focused on Fortune 500 companies." The company is a work in progress, but Ma concludes confidently: "Lenovo's new business model will succeed, just as all our other strategies have succeeded."
'China Blog'. This is the title of the cover story for the November 13 issue of InformationWeek magazine. It's a weeklong chronicle by Aaron Ricadela, describing his adventures in Beijing hobnobbing with IT businesspeople, executives, analysts, and researchers. He begins by observing that China's $ 2 trillion economy is expanding at 10% annually, and that its IT market will reach $35 billion this year; China will account for 41% of growth in Asian IT spending this year.
Notes Reed Hundt, former FCC Chairman and author of In China's Shadow, "This is the big challenge. American firms have never had an economy rise so rapidly." Ricadela's diary is replete with statistics that any IT executive should digest. He warns: "The 'Middle Kingdom' is rich with opportunity, but its abstruse ways can foil those who don't invest the effort to understand."
Has the Bhagavad Gita replaced Sun Tzu's Art of War as the canonical hip Eastern text for executives?
BusinessWeek highlights a new wrinkle in the world of business: the rise of 'Karma Capitalism'. Western business schools are introducing 'self-mastery' classes based on Indian techniques, and Indian-born strategists like C.K. Prahalad and Ram Charan hold sway as today's white-hot business gurus. As Prahalad says, the challenge is to develop a capitalism that "puts the individual at the center of the universe," placing employees and customers first so that they can benefit shareholders. A lofty goal, BusinessWeek observes. But if it is attained, business leaders may find that India's biggest impact on the global economy may be on the way executives think.
The 2006 Special Edition of The McKinsey Quarterly has an interview with Carrefour's Jean-Luc Chéreau Lessons from a global retailer: An interview with the president of Carrefour China, in which Chéreau tells of the French retailer's experience since opening its first Chinese store in 1995. He also discusses the importance of adapting to local tastes and budgets. Networks of Chinese partners and their knowledge of mainland consumers are crucial as well. Chéreau notes that when multinational companies explore the Chinese market, their failures often teach them more than their successes.
The article also links to a series of reports on "the new Chinese consumer", such as 'Building brands in China', 'Marketing to China's hinterland', 'Understanding the Chinese consumer', 'Understanding China's teen consumers', 'The value of China's emerging middle class'. Some of these are available only to "premium" members. Stanford users may access them at the Information Desk in Jackson Library.
A stellar panel convened at Stanford on October 14, before an audience of more than 4,000, to contemplate current and future global concerns under the rubric 'Anxious Times: Seeing Beyond a World of Perpetual Threats'.
Moderated by Stanford alum and former Nightline host Ted Koppel (M.A., '62), the prominent participants included Stanford President John Hennessy, Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, and Lucy Shapiro, the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor and Director of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine.
Among issues, one seemed to surface repeatedly: the idea of the 'global village.' Civil liberties post-9/11 were considered, as well as water supplies. Infectious diseases were also a significant concern. Mr Garnier, discussing the need for pharma companies to expand the drug supply chain, he said "We'll forget about competition, money and profits. This is bigger than us." While some audience members wondered aloud whether the forum should have tackled so many issues, others were enthusiastic. "It was fantastic," The Stanford Daily quoted alum Richard Bush. "We're up for our fiftieth (Stanford) reunion and this was the best part of the trip."
In Fast Company July-August 2006 is an article by Clive Thompson, 'eBay heads East'. The piece cites the vast potential growth of e-retailing in China. "This is going to be enormous. China is already one of the most entrepreneurial societies around", opines Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley. From 2004 to 2005, total value of Chinese e-commerce leapt forward greatly, $43.6 billion to $68.9 billion. Quoth James Zheng, PayPal's COO in China, "The whole economy in the world is coming down to one common market -- and China will be the low-cost provider to everybody."
From the October issue of The Atlantic comes news on how unrest is sweeping China, and the regime's limited efforts so far to contain it. Economic concerns are the source of the current agitation. Both peasants and industrial workers are dissatisfied; the Government's meddling with state companies has hurt workers.
Meanwhile, high school history textbooks are being revised in China, according to a New York Times article of September 1. Tom Peters notes that Mao and socialism have been de-emphasized. From his blog, tompeters!
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