China Speakers Bureau: September 2008

Marc van der Chijs to join China Speakers Bureau

Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs, co-founder of the successful Chinese video sharing host Tudou and CEO of the online gaming conglomerate Spil Group Asia is joining the China Speakers Bureau.
Tudou was launched before US-based YouTube hit the internet and claims now three times the traffic YouTube is generating. By creating a successful venture in one of China's most difficult industries, the media, Van der Chijs proved that nothing is impossible in China, when you have the right strategy.
Van der Chijs is a much wanted speaker, because he knows how to get to China's internet users, an interesting group of consumers, debaters and gamers.
Listing to his explanation as he is being interviewed by Christine Lu of the China Business Network:

Joining openWebAsia '08: Sam Flemming

Sam Flemming

Innovation in Asia is the core theme of the openWebAsia in South-Korea on 14 October. Our Sam Flemming will be one of the key speakers, together with representatives of Alibaba, Ebay Asia and many other online innovative companies.
From the mission statement on the social web in Asia:

"Social has been a game changing development of the internet industry and the social web is an area where Asia has its own strength and vibrancy. Asian countries have a distinct internet cultures and market players, so informative and educational cross-country comparisons can be made."

Upon his return we will do another podcast with Sam Flemming, and discuss a few hot items. Does the concept of "Asia" exist on the internet? Are there similarities between Asian countries or mainly differences? Is the internet despite its global potential a local or domestic medium, in stead of a global one? Who is making money online? Who is leading the development on the internet, governments or companies, or both? Tune in next month for the next podcast.

Commercial
The internet is one of the key features that is instrumental for change in China. At the China Speakers Bureau we represent leading authorities on the internet in China. If you are interested, do get in touch.

Bill Fischer joins China Speakers Bureau

Bill Fischer

IMD-professor and former CEIBS dean Bill Fischer has joined the China Speakers Bureau. Bill Fischer is a leading authority on business and China. Apart from being a gifted storyteller, he has real stories to tell.
With his broad IMD-network he is able to tap into the larger companies, dealing with China and preparing young professionals to learn from his experiences. Needless to say we are very happy to have professor Fischer in our stable.

AIG seeks blogger's help in Asia

Richard Kuslan

The financial downturn in the US has interesting side-effects. Richard Kuslan, lawyer, blogger and speaker at the China Speakers Bureau has been invited by the insurer-in-problems AIG to explain their position in Asia.
Richard Kuslan reports at the Asiabizblog:

The text clearly shows that AIG is seriously concerned about counter-reaction in Asia to its recent, most fortunate bail-out. I note in passing that Manulife may purchase AIG's Asian operations. The run on the Bank of East Asia spooked a great many, sending thousands of Hong Kong residents running through the streets to their local BEA branch to pull out cash. [See this image. Imagine, as I have done for you previously, the effect of a run on a mainland Chinese branch. Yes, they have occurred in the past. But a spreading panic is a fearful thing.]

Since Wall Street is going to make USD 800 billion on this whole thing, it might be a good time for bloggers and professional speakers to look for some of the crumbs falling from the table.

Commercial
If you are interested in having Richard Kuslan not as a blogger but as a speaker to explain China and Asia, do let us know.

Big dairy companies got too much trust - Mark Schaub

Mark Schaub

He still drinks Chinese milk, says lawyer and author Mark Schaub in a discussion with Fons Tuinstra of the China Speakers Bureau on the ongoing milk melamine scandal in China. "The bigger companies were trusted too much and when it come to food security, you cannot trust anybody."
Mark Schaub sets his trade mark as a skeptical observer of the Chinese society. "Much of this issue is really overblown," he says. He is not expecting any death penalties, although on the Chinese internet many call for severe punishments. "It is very different from the scandal with China's FDA, where the top-guy got a lot of money for approving drugs and was shot for that reason. I have not seen that corruption is an issue in this scandal."
Schaub, contrary as ever, says that the action of the central government in China is much better and speedier compared to the US-government dealing with its financial crisis.
More at our podcast.

Commercial
Mark Schaub is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interesting in sharing his insights, do get in touch.

Internet users less tolerant for manipulation - Sam Flemming

Sam Flemming

China's netizens are becoming less tolerant for manipulation of their online conversation, says CIC-founder Sam Flemming, a leading authority on the online buzz in China in a CSB podcast. The ongoing melamine milk crisis might be a watershed on how the internet in China works.
Crisis management is still part of the business and Sam Flemming tells how foreign and Chinese brands are using the internet over the past months, starting with Carrefour and France's problems and now moving into the dairy industry.
More at our podcast.

Commercial
Sam Flemming is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having him as a speaker on one of your events, do get in touch.

Do not forget Fonterra - Paul French

Paul French

While China's melamine milk scandal has been covered pretty well by the media, we tend to forget Sanlu's foreign partner Fonterra, warns retail-expert Paul French of Access Asia in his weekly newsletter.
"But what is interesting to us, is that the New Zealand dairy company Fonterra, which owns 43% of Sanlu, has not been covered in such depth. Surely Fonterra's involvement in the Sanlu disaster must rank as the biggest scandal affecting a foreign company in China ever - certainly in recent memory. Fonterra is the biggest exporter of milk in the world, not some small-scale operator, so to claim ignorance should surely be viewed as a claim to negligence from such a large and experienced business. As far as can be worked out, Fonterra knew something was wrong. They decided to try and deal with the problem internally, worried about the negative effect on Sanlu, on China during the Olympics and of course on themselves. In China business-speak, they did not want the domestic company they were tied to, or the government of the country they were operating in, to lose 'face'. Eventually, the New Zealand government had to step in and blow the whistle. Fonterra does not look good to say the least."
Paul French is a prolific castigator of foreign companies playing dumb in China. The concept of "face" has here gone in the way of the New-Zealand company, where it should have acted, fast, after discovering the scandal.

Commercial
Paul French is one of the leading speakers at the China Speakers Bureau. When you are interested in having him or one of our other China business speakers, do drop us a line.

Applying as a speaker

Image via WikipediaA few times per week, new speakers asked to be included in the China Speakers Bureau. That is possible under a set of conditions, one of them is filling in our application form. Most people get to us by email, suggesting that our application form is too much hidden inside our website.
We are going to find a solution for that, for the time being, please use this link, in case you think you might be able to add value to our service.

Behind the doors of the dairy industry - Mark Schaub

Mark Schaub

What is happening behind the doors of the dairy industry? While the headlines of the milk scandal get more worrying by the day, very few people have a good insight in what is happening behind the doors of that industry.
Lawyer and successful author Mark Schaub, and not surprisingly a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau, has been working with the dairy industry and is a Shanghai-based father of two children. Mark Schaub will join me for a podcast on Friday to share his insights on the milk crisis. If you have questions for him, do drop me a line.
The podcast is expected to be available over the weekend.

A new job: Social media manager - Sam Flemming

Sam Flemming

Following a trend in the US, major companies in China have been creating a new kind of job: the social media manager, said Sam Flemming of CIC last week at the Economist China Branding Roundtable. Three of CIC's clients have now hired those social media manager.
On Thursday I will talk to Sam Flemming for a CSB podcast about some of the many questions that remain. What are those social media managers actually doing? Can they make a difference? Is the government using similar online strategies? What would be a good code-of-conduct for companies working online, after quite a number of embarrassing disclosures where companies secretly tried to influence the online constituency?
If you have some more questions for Sam Flemming, do drop me a line.

Commercial
Sam Flemming belongs, with more leading voices on China's internet, to the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having him as a speaker, do let us know.

Party to blame for milk scandal - Arthur Kroeber

Arthur Kroeber

"These after-the-fact administrative measures miss the point. Regulatory regimes succeed when systemic incentives make market participants behave. These incentives can exist only after separation of the Government from control of prices, company management and information flows."

Arthur Kroeber of the prestigious China Economic Quarterly points at the responsibility of the Communist Party in the ongoing milk scandal. Kroeber explains that arresting the people who have been appointed by the Party is not going to work, in the Australian, but also in many other media.

"This food-safety disaster underscores the profound deficiencies of Chinese regulatory regimes, which are intrinsic to the authoritarian political system."Sanlu's chairwoman was appointed by the Communist Party in Hebei province, and city officials in Shijiazhuang, where the company is headquartered, appear to have been complicit in suppressing news about the problem. The Government is responding by arresting officials and tightening inspections.

Commercial
Arthur Kroeber is part of the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having him, or one of our other leading speakers, as an expert, do let us know.

Most sought speakers - September 2008

Howard French, highest newcomer

At the China Speakers Bureau we publish each month a top-10 of the most-sought speakers. In August we did the first one, but since we were online for only a short time, the results were a bit dodgy. This month we see huge shifts.
Number one, Shaun Rein, keeps his leading position, with a huge margin, but elsewhere there are surprising newcomers. Highest newcomer is former New York Times correspondent Howard French, who takes right away the second position.
I'm very pleased to have Amy Sommers new on the tenth position. What we did different with her is that Amy participated in our first still experimental set of podcasts, this time on the environment, and that produced a nice peak in the traffic to her profile after the podcast was published.
This week we have planned recordings with a few other speakers that fell out of the top-10 now, and I hope we see a trend here.
Then, our top-1o most sought speakers for September:

KFC China, the revenue generator - Warren Liu

Warren Liu

The success of KFC is not limited to beating the competition, says retired MBA-lecturer Warren Liu on his promotion tour for his book in an interview with state media, but it is also key for the revenue stream of the holding.

KFC China is not just outperforming the competition. In 2007 it contributed more than 20 percent of global revenue of parent company Yum!, whose brand portfolio includes Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. It is a proportion that is likely to grow up to and beyond 50 percent, according to Taiwan-born Warren Liu, a former member of the company's Greater China executive committee...
Liu says it was crucial for firms trying to enter the market back then to have an understanding of China and the Chinese cultural context "so deep that it is intuitive," to understand the Chinese people's "mixed feelings, of love and hate about the West, to understand Chinese history, language, the influence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, this is especially important if you are in the consumer goods industry."

How to make a profit on the challenging domestic Chinese market is still a challenge. KFC has in that way been taking a road that is still far away for a larger number of foreign competitors in this competitive industry.

Commercial
Warren Liu is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having Warren Liu as a speaker, do get in touch.

Charles McElwee earns Magnolia award

the Magnolia award

When I talked earlier today to our new speaker Charles McElwee at the China Speakers Bureau, I did not know yet we had an award winner amongst us. He modestly announced at his own weblog that he obtained the Magnalia award, the highest recognition the Shanghai Municipality gives to foreigners for their contribution to the city. Congratulations, Charlie!

Charles R. McElwee II joins China Speakers Bureau

Charles McElwee

The eminent environmental lawyer Charles McElwee has joined today the China Speakers Bureau. He brought an extensive knowledge and experience in the US environmental and energy law to China, when he moved to Shanghai a few years ago.
Charles McElwee is a very much wanted speaker on this very hot issue of the environment and energy in China and we are very happy he joins our stable of established speakers.
More at his profile.

Sustainable business and government change - Amy Sommers

Amy Sommers

Enter the green dragon," was an AmCham Shanghai meeting last week on environmental business where Amy Sommers was the mistress of ceremony. She summarizes in this China Speakers Bureau podcast her findings and some are really stunning."
Amy talks about the efforts of the Shuion Group, originally responsible for Xintiandi in Shanghai, now setting up similar developments elsewhere in the country.
Remarkable was also a prediction in the style of government, where China is changing into a federation of Singapore-style governments, much better able to implement green intentions from the central government, that were in the past often now worth the paper they were printed on.
The recording a some technical issues, but the content I found is compelling enough to hang on.

More on our podcast here.

Thoughts on sex, dating and recruiting - Bill Dodson

William R. Dodson

Bill Dodson is never short of battle stories from the business field in China, but this is a remarkable recruiting story from his weblog.

He told me when we met he had just finished interviewing seven women for the position of office assistant for the new office he was setting up in Shanghai. “Five of them did not wear underwear,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief...“they made it quite plain to me they were ready for action.”

The candidates were referred to him by an international human resource agency, Dobson says.

Commercial
At the China Speakers Bureau we are happy to have a wide range of speakers who can explain how it is to do business in China.

Fear and confidence on the China Market - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

China's markets reacted in fear, but have enough reasons to be confident, says Shaun Rein in an interview today with Bloomberg. (Video) The financial meltdown in the US might have an effect on the China market, but Shaun Rein points at the mitigating effect.
"China's economy is still very strong," he says, "and the inflation is basically over." China's economy is based for about 25 percent on the export, but the shift to the more wealthy Chinese in its domestic markets might prove to protect China against a strong global downturn.
More at Bloomberg.

Update: Apologies, the links do not seem to work. I will wait till its up at YouTube and then change the links.

Commercial
Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having him or one of our other speakers, do get in touch with one of our global offices.

The risky and attractive VC market - William Bao Bean

William Bao Bean

"With 3G coming and 600 million people on mobile phones it is going to be a very attractive market." VC-entrepreneur William Bao Bean of the Softbank China&India Holdings tells Christine Lu of the China Business Network why the mobile telecom in China is an attractive market, despite regulatory challenges and risky carrier behavior. "We see the competition emerging."
In a wide-ranging interview he tells about the current VC-climate in China and why the market for innovative high tech products is both risky and attractive.

Commercial
William Bao Bean is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau and focusing on themes like innovation, technologies and telecom. He is also a perfect host for you events. If you are interested in having him as a speaker, do get in touch.

China Speakers Bureau

Have high-end retailers created a Beijing glut?

A winner?
via Wikipedia Yes, there is nowadays too much in China anyway, says retail investigator Access Asia Director Paul French. No, says market researcher Shaun Rein of CMR, it is all a matter of having a smart strategy.
Beijing has faced a flood of high-end shopping malls with countless high-end retailers, trying to make the best out of the Beijing Olympics. That was a wrong strategy to start with, says Paul French in the International Herald Tribune.

"There's just so much of everything in China right now," said Paul French, founder of the market research firm Access Asia. "It's hard for a brand to get ahead of the pack."
Beijing's high-end retail space expanded by 89 percent in the last two years, according to a report by the real estate services agency Jones Lang LaSalle. And French said too much of that space was built in anticipation of the Games. "Who was going to come to the Olympics and buy a handbag?" he wondered aloud. "It was a dumb strategy."

In some cases, it is hard to get to the new stores, because of the traffic, making a disaster inevitable. But some have done it the right way, says Shaun Rein in the same article.

"Very few brands will do well because everyone wants to come here," said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research Group, based in Shanghai. But those that are doing well have a few things in common, he said - for one thing, their stores are "enormous."
Chinese consumers feel slighted if the store is cramped and not matching the brand image, Rein said.
Another key is to have a broad selection of products at a wide range of prices - for example, handbags for 30,000 yuan, or $4,400, or comparatively cheaper items like key chains for 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. Gucci and Louis Vuitton are standouts in China for these reasons, Rein said.

More at the International Herald Tribune.

Commercial
Getting your strategy right is tough in China's fast moving economy. At the China Speakers Bureau we have leading authorities on branding and retailing in China, including Paul French and Shaun Rein. If you are interested in having them as a speaker, do get in touch with one of our international offices.

Competition moves to curtail Baidu - Paul Denlinger

Paul Denlinger

China's domestic online powerhouses have started a shoot-out, but Paul Denlinger says the official privacy argument to stop leading search engine Baidu is plain nonsense.
A range of leading social network sites and internet portals, including Sohu.com, 51.com and Xiaonei have stopped Baidu from conducting searches on their sites, reports the Media Magazine, citing privacy concerns.

“I find this excuse a real stretch. Since when has anybody worried about user privacy in China before? What guidelines do they use for protecting user privacy?” asked Paul Denlinger, owner of China Business Strategy. “This sounds much more like a desire to dial back the power of Baidu and its search.”

Baidu who claims a market share of 60 percent of the search market is moving into e-commerce, triggering off this tough reaction by the competitors.

Commercial
Paul Denlinger is one of the internet guru's at the China Speakers Bureau. When you are interested in having Paul to explain to you the competitive online market in China, do get in touch with one of our global offices.

The China-debate: ready to roll

via Wikipedia One of our key targets at the China Speakers Bureau is getting the debate on China rolling. One reason to ask speakers for our service is because we feel they are important participants in some of the key debates on China. Is the real estate falling apart? Is the economy growing or shrinking? And what to make of the position of the different government entities in China?
Earlier in the week I announced that after some test, we would start running a set of debates, using Skype, a recording device and YouTube to share those debates with the rest of the world. The systems seem now in place and we are now signing up our speakers for the Skype-account (china-speakers-bureau). When all is well, we will set off tomorrow, otherwise earlier in the week.
I'm very eager to hear from Sam Crispin what is really going on with Vanke and the real estate in China. Or Mark Schaub on his new book. And in this week, I have seen Shaun Rein popping up at Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and some other mainstream media, where is mostly only got half a sentence.
This weblog is of course giving a nice overview of what will be happening on this new service, our speakers' corner will do the same and at the ChinaSpeakersBureau channel at YouTube you have already a nice overview of the best clips showing our speakers.

Chicken for the masses - KFC in China

via Wikipedia Former Vice President of Business Development for Greater China of Tricon Global Restaurants, KFC's parent company (now known as YUM! Brands) and author of the new book 'KFC in China: Secret Recipe for Success' Warren Liu will hold a book presentation on Wednesday 17 September for the Foreign Correspondents Club in Shanghai.
He will discuss the company's strategies in China, including its use of franchising and emphasis on localization (KFC has not only used pastiches of Chinese revolutionary posters in its advertising, but runs a campaign proclaiming that it's 'changing for China'), as well as its pioneering use of humour in its Chinese marketing – and will give an insight into how far the company's previous experience in Taiwan was transferable to the mainland.
Introducing a major international brand into China is a high-risk business, especially when you're selling a food – chicken - which is virtually the country's national dish in the first place. But since its pioneering entry into the Chinese market, with a single store in Beijing's Qianmen in 1987, KFC has grown at a startling pace to become the nation's largest foreign fast-food chain. It currently has more than 2,200 branches in 450 Chinese cities, far outstripping its biggest rival, McDonald's.

Venue details: 3/F, Sasha's, 11 Dongping Lu, near Hengshan Lu(6474 6628)
Admission: Members free; Non-members 50 RMB RSVP: fcc.sfcc@gmail.com by Monday September 15th.

Commercial
Warren Liu belongs to the key group of business educators focusing on China. He is represented by the China Speakers Bureau and if you are interested in developing China-focused case studies, do get in touch with one of our global offices to discuss your needs.

Tudou license needed for online business - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

The license China's largest video hosting firm Tudou received today was paramount for getting seriously into the advertising business, Shaun Rein says today. After a two-month wait Tudou got its license from the regulatory body SARFT, two months after everybody else got their permission. Brand Republic Asia:

According to managing director China Market Research Group Shaun Rein, receiving a broadcast licence is imperative to any video site’s welfare because, without one, it would be impossible to attract advertising revenue, making survival in a sector that has not produced any profitable company even more challenging.
“Getting the licence from Sarft is key for Tudou to be able to sign deals with advertisers and solidifies their position along with Youkou as the online video site to beat,” he said. “It is difficult for marketers to launch ad advertising campaign with an online video site if it does not have the proper licensing because it runs the risk of getting shut down as was the case with 56.com.”

Commercial
Shaun Rein is part of a pool of leading speakers on the Chinese media, represented by the China Speakers Bureau. When you are interested in having a speaker on this issue, do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our global offices.

Soccer, the ultimate test - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

The ultimate test, Rowan Simons calls the win or fail attitude towards China's soccer in the famous CCTV-9 program Dialogue.
Simons builds on a case made by others, that for any sport people in China, only winning is on the agenda, losing is not allowed by their fans.
"Football belongs to the people and it belongs to us," Simons says defending introducing a grass root club systems, like in other soccer nations in the world.
Rowan Simons is a fierce criticaster of the official line to make soccer into an elite-sport, while it should be a "people's sport", but the presenter is rather eager to

Monday, September 29, 2008

Marc van der Chijs to join China Speakers Bureau

Joining openWebAsia '08: Sam Flemming

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Bill Fischer joins China Speakers Bureau

Friday, September 26, 2008

AIG seeks blogger's help in Asia

Big dairy companies got too much trust - Mark Schaub

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Internet users less tolerant for manipulation - Sam Flemming

Do not forget Fonterra - Paul French

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Applying as a speaker

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Behind the doors of the dairy industry - Mark Schaub

A new job: Social media manager - Sam Flemming

Monday, September 22, 2008

Party to blame for milk scandal - Arthur Kroeber

Most sought speakers - September 2008

KFC China, the revenue generator - Warren Liu

Friday, September 19, 2008

Charles McElwee earns Magnolia award

Charles R. McElwee II joins China Speakers Bureau

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Sustainable business and government change - Amy Sommers

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Thoughts on sex, dating and recruiting - Bill Dodson

Fear and confidence on the China Market - Shaun Rein

Monday, September 15, 2008

The risky and attractive VC market - William Bao Bean

Saturday, September 13, 2008

China Speakers Bureau

Friday, September 12, 2008

Have high-end retailers created a Beijing glut?

Competition moves to curtail Baidu - Paul Denlinger

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The China-debate: ready to roll

Chicken for the masses - KFC in China

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Tudou license needed for online business - Shaun Rein

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Soccer, the ultimate test - Rowan Simons