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 move away from the political issues into more moral issues among the fans. Later in the program it does get better, so do hang on when you are watching the program.

YouTube channel for the China Speakers Bureau

Image representing YouTube as depicted in Crun...

We are preparing to adopt a few more new media tools at the China Speakers Bureau. As a first move we have set up a YouTube channel with clips of our speakers doing their excellent job. The channel - not surprisingly called 'China Speakers Bureau' - can be found here. You can find here already clips of speeches by Sam Flemming, William Bao Bean, Shaun Rein, Ken Carroll, Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn, Zhang Lijia and many others.
Now you can find the same clips from third parties in their profiles, but later we want to use different channels also to publish our own productions.
If we have forgotten you, our apologies, but do let us know: we have not located all the clips by all our speakers.

New: China speakers in the news

Image representing Skype as depicted in CrunchBase

At the China Speakers Bureau we are planning to start a new feature that will allow our speakers to comment directly on the news. At our speakers' corner and our weblog we give already an overview of what our speakers are doing in both online and offline media. With an average of once a day we can report about one of our speaker commenting in one of the existing media.
But we think we can do more. China is a fast changing society and we should be more on top of those developments by using more of the available new media tools.
What makes really clear what speakers can mean, is if you see them in action. We have already great clips with for example Kaiser Kuo, Zhang Lijia, Jeremy Goldkorn, performing at YouTube. Those clips really make a difference in the way we can present our speakers.
From next week (pending possible technical hiccups) we are going to present ten, fifteen-minute clips using Skype and a recording device to let our speakers comment on current affairs. While there are great websites giving information on doing business in China, all seem to shy away from the dynamic changes that make China such a great place to be.
Expect here more announcements later. First, we will focus on the technicallities, then get a few guinea pigs among our speakers and expand from there. If you are interested to participate, do let me know.

Zhang Lijia's happy story of the 1980s

Zhang Lijia

Jeremy Goldkorn interviews Zhang Lijia for Danwei-tv about her autobiography Socialism is great!, about her life as a worker in a missile factory. Lijia explains she wanted to make another book, compared with the flood of bitter and suffering tales from the time of the Cultural revolution (1966-1976).
She made a happy story about the 1980's, sitting as a "frog in the well" in her danwei, moving towards the freedom people in China are having nowadays. "The 1980s were the beginning of change after Deng Xiaoping opened the country. It is an upbeat story about pursuing dreams."

Commercial
Both Zhang Lijia and Jeremy Goldkorn are speakers at the China Speakers Bureau. When you are interested in having Lijia or Jeremy as a speaker, or any of our other speakers on contemporary issues, do get in touch.

Another US social network loses in China - MySpace

Paul Denlinger

Our speaker Paul Denlinger adds to one of his favorite stories as MySpace loses out in China, following a trend by a larger number of IT-companies from the US, he writes on his weblog.
The China CEO of MySpace Luo Chuan leaves for a domestic video hosting company, showing that getting an effective local management team is hard to keep together.

When you come right down to it, there is little a global brand can bring to the table in China. Most add a burden of a faraway headquarters without empowering the local management team to be more competitive. This is not a problem which is unique to China, it is also happening in the social networking market in Japan.

Commercial
Paul Denlinger is part of our China management gurus at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need Paul's help, do get in touch with us.

"More intelligent online marketing needed" - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

As the number of internet users in China is exploding, more intelligent online marketing is needed, says Shaun Rein, president of the market research company CMR, in RedOrbit.

"The increase in the number of internet users in China shows once again that companies need to spend more time determining their digital marketing strategies," he said...
Rein also argued that the figures showed an "increasing comfort on the internet by a broader range of consumers", pointing to the growth of online sales as an example. The report shows that China's small-scale e-commerce sector is growing rapidly. Around 23.8 million netizens use online payment services, up 72 per cent from last year.
In terms of online activities, accessing music remains the most popular, with 85 per cent of users doing so.That was followed by news, instant messaging and online video.

Was the iPhone girl a fake?

the Foxconn girl

I have mostly ignored the hype of the so-called iPhone girl, a girl from the Foxconn factories in Shenzhen that became famous, because some of her pictures were left on an iPhone that emerged abroad. The Chinese internet has many of those hypes and I have only one life, that is also very busy without the iPhone girl.
But from a translation of an article in Yweekend (done by ESWN) an interesting twist shows up. According to "sources" (as we call them in the SCMP jargon) claim Foxconn has been setting up the whole hype from A to Z. The Chinese reporter give a nice overview of the affair, and then turns to Li Er, who has a reputation of setting up internet hypes himself.

"This is clearly a case of Internet promotion. You can tell just from the process. I know who handled this 'case.' It is a team of people. But I cannot tell you who they are, because I am acquainted with them."
Li Er analyized: "This 'most beautiful Chinese worker' is like that 'most beautiful cleaning girl' that we did before. The concept is completely identical. You bring up a clean and pure image of a pleasant-looking beautifu lfemale worker. The only difference is that this affair was triggered by having a foreigner post photos to an overseas website. But this is precisely where it is brilliant."
"The planners of this affair thoroughly understand the Chinese mind -- a lot of Chinese people think that anything that happens overseas must be real. On this point, they were very successful." Li Er said that almost all of the popular "most beautiful girls" on the Internet were promoted by Internet promoters from behind the scene.
These so-called "most beautiful girls" are part of the "girl series." From Tianxian MM to the girl who swapped a safety pin for a villa," they were all variations of the same "girl series." The rapidity by which iPhoneGirl became red-hot popular on the Internet showed that the planning and execution of this campaign was perfect and effective.

Take care, this is only based on one source, but it sounds pretty convincing to me! When it is true, it is certainly one of the better done scams on the Chinese internet.
More at ESWN.

Commercial
The internet is one of the major forces in China and at the China Speakers Bureau we are happy to have a range of speakers who are very familiar with both the internet in China and China's other media. If you are interested in having a speaker about this subject, do get in touch.

Dealing with cross cultural dilemma's

cross-cultural dilemma's
Wikipedia Today I was asked by a potential client to give a few possibilities from our stable of speakers who are able to discuss with US-based senior executives cross-cultural dilemma's for working in China. That was a tough pick, since we have a decent group of speakers who could do that job. In in the end I picked four and since this is a rather generic advise (I would not share with you our formal proposals of course), here is my pick:

1. Tom Doctoroff, CEO of Greater China, J. Walter Thompson. Tom has been setting up the most successful foreign advertisement agency in China and from his long-time experience he has great battle stories and thorough analytical insights to share.
2. Mark Schaub, author and lawyer, the first foreign lawyer to join a Chinese law firm, combining a great sense of humor with more than a decade of experience in getting foreign firms into China (and sometime out again).
3. Paul Denlinger. American-Chinese with a long-term experience in advising both Chinese and foreign companies (especially US firm) in dealing with the China market.
4. Shaun Rein, one of the most-quoted China-specialists in US-media, with a solid background in finance and investment banking, he has set up a leading consumer research company in China and one of our most-wanted speakers.

Regulatory caution halt China's global aspirations

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 01: (L...

A German-German deal
got in place
Getty Images via Daylife Officially global expansion might be high on China's agenda, but financially disastrous purchases in the past have made the central authorities rather careful. China's Development Bank (CDB), a financial institution controlled by that central government, failed to buy the German Dresdner Bank for USD 10bn and lost it to its German competitor the Commerzbank, writes the Financial Times.
The same CDB invested last year in the British Barclay Bank, an investment that lost half of its value in no time. Also its Blackstone investment in the summer of 2007 and the heavy losses triggered off much public and internal scrutiny. Chinese banks, cutting their losses in Freddie and Fanny, are just another recent example or a problem China is having, sitting on more than one trillion US-dollars in trade surplus.
Investing your capital in a market that is global going south, might not be rather profitable in the short run. Focusing on the long term, if clever, might be hard when both the public and the central government are breathing in your neck.

Update: An insightful piece in the New York Times about the same subject. Do note especially the turf war between the central bank and the ministry of finance.

Commercial
At the China Speakers Bureau we have a range of speakers who can help you in both gauge China's financial industry and get a sense of what China's government is trying to do. Do give us a call when you need our help in tracking down these experts.

Howard French to join the China Speakers Bureau

Howard French

The former Shanghai correspondent of the New York Times Howard French has joined the China Speakers Bureau as a participant. Currently French is associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Howard French has not only been a keep observer of China's fast development, he also called Japan, Africa and the Americas his home, allowing him to put China position into a truly global perspective.
More at his profile.

Mixed messages about Coca-Cola's record acquisition

Arthur Kroeber

Coca-Cola is coughing up USD 2.4 billion to acquire China's leading juice maker, the Huiyuan Juice group, spending much more than the current value of the Chinese company, writes AFP.
Analysts, including consulent Arthur Kroeber of Dragonomic in Beijing, have mixed feelings about the purchage, to put it midly.
According to AFP:
If approved by local authorities, the deal would be the largest takeover by a foreign firm of a Chinese company, said Arthur Kroeber, managing director of the Beijing-based economics research firm Dragonomics.

"Coke's in an interesting place in China: They've been here forever -- they've been here for 30 years -- (but) there's not a whole lot of profit growth for them in their existing soft drink market," he said.
"You have huge volumes, but your margins are always microscopic, so you need to look at how you can diversify into new products lines."

The purchase seems to be part of an international policy by Coca-Cola to move into non-carbonated drinks rather than based on the Chinese economic realities. While it would certainly be good for the volume of the sales and the company's market share, margins would be rather low, making it an investment for the long haul at best.
Moving into markets like retail and low-end consumer goods has seldom been a lucky move by foreign companies in China.

Commercial
Arthur Kroeber is also a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau, together with a larger group of authoritative experts on China's economy. When you are interested in having him as a speaker, do get in touch.

Sex or soccer: what should be the debate?

Rowan Simons

National debates on many issues are no exception in China, but now the China soccer team has touched a very raw nerve, as ChinaSmack summarizes. At this stage, disappointed fans seem to pick anything to go after their former Olympic heroes:

Last month, rumors appeared that several members of the national football team were seen checking into hotel rooms with prostitutes or female fans. Xie Yalong, the head of the Chinese football association promised to investigate into the matter and promised the players would be punished if true. Several days ago, pictures appeared on many Chinese BBS forums like Tianya, Mop, and NetEase confirming the rumors, showing three members of the national football team with several girls returning to their hotel.

Now sex has come into play, you might forget about the real debate about soccer, a debate where for example Rowan Simons has played a role with his book Bamboo Goalposts. Rowan Simons has been instrumental in organizing grassroots soccer in Beijing. But with the eye on the Beijing Olympics, the relevant government organizations decided for an elitist approach of soccer, killing its amateur recruiting ground that has been the basis of any solid soccer nation. That discussion seems more important than the 30-minute sex deals of the players.

Commercial
Rowan Simons is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested to hear him speak about, for example, soccer in China, do get in touch with us.

Celebrity speaker Tom Doctoroff to visit New York

Tom Doctoroff

One of our most-sought celebrity speakers, Tom Doctoroff, CEO of Greater China, J. Walter Thompson, will be visiting New York from November 25 to 28, a great opportunity for clients in that region to get Tom as a speaker.
Tom Doctoroff is one of the leading forces in the advertising industry in China. Some of JWT China's key clients include: Unilever, the Diamond Trading Company (formerly DeBeers), HSBC, Inbev, Ford, B&Q, Unicharm and Nestle as well as several local enterprises such as Lenovo computers, Konka mobile phones and televisions, China Unicom and Anta.
If you are interested in having Tom as a speaker during this time-frame in the New York region, do get in touch with us.

Working with Google Chrome

I have started to work with Google Chrome (now just for testing) and I can proudly announce that as far as I can see our website is having no issues with the new browser. Famous geek blogger Scobleizer reported some issues for some websites.

Main problem: my interface at blogger.com (also a Google service) refuses to upload pictures to my weblogs.

Otherwise I can at this stage only confirm the positive findings by Scobleizer.

Masterclasses by Rowan Gibson

Rowan Gibson

Innovation is a key subject on China's political and economic agenda, so the China Speakers Bureau is happy to represent also leading business strategist Rowan Gibson as a speaker.
Next to his speaking engagements, Rowan Gibson also conducts a lot of Innovation Masterclass events, which are usually one-, two- or three days in duration for both corporate, public and government organizations. Recent clients include among others Volkswagen, Bayer, Investec bank, Sovereign Foods, Debswana Diamond Mining, and the South African government. Rowan works with various formats, depending on the client’s requirements, the size of the group, and the objectives for the event. He also tailors his seminar to the particular organization and industry sector. He often has quite large groups at his masterclass events. I have attached the event brochure from the one-day public Innovation Masterclass last year in Johannesburg, South Africa and from his public one-day Innovation Masterclass last June in Helsinki. A two-day Innovation Masterclass is also very well possible.

Rowan Gibson's leading books on innovation are expected to appear in Chinese later this year. If you are interested in learning more about him, do check his profile here, or if you are interested in having him for a speech, a debate or a masterclass, do get in touch with us.

Visa-restrictions continue to hamper China tourism - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

Beijing authorities have plans to keep on using the Olympics to attract tourists for later this year, writes the WSJ, but CMR's Shaun Rein only expects a rebound next year when visa-restrictions are expected to have been cleared.
Tourism and business travel before and during the Beijing Olympics have slumped against all expectations, because of tough visa-restrictions introduced for security reasons. Beijing Olympic organizers will try to capitalize on their otherwise successful event in the rest of 2008, they told the Wall Street Journal, but Shaun Rein is one of the skeptics in the article, expecting only a return of tourist and business visitors next year after the visa-restrictions have been removed.
More at the Wall Street Journal.
Commercial
Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau and has been one of a group of speakers who has been addressing Olympic issues in the past few months. At the China Speakers Bureau we are proud to represent some of the leading debaters in this Olympic China discussion. Do get in touch with us for more information.

There is no China Market - Paul Denlinger

Paul Denlinger

Paul Denlinger is at his best when he is a bit angry and he is mostly angry after meeting US investors in China. In his weblog he explains there is no China market.

One of my biggest complaints about western observers of China is the overly used
term “China market”. In fact, there is no China market, just as there is no
European market. While there is a European Union, which many Europeans complain about as some kind of bloated legislative bureaucratic monster, it would be
silly for any marketer to think that there is anything like a European market on
the ground. After all, what are you talking about? Are you talking about the UK,
Germany, Belgium, Spain or Italy? Even within these national markets, there are
vast social and cultural differences within the same country.

More at his weblog.

Paul Denlinger is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau and available to add value to your meetings too. We provide a wider range of speakers focusing on doing business in China, but would rather give you a tailor-made suggestions. Do get in touch with us if you are interested.

Chinese investments more feared than Japanese - Arthur Kroeber

Arthur Kroeber

Chinese overseas investments are more feared than those from Japan, says consultant Arthur Kroeber of Dragonomics in an analysis by the newsagency Reuters on China's economic future.

Arthur Kroeber, head of the Dragonomics consultancy in Beijing, is convinced that urbanization, productivity gains and fast-rising incomes bode well for
China to keep growing by 8 percent to 9 percent for the next few years. But one
risk he sees, drawn from Japan's outbound investment record, is how China spends
its wealth overseas.... In China's case, by contrast, banks and firms ultimately controlled by the Communist Party are buying into Western rivals.
"Are they pursuing commercial motives or some political motive?" Kroeber asked. "No one can tell, and that makes people nervous."
The risk of a protectionist reaction is all too real, especially in a global economic downturn.

Arthur Kroeber is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having Arthur as a speaker, or one of our other China-specialists, do have a look at our other speakers who can address government relations in China.

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

Monday, September 8, 2008

YouTube channel for the China Speakers Bureau

New: China speakers in the news

Zhang Lijia's happy story of the 1980s

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Another US social network loses in China - MySpace

Friday, September 5, 2008

"More intelligent online marketing needed" - Shaun Rein

Was the iPhone girl a fake?

Dealing with cross cultural dilemma's

Regulatory caution halt China's global aspirations

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Howard French to join the China Speakers Bureau

Mixed messages about Coca-Cola's record acquisition

Sex or soccer: what should be the debate?

Celebrity speaker Tom Doctoroff to visit New York

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Working with Google Chrome

Masterclasses by Rowan Gibson

Monday, September 1, 2008

Visa-restrictions continue to hamper China tourism - Shaun Rein

There is no China Market - Paul Denlinger

Chinese investments more feared than Japanese - Arthur Kroeber

Contributors

Links

Previous Posts

Archives