The 2013 Fonterra milk scandal has not diminished the aspirations of the New Zealand firm to play a role in China´s dairy industry. This week Fonterra bought 20% stake in Beingmate, a smart move, says retail analyst Ben Cavender to Reuters.Read More →
Innovation and China have not been an obvious combination of the past few decades. US vice-president Joe Biden even challenged us to name any innovation from China. Business analyst Shaun Rein takes Biden on in his upcoming book The End of Copycat China: The Rise of Creativity, Innovation, and Individualism in Asia.Read More →
Anti-trust actions, anti-corruption drives and safety issues have made corporate life for foreign firms in China tougher than 10, 15 years ago. Whether they will actually leave China in larger numbers depends on how the costs of doing business develop, writes financial analyst Sara Hsu in the Diplomat.Read More →
Post Mart, a joint venture by China Post and US-based China Horizon Investments Group, it consolidating its China operation. Lack of volume is one of their key problems among its rural customers, says retail analyst Ben Cavender in the China Daily.Read More →
Facebook is blocked in China, just like Twitter and Google, but is opening a sales office in China. Chinese companies have to tap into the sales power of Facebook as they go abroad, as their global ambitions grow, explains business analyst Shaun Rein on Bloomberg TV. How do you want to sell in Indonesia or the US if you are not on Facebook?Read More →
Both KFC and McDonald’s have been struggling to keep market share in China by expanding fast. Localizing has become a key word, but sometimes at the expense of quality, says business analyst Ben Cavender in AdAge.Read More →
China´s billionaires not only spend a huge part of their money on luxury cars, they also make it from the car-industry, says Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Rich list in the China Daily.25 Percent of the super-rich in the automotive industry come from China.Read More →
Business between China and Israel is brisk, and that is partly caused by the fact that both economies supplement each other. Where China needs innovation, Israel needs a sizable market to sell its innovations, a market it does not have among its hostile neighbors. Shanghai-based lawyer Mark Schaub just returned from his latest trip to Israel and made this overview.Read More →
A US$540,000 fine for illegal direct selling and unsubstantiated product claims for Nu Skin Enterprises came as a relief, since the company could have faced a higher penalty. But it serves as a warning for all direct selling in China, says market analyst Ben Cavender to Bloomberg.Read More →
Most attention has gone to the chances of the financial industry at the new Shanghai Free Trade Zone, but while those opportunities might occur in the long term, niche markets like gaming companies can already win today, argues lawyer Mark Schaub, Partner at King&Wood and Mallesons, in a legal note. Read More →
January 31 is going to be a major test for the shadow banking in China, as a 3 billion RMB fund matures, without support of the larger banks. One of the main victims could be China´s SME, who had to turn to shadow banking as officials refused them funding, writes financial specialist Sara Hsu in the South China Morning Post.Read More →
Foreign firms find the business climate in China ´worse than ever´, tells business analyst Shaun Rein to the Wall Street Journal. Economic growth is lower, and companies wonder what kind of investments are worth while. Pollution and protectionism do the rest.Read More →