Uber learned much from the failures of other American internet companies who tried to enter the China market, but still failed. China veteran Kaiser Kuo looks in ChinaFile at the competitive market in China, making it almost impossible for foreign internet companies to gain substantial market share. Read More →
Can Asia produce its own Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook? “No,” noted the reporter of E27 from a speech Chinaccelerator director William Bao Bean gave at the Echelon Asia Summit 2016. Unfortunately, the reporter did not wait for the second part of the speech, and William explains why Google and Facebook changed the playing field at Facebook.Read More →
The US Securities and Exchange Commission voices concerns about Alibaba´s sprawling business empire, and the way its accounting is organized. But also investors are concerned, tells business analyst Shaun Rein in the Financial Times. Read More →
Journalist Ian Johnson interviews economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® on – among other subjects – China´s financial reforms and what has been derailing them in the New York Times. “The desire to control things has won out over the desire to reform and liberalize.”Read More →
Building more infrastructure has been a receipt for China to keep its economy growing double-digit for a long time. But that old growth model is no longer working, tells economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® in an interview with QZ.Read More →
Investors have a hard time in figuring out what is happening in China. There are a few basics, says economist Arthur Kroeber, where they often get it wrong, he tells Benefits Canada, and he tries to address them.Read More →
Macau tries to stay relevant by opening six new multi-billion hotels this year alone. But business analyst Shaun Rein wonders whether that is the right strategy. Bigger is not always better, he tells the South China Morning Post.Read More →
The Chinese insurer Anbang got quite some attention with efforts to purchase the Waldorf Astoria (US$1.9 billion), Blackstone (US$6.5 billion) and Starwood (US$14 billion). Worries that Anbang cannot meet its obligations are overblown, tells business analyst Shaun Rein to the BBC.Read More →
China´s farewell to double-digit growth is causing multinational companies headaches, also in the services industry where China is heading to, writes financial analyst Sara Hsu in the Diplomat. Now the downturn seems manageable, but she sees a rocky way ahead.Read More →
Many foreign companies fail when they try to enter the China market. According to William Bao Bean, a partner at Shanghai venture capital firm SOSV, dealing with over 120 startups per year, that is because they follow too often the instincts they take along from their home market. Wrong, he tells in the South China Morning Post.Read More →
For more than a decade the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post has been destroying its image as a quality paper it still was in the 1990. Key journalists were fired or walked away voluntarily. The purchase by Alibaba gives observers new reason for worry. It does not make sense, says business analyst Shaun Rein in the Star Beacon Herald.Read More →
“Should I bother to come to China, people ask often, The answer generally is: No.” William Bao Bean talks to a group of Israeli startups in Tel Aviv. “When you use your gut feeling in China, you are mostly wrong. In China technology is not important, its about cash, friends or both.” Lessons from a seasoned investor, who says you can only succeed if you have an “unfair advantage”.Read More →