Image by Fantake via Flickr The March Newsletter of the China Speakers Bureau is now online, with the latest news about our speakers and an overview of the corporate failings in China over the past month, while their markets keep on growing. We look over Groupon, BestBuy, Mattel‘s Barby, HomeRead More →

Entrance Apple store Shanghai by randomwire via Flickr A visit to Apple’s store in Pudong, Shanghai leave no room for doubt: the company is doing very well. Shaun Rein analyzes in CNBC how the laggard from 2009 turned into a winner in 2011, where other retailers like BestBuy, Home DepotRead More →

Howard French by Fantake via Flickr Most commentators have dismissed the so-called Jasmine revolution as an instant failure. Howard French argues in The Atlantic there is more to it than those easy analysis suggest. At the simplest level, it is hard to understand how a call to protest can beRead More →

Image by Zingaro. I am a gipsy too. via Flickr The sudden closure of Mattel‘s Barbie store in Shanghai seems to have nobody apart from Mattel, says retail analyst Paul French in the LA Times, today. He is sceptical about the firm’s announcement they are merely changing plans. The closureRead More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Foreign firms in China currently make fat margins, showing the strenght of the economy, Shaun Rein tells Bloomberg, despite high profile failures like Barbie, Home Depot and BestBuy. Inflation might still be a huge problem, but there is no bubble in the making, he argues.Read More →

Arthur Kroeber by Fantake via Flickr For years China has been talking about refocusing its economy on domestic consumption, tells Arthur Kroeber in the New York Times. Now, real change is happening, although we should not expect too much too fast. The New York Times: “For years and years they’veRead More →

Image by Fantake via Flickr Even though Chinese consumers are spending more on expensive products like Apple, they shunned the Best Buy stories, explains Shaun Rein in CNBC. The economy of scale did not pay off: According to our research, Best Buy in China was perceived as being too expensive,Read More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Ahead of the opening of the annual meetings of the CPPCC and the National People’s Congress, Shaun Rein gives in CNBC an overview of the current challenges for the country. The mismatch on the labor market, caused by a failing education is key. OtherRead More →

Ministry of Defense, Taipei via Wikipedia Taiwan is still trying to assess the amount of damage caused by one of the largest espionage case, after the late-January arrest of General Lo Hsien-che, who ran the communications, electronics and information division of Army Command Headquarters, writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News. TheRead More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Home Depot and BestBuy were just two of the foreign companies in China that failed, while the consumer market is reaching record heights. Shaun Rein explains what they were missing in CNBC. First, they get China’s middle class wrong: For one, Western brands needRead More →

Annette Nijs Executive Director Global Initiative of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Annette Nijs led earlier this week a signing ceremony for a partnership between her school and the Dutch multinational Philips, a partnership focusing on health care and innovation. From the CEIBS-website: Annette Nijs called the eventRead More →