Fascinating post (graph, really) over at China Tells, entitled, “The Mystery of China’s Grey Income.” The post discusses a recent academic study finding household income in China is actually double that which is officially reported and for those earning at the top 10% of Chinese society, the real income is 2.2 times that which is… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: July 2010
China Business Regulation Rising.
Posted in Legal NewsNeither I nor my firm have ever represented a Chinese company within China. There are many reasons for that, chief among them that we are not licensed Chinese lawyers and it makes no sense to use American lawyers for domestic Chinese legal work. I mention this by way of explaining why we lack knowledge of… Continue Reading
Bribery In China. Does Your Home Country Even Care?
Posted in Legal NewsTransparency International just came out with its most recent report on country enforcement levels against foreign bribery (h/t China Bystander). In other words, this is a report on how actively various countries enforce their laws against engaging in bribery overseas. Examples of these laws would be the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the United… Continue Reading
Giving Gifts In China. Giver Beware.
Posted in Basics of China Business Law, Legal NewsThe China Law Insight blog did an excellent post a few months back on the legal perils of gift giving in China. The post is entitled, “Offering Gifts of Travel and Entertainment in China – What if the Recipient is a State Functionary,” and it nicely sets out the risks of giving business gifts. The… Continue Reading
Shanghai As Global Financial Center, Or Just Another Seoul/Tokyo?
Posted in Recommended ReadingExcellent and thought-provoking article at Knowledge@Wharton, entitled, “Turning Shanghai into a Global Financial Hub: So Much to Do, So Little Time.” The article focuses on Shanghai’s very public plans to become an International Financial Center by 2020 and debates whether that is going to happen: While Shanghai might be big, can it be international? A… Continue Reading
Chinese Branding. From Moribund To ….?
Posted in China BusinessAs just about everyone knows by now, Chinese companies are generally not terribly good at marketing and sales, particularly in the United States. For every Haier or Lenovo, there have to be at least ten thousand Chinese companies with good products with no really differentiation from their competitors. How many of you living outside China… Continue Reading
Why China Companies Are A Litigation Mark (As In Sucker), Part II.
Posted in Legal NewsThe other day, in a post entitled, “Why United States Lawsuits Against Chinese Companies Are Trending Up. Just Follow The Money,” I talked of how U.S. lawsuits against Chinese companies are rapidly increasing. That post posits various reasons why this is the case, focusing mostly on increased US-China trade and on an increase in Chinese… Continue Reading
Why United States Lawsuits Against Chinese Companies Are Trending Up. Just Follow The Money.
Posted in Legal NewsI hate when I have to be vague for attorney-client reasons, but at the same time, I also hate not writing on something really pressing and important. The problem is that the times I have to get vague often correspond with those times when I have important and current information. This is one of those… Continue Reading
Ten Reasons Chinese Companies Fail In The United States.
Posted in China BusinessHad a piece published yesterday on the Forbes China Tracker, entitled, “Ten Reasons Chinese companies fail in the U.S.” I reprise the Forbes article below and then I add to it by discussing a very insightful e-mail exchange I had in response to it. A couple of years ago, I did a post… Continue Reading
Fear The China Joint Venture And Front-Load Your China Licensing Agreements.
Posted in Legal NewsThe China Economic Review just published a piece on China business relationships by Andrew Hupert, a professor of negotiation at NYU in Shanghai. The article is entitled, “Trouble in commercial paradise,” and its thesis is that Chinese companies usually view their relationships with Western companies as short-term. Hupert starts out by talking of how even… Continue Reading
China Supply Agreements. Why The “Perfect” OEM Agreement Should Cost Less.
Posted in Legal NewsMy firm virtually always uses flat fee billing for China OEM supply agreements. We have done so many of these that we pretty much know the range of time one of these will take, even allowing for the required customization and the normal back and forth negotiating that will go on between our client and… Continue Reading
On The State Of China State Secrets.
Posted in Legal NewsChina Economic Review just published an article by CLB co-blogger, Steve Dickinson, entitled, “Chinese Walls.“ Steve starts out his article by discussing the inherent tension between China’s desire to manage “economic information” while at the same time wanting to move to becoming a “modern market economy.” China has responded to this tension by overhauling its state… Continue Reading
SMEs In China: Much Opportunity But Little Room For Error.
Posted in Basics of China Business Law, China Business, Recommended ReadingBy Dan Harris and Simon Malinowski Many years ago, a friend of mine who helped head up the international division of a well-known United States multinational asked me how I thought his company should go into a particular country (not China). I told him I would ask a friend of mine from that country who… Continue Reading
The Chinese Diaspora. Graphically.
Posted in Recommended ReadingThe Wall Street Journal has up a fascinating and illuminating graphic on the Chinese diaspora. This graphic depicts where Chinese have settled around the world. I knew Peru had a lot of Chinese, but would never have guessed 1.3 million. I also knew Thailand and Indonesia had a ton of Chinese, but surprised they each… Continue Reading
On Why Being A Friend Of China Matters To Your Business.
Posted in China BusinessGreat piece of cultural information from Jason Patent’s blog post, “Friend of China or … Other?” Patent’s post starts out talking about Lenovo Chairman Liu Chuanzhi’s recent comment on how Lenovo is “lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China. If Apple were to spend the same effort on the… Continue Reading
China’s Minimum Wage(s). Graphically.
Posted in China BusinessCaixin online has a great graphic setting out the minimum wage in various China provinces and cities (h/t Taikongren’s Advice). I think this graphic’s greatest use is as a rough starting point for comparing salaries among cites and regions than as a legal tool. I say this because among the cities and regions on this… Continue Reading
Why China Won’t Rule Tech.
Posted in China BusinessRay Kwong (a friend of mine) has a post up on the Forbes China Tracker entitled, “Five Reasons China Will Rule Tech.” I ain’t buying it. Not even at a deep discount. Ray’s post is rash, premature, and inaccurate. I set out Ray’s five reasons in bold below and then I analyze them in normal… Continue Reading
Exclusivity In China Distribution Agreements.
Posted in Legal NewsGoing through my emails and came across one from co-blogger Steve to a client on how to handle exclusivity on a China distribution agreement for a retail product. Nothing earth shattering here, but since our clients for whom we do China distribution agreements frequently ask us about exclusivity, I figured putting this up on the… Continue Reading
Reverse Mergers For Chinese Companies. “I’m Your Pusherman”
Posted in China Business, Legal NewsI’m your mamma I’m your daddy I’m that nigga in the alley I’m your doctor when in need want some coke? have some weed You know me I’m your friend your main man thick and thin I’m your pusher man I’m your pusher man From the song, Pusherman, by Curtis Mayfield, (click here to listen)… Continue Reading
Ten Steps To Starting A China Business.
Posted in Basics of China Business Law, China Business, Legal NewsInc. Magazine just came out with an article today that does a nice job setting out the basics for foreigners starting a business in China. The article is by Issie Lapowsky and it is entitled, “10 Steps to Starting a Business in China.“ Its ten steps are as follows. I have tried to pull the… Continue Reading
Six Ways To Protect Your China IP. No Lawyer Required.
Posted in China Business, Legal NewsA client (who my firm has been representing on its international intellectual property matters for a long long time) sent me an article today and asked for my thoughts. The article is entitled, Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights in Weak Appropriability Regimes: The Case of de Facto Protection Strategies in China, written by Marcus M. Keupp, Angela Beckenbauer, and Oliver… Continue Reading
On The Relevance/Significance Of Lady Gaga To YOUR China Business.
Posted in China BusinessEvery so often I will read something I know to be important, without really being able to put my finger on why it is important or even how. That is the case today with “Just for Fun: Oh My Lady Gaga! A Star is Born in…China,” a post on the usually oh-so serious China Law… Continue Reading
China Corruption. You’d Have To Be Blind….
Posted in China BusinessOne of the things I have learned from doing this blog is to roll with the punches that really do not have all that much to do with what I have written. If I write a post on how Hong Kong is usually not very relevant to the typical SME going into China, I get… Continue Reading
China Intellectual Property (IP). I Hate Cats.
Posted in China Business, Legal NewsThe China Economic Review just came out with a column by Andrew Hupert, entitled, “Schroedinger’s copyright: Negotiating with Chinese about IP and brands requires quantum thinking.” It is on a completely different topic than I initially expected and so I will first cover the article and then I will cover the expected topic. Hupert’s article is… Continue Reading
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