I spent much of last week in Chicago meeting with “China people” and “talking China” and I left there with one inescapable conclusion: China is changing. No drum roll please. Of course China is changing you are saying, but how? The conclusion is that China is getting more difficult for foreign companies, but why and… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Vietnam
Will China Avoid The Middle Income Trap? Four Ways To Make That Likely
Posted in China BusinessI am fascinated by the “Middle-Income Trap,” particularly as it applies to China. The Middle Income Trap is used to describe a developing economy that stalls out after a period of rapid growth before it becomes a developed economy. My shorthand view of it is that it is relatively easy to go from being an… Continue Reading
China Is Getting Tougher On Foreign Business. Stay Flexible And It Will Be Just Fine…
Posted in China BusinessOne of the themes of this blog for years has been that China is making things tougher for foreign businesses by increasing the strength of its business laws and by stepping up its enforcement of them against foreign companies. We hear that the same thing is happening to Chinese domestic companies, but starting from a… Continue Reading
China Factories Moving In Droves To Cambodia/Vietnam/Myanmar/Malaysia. NOT.
Posted in China BusinessEver since the New York Times did an article, Wary of China, Companies Head to Cambodia, on how companies are leaving China for Cambodia, there has been a whole host of media and blog play and real life discussion about how “everyone” is leaving China for places like Cambodia or Myanmar or Vietnam or Indonesia. The… Continue Reading
China’s Changing Economy And What It Means For You
Posted in China BusinessExcellent economic analysis of China by Yiping Huang, a professor of Economics at Peking University and at the China Economy Program at the Australian National University and Barclay Bank Hong Kong’s Chief Economist for Asia. His analysis can be found in an EastAsiaForum article, entitled, “China’s New Growth,” in which Huang talks of how the Chinese government is… Continue Reading
China Still The Place For Manufacturing
Posted in China BusinessThere have been countless articles written on how the end of cheap China will mean the end of foreign companies going to China, but that has barely happened at all. This article, “Analysis: Investors make $100 billion bet on China’s drive up value chain,” by Kevin Yao of Reuters, nicely encapsulates what is going on… Continue Reading
Ruminations On The Meaning Of Toilet Paper/Poisoned Food In China. Morality Play Or Meaningless Drivel?
Posted in China Business, China TravelA story I always tell — heck I told it earlier this week — about China revolves around toilet paper. My story is as follows: A year or so ago I was in Vietnam visiting my daughter, who was there studying. We were in an airport when I walked away to go to a rest… Continue Reading
Vietnam Over China For Small-Scale Manufacturing. Why Didn’t I Think Of That?
Posted in China BusinessI constantly hear that China manufacturing is cheap only for manufacturing in fairly large scale. Many (most?) Chinese factories are geared up for large orders and large production runs and they oftentimes reject smaller orders or price them prohibitively high. This “go big or go home” mentality/capability also holds true for companies that make a… Continue Reading
The End Of Cheap China, Part VI. Vietnam, Burma/Myanmar, Globalization, The Next Big Thing, And Falling Wages.
Posted in China BusinessOne of the things that I love about my job is hearing about the next big thing. Most next big things never actually become a big thing, but the fun is in the sorting. It seems that any time I get together with a client, the discussion invariably turns to the “next” country, with “next”… Continue Reading
The End Of Cheap China, With A Giant Caveat.
Posted in China BusinessThe Boston Consulting Group came out with an excellent piece last year, entitled, “Made in America, Again: Why Manufacturing Will Return to the United States.” An excellent summary of that article can be found here, from which I pull the following: Within the next five years, the United States is expected to experience a manufacturing… Continue Reading
Will India Challenge China?
Posted in China BusinessJust read a very interesting post, entitled, “Will India Challenge China? Not yet.” The post is by GE Anderson over at the ChinaBizGov blog. I know GE Anderson to be one very smart guy (with a Ph.d and an upcoming book to prove it) and one damn fine analyst of things China, particularly those things… Continue Reading
China Polyester Writ Large.
Posted in China BusinessJust read an excellent article describing what is happening with China’s textile industry, in light of China’s most recent (and quite recent) Five Year Plan. The article is entitled, “Five-Year Plan launches China textiles on a new course,” but before any of you non-textile people flee this post, let me tell you: DON’T. This post… Continue Reading
Service In China. Good Luck With That.
Posted in China Business, China TravelI love it when my wild assertions are proven right. I am always writing about how terrible the service is at China’s hotels and restaurants and I have often posited that service in China is the worst in the world. In “This Is China. I Laughed, I Cried,” I wrote about a blogger’s “Kafkaesque situation… Continue Reading
Korea As China Test Market. But Why?
Posted in China BusinessThe Korea Law Blog did a post, entitled, “Enter the Korean Market — Then Enter China and Japan,” positing that companies use Korea as a test market for China: The Secretary General [of the EU Chamber of Commerce in Korea, Jean–Jacques Grauhar] mentioned something that I think all global businesses should recognize. He notes that:… Continue Reading
Chengdu China For Your Business? The Podcast.
Posted in Recommended ReadingIf you are thinking of setting up a business in Chengdu, I urge you to listen to AmCham’s recent podcast interview with Bill Marshak, the Principal Commercial Officer at the US Consulate in Chengdu Sichuan. Bill is a college friend of co-blogger Steve Dickinson and I had the pleasure of meeting Bill the last time… Continue Reading
Is China Too Risky? Aon Says No.
Posted in China BusinessNot quite sure why, but I have been writing a lot lately about the risks of operating a business in China. A few months ago, I did a post entitled China Is The Risk. I See Clouds and a few weeks ago I did a post entitled Secure And Insecure Countries. In Light Of Egypt. An Open Thread. Both… Continue Reading
How Not To Get Kidnapped In China, Part 2. Resolve Your Debt Problems Before You Go.
Posted in Legal NewsA few weeks ago, a reader e-mailed me with an article regarding the jailing in Shanghai of California businessman Brian Horowitz over a debt he (his company?) allegedly owed a Chinese company. I have been assiduously following the case in the press for many reasons. First, cases like this could prove very important to my… Continue Reading
China: Where Only The Good (And Bad) Die Young.
Posted in China BusinessApologies for the Billy Joel. Just read an interesting, disquieting, yet not terribly surprising article on China’s life expectancy. The article is entitled, “In China, Uneven Progress on Health Front,” and its focus is on how since 1990, China has had less of an increase in life expectancy than just about “every other big developing country”… Continue Reading
China. A Really Good Place To Do Business.
Posted in China BusinessBy Steve Dickinson Our clients are always talking about where they should invest in Asia. Even more so of late in light of recent concerns that China is no longer a preferred destination for foreign investment. I have argued consistently that China is the most attractive place for investment in Asia. There simply is no… Continue Reading
China, Malaysia, Korea And The “Middle Income Trap.”
Posted in China BusinessI just learned a new term today that I know I will be using frequently in the future. The term is “middle income trap” and it crystallizes some of my previously discombobulated thoughts I have had regarding economic development. Let me explain. This new term (for me) comes from a post by Michael Schuman on Time… Continue Reading
Vietnam and China. Labor Shortages Or Not?
Posted in China BusinessI ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more Well, he hands you a nickel He hands you a dime He asks you with a grin If you’re havin’ a good time Then he fines you every time you slam the door I ain’t gonna… Continue Reading
The Impact Of China’s Labor Contract Law.
Posted in Legal NewsBy: Dan Harris and Brad Luo It has been a little over eight months since China enacted its groundbreaking new Labor Contract Law, which is just enough time to preliminarily assess its impact. The Labor Contract Law has already greatly impacted employee treatment in China and greatly impacted how Chinese employees view their rights. It… Continue Reading
China’s New Labor Law And Why Vietnam Is No Big Thing
Posted in Legal News“T’aint no big thing….” Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music I remember a time (Reagan era, I believe), when there was considerable talk about greatly reducing public television (PBS) funding here in the United States. In response to this, PBS reacted like any good bureaucracy does. It threatened to terminate that which the people found most precious…. Continue Reading
Japan IT Moving From China To Vietnam
Posted in China BusinessI like trade magazine articles. They tell small stories, oftentimes writ large. Most importantly, they are usually aimed at a small, specialized audience that wants “just the facts.” I just read an interesting, though somewhat sparse, article in Global Services Magazine, entitled, “Vietnam: Capitalizing on the China-Japan Standoff.“ The article posits that Japanese IT outsourcing… Continue Reading
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