Managing The Dragon

During the decade of the 1970s in the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was stuck at the 800 level, common stock offerings were few and far between, and companies with debt ratings lower than single “A” could not issue bonds. That meant that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the key job creators [...]

As China becomes the largest market in the world for one product after another, companies with products, technologies and services needed by the country’s rapidly-developing economy are all trying to do the same thing — establish a position in the Chinese marketplace. Depending upon the human and capital resources available, there are a variety of [...]

There is no more attractive market for a company that provides goods and services to the power sector than China’s electricity industry. It is big, fast-growing and open to new ways of powering the Chinese economy. Moreover, the Chinese companies that are building out China’s power generation and transmission industry are well positioned to do [...]

Apart from the headline making stories about China’s growth rate, its currency, and sky-high property prices, three major trends are developing that are changing the competitive landscape in the country. All three, in one way or another, deal with the vast local market which largely exists in China’s interior. In the broadest terms, approximately 400 [...]

Without a doubt, China is the largest construction site in the world. Buildings, railroads, highways, airports, power plants, you name it, and China is building more of them than any other country. It’s no wonder then that China is becoming the largest market in the world for construction equipment. As in autos and most other [...]

News reports over the weekend noted that China has overtaken Japan as the second-largest economy in the world. The reports stemmed from a remark made on Friday by Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, who said that the Chinese economy outpaced Japan’s in the first half of this year. “China, in [...]

On June 19, the Peoples Bank of China released the yuan’s peg to the U.S. dollar, and announced that it would instead peg the yuan to a basket of currencies. China regards the composition of the currency basket as a state secret, and officials haven’t publicly disclosed what currencies are being used in the basket. [...]

If you’re like me, you couldn’t help but get caught up, at least a little, in the LeBron James spectacle over the weekend. As they anxiously waited for LeBron’s decision, sports fans around the world were asking the same questions. Would the 25-year-old “King James” stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he has labored for [...]

Volumes have been written regarding joint ventures in China. Nonetheless, they are required in some industries in China, and may actually be the right way to go for some companies. I recently met with the executives from a company that is new to China, and was asked a series of questions abut joint ventures. Following [...]

In what seems like ages ago, we wrote a series of posts on the legal battles between Danone, the large French food company, and Wahaha, its partner in China. Over the holidays, it was announced that Danone will quit the joint venture and be bought out by Wahaha. The following post tells the story. Danone [...]