Electrolux applies emerging market lessons to wider business

December 13, 2013 1:00 pm

Electrolux applies emerging market lessons to wider business

By Richard Milne in Stockholm

Christmas shoppers in Stockholm’s upmarket NK department store have a chance this year to show just how much of a dedicated foodie they are: Electrolux is selling a stand mixer for SKr15,900 ($2,400) there. Handmade in France, the mixer is a reflection of the Swedish appliance company’s presence in professional kitchens: Electrolux equipment is found in half of Europe’s Michelin-starred restaurants, according to chief executive Keith McLoughlin. Read more of this post

The Rise of the Resource Curse

The Rise of the Resource Curse

In many ways Mongolia is an outlier — an exotic tourist destination filled with windswept deserts, nomads and yurts. It might also be a vision of the world’s future. With a tiny $10 billion economy and less than 3 million people, Mongolia is fantastically resource-rich. And with borders touching China, Russia and Central Asia, the landlocked nation seems to have won a geographic lottery ticket. It doesn’t need to go far to find enthusiastic customers for its immense endowment of copper, gold and other minerals. Read more of this post

Commodity Tycoons Try, Try Again: Australia’s leading commodity tycoons are moving ahead with huge investments—in spite of their falling fortunes

Commodity Tycoons Try, Try Again

Australia’s leading commodity tycoons are moving ahead with huge investments—in spite of their falling fortunes

REBECCA THURLOW

Dec. 13, 2013 11:25 a.m. ET

THE BIGGEST COMMODITY bull-market run in a generation now appears to be over. But don’t try telling that to some of the world’s richest mining tycoons—at least not the ones in Australia.  Read more of this post

‘Chocfinger’ sells Amajero trading arm for price of a Mars bar; Ward’s Armajaro unit turns sour amid high costs

December 13, 2013 9:04 pm

‘Chocfinger’ sells trading arm for price of a Mars bar

By Emiko Terazono in London

Anthony Ward, the cocoa trader known as “Chocfinger” for a string of audacious deals in commodities markets, has been forced to sell his London-based cocoa, coffee and sugar trading business for just $1 – about the price of a Mars Bar. Mr Ward, who in 2010 shot to prominence for buying a large amount of cocoa stocks in a strategy that sent prices to a 33-year high, will receive less than 50 cents for his stake in Armajaro Trading, the company he helped create. Read more of this post

State Media Effort to Spin the ’5 Benefits’ of China’s Smog Falls Flat

Dec 10, 2013

State Media Effort to Spin the ’5 Benefits’ of China’s Smog Falls Flat

Increased instances of lung cancer. Respiratory problems. Asthma. Even ugly sperm. The list of noxious side effects China’s notorious pollution causes is well known – a point one Beijing newspaper felt compelled to make in a commentary following recent state-media efforts to spin the country’s smog. “It’s beyond one’s imagination to find ‘positive energy’ to unite the people in smog,” the Beijing Times said Tuesday (in Chinese). “But for some people, one way to show their existence is to treat a funeral as happy event and find pleasure in disasters.” Read more of this post

Tyson is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build its own farms in China instead of buying chickens from independent farmers, aiming to capitalize on widespread concerns over food safety

Inside China’s Supersanitary Chicken Farms

Looking to Capitalize on Food-Safety Concerns, Tyson Shifts From Using Independent Breeders

DAVID KESMODEL and LAURIE BURKITT

Dec. 9, 2013 3:29 p.m. ET

HAIMEN, China—Nestled among tiny farms in this rural outpost outside Shanghai is a huge, supersanitary chicken farm—a bold bet by Tyson Foods Inc. TSN +0.62% that it can thrive in China by overhauling a decades-old business model. Read more of this post

Take Chinese creativity seriously – or lose out; To say China is a nation of copiers is only half-true

December 12, 2013 7:02 pm

Take Chinese creativity seriously – or lose out

By John Howkins

To say China is a nation of copiers is only half-true, writes John Howkins

Beijing and Shanghai are like New York and Chicago in the 1890s: excitable, rumbustious and slightly crazy. Fortunes are made and lost quickly. Local government officials are deeply involved in property and business. The families and companies that succeed become the new aristocracy. Read more of this post

Smog Darkens Shanghai’s Prospects for Becoming a Global Financial Center; The Recent Stretch of Filthy-Air Days Shocks Residents, Inspires Thoughts of Flight

Smog Darkens Shanghai’s Prospects for Becoming a Global Financial Center

The Recent Stretch of Filthy-Air Days Shocks Residents, Inspires Thoughts of Flight

WEI GU

Dec. 12, 2013 1:35 p.m. ET

In the debate over which matters more in China, money or quality of life, the quality-of-life side may have found the ultimate argument: If you can’t breathe, nothing else really matters. China’s pollution problem is spreading and growing worse, a fact on stark display last week in Shanghai, the country’s financial center. A stretch of filthy-air days in that coastal city so thoroughly shocked residents—who had largely escaped the smog that has long plagued the likes of Beijing and Harbin—that it inspired fresh talk about getting away from China. Read more of this post

In China, Western Companies Cut Jobs as Growth Ebbs; Recruiting and Consulting Firms Feel Squeeze From Pullbacks

In China, Western Companies Cut Jobs as Growth Ebbs

Recruiting and Consulting Firms Feel Squeeze From Pullbacks

CATHY CHU

Dec. 12, 2013 12:36 p.m. ET

HONG KONG—After years of rapid expansion in China, some Western companies are shedding jobs as the world’s second-largest economy grows at its lowest rate in more than 20 years. Read more of this post

In China, Foreign Firms Battle Locals for Top Workers

In China, Foreign Firms Battle Locals for Top Workers

As More Chinese Job Seekers Look to Domestic Firms, Foreign Players Ramp Up Perks

KATHY CHU

Dec. 12, 2013 1:04 p.m. ET

Chinese companies are looking increase their appeal to China’s job seekers by improving pay and benefits—and it’s working. Alan Pang of Aon Hewitt tells Kathy Chu why China’s job seekers increasingly prefer domestic employers to Western ones. Read more of this post

If You Can’t Beat the Shanghai Smog, Change the System

On Thursday, as the smog that has choked Shanghai for much of the last week reached hazardous levels, the city’s environmental authority took decisive action to address the frequent air-quality alerts: It adjusted standards downward to ensure that there won’t be so many.

It was a cynical move, surely made to protect the bureau’s image in the face of unrelenting pollution that only seems to grow worse, despite government promises to address it. At this advanced stage in China’s development, nobody in the country (or elsewhere) — not even the loyal state news media — seems to believe that the problem is solvable, at least not any time soon. Even worse, nobody — not the state and certainly not the growing number of middle-class consumers (and car buyers) — seems ready to take responsibility for the mess. Read more of this post

China Turns Over Corporate Audit Documents to U.S. Regulators

China Turns Over Corporate Audit Documents to U.S. Regulators

Move by Chinese Authorities Is Related to a Sweeping Probe of U.S.-traded Chinese Firms

MICHAEL RAPOPORT

Updated Dec. 13, 2013 1:06 p.m. ET

Chinese authorities have turned over more audit documents to U.S. regulators regarding U.S.-traded Chinese companies, audit firms disclosed in legal filings, part of a sweeping U.S. probe of suspected instances of accounting fraud. Audit documents regarding at least six Chinese companies trading on U.S. exchanges now have been either turned over to U.S. regulators or are “in the pipeline” to be furnished to the U.S., the audit firms said in filings in an administrative proceeding pending before the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more of this post

China to judge local governments by their debt: Xinhua

China to judge local governments by their debt: Xinhua

Mon, Dec 9 2013

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will soon rate the performance of local governments partly by how much debt they incur, as Beijing tries to wean the country off heavy government investment, state media said. The central organization department, which oversees the appointment of senior party, government, military and state firm officials, said debt will be key when evaluating performances, according to the state news agency Xinhua. Read more of this post

China Drugmakers Face U.S. Scrutiny on Investigator Bump

China Drugmakers Face U.S. Scrutiny on Investigator Bump

U.S. regulators are more than tripling to 27 the number of workers they’ll have in China to inspect pharmaceutical plants and products, a move that may spur a wave of enforcement similar to what’s happening in India. An increased number of Food and Drug Administration investigators in India this year led to import bans against some generic drugs from Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (RBXY) and Wockhardt Ltd. (WPL) for failure to meet U.S. standards. The China expansion is the culmination of almost two years of negotiations with government officials, Christopher Hickey, director of the FDA’s China office, said in a telephone interview from Beijing. Read more of this post

China Decides to Expand OTC Stock Market Nationwide

China Decides to Expand OTC Stock Market Nationwide

Dec. 14, 2013 5:17 a.m. ET

SHANGHAI—China is opening up its over-the-counter stock market to numerous small businesses, offering a fresh funding channel to the companies, which are seen as vital to employment and economic growth. The State Council, or cabinet, said in a statement Saturday that the primary over-the-counter market is being opened to “qualified” companies around the country. Read more of this post

China Citic Seeks Shareholder Approval to Write Down Bad Loans

China Citic Seeks Shareholder Approval to Write Down Bad Loans

Move to Write Down Over Half Billion Dollars in Bad Debt May Be a Warning to Markets

DINNY MCMAHON And CYNTHIA KOONS

Updated Dec. 12, 2013 11:20 a.m. ET

BEIJING— China Citic Bank Corp. 601998.SH -0.74% plans to ask shareholders for permission to write off close to $900 million of nonperforming loans, an unusual move as China’s bad-debt levels start to tick upward. The bank, China’s seventh-largest by assets, said in statements on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this week that it wants to more than double the amount of loans it can write off in 2013 to 5.2 billion yuan ($852 million), up from a previously planned 2 billion-yuan write-off. Read more of this post

China Adopts Board-Game Strategy to Blunt U.S. Rebalance in Asia

China Adopts Board-Game Strategy to Blunt U.S. Rebalance in Asia

The foreign policy strategy emerging from China’s new leadership may include a series of incremental steps calibrated to blunt U.S. influence across Asia and sow doubt about America’s commitment to its allies in the region. Potential next steps following last month’s imposition of an air defense zone over the East China Sea in the face of U.S. condemnation include more vigorously challenging aircraft that enter the area, imposing a similar zone over disputed territory in the South China Sea and asserting naval control over islands also claimed by other nations. Read more of this post

Auto industry: Hybrid carmakers

December 10, 2013 6:31 pm

Auto industry: Hybrid carmakers

By Henry Foy

The power couple of the car industry, Carlos Ghosn and Dieter Zetsche, make for an odd pair. Mr Ghosn, an effervescent French Lebanese-Brazilian, is outspoken and animated. Mr Zetsche, a tall, slim, German with an immaculate but fulsome moustache, prefers to let his cars do the talking. One sells millions of low-cost, entry-level hatchbacks every year. The other builds Mercedes-Benz saloons. But the blossoming relationship between the Renault-Nissan chief executive and Daimler’s chairman, they stress, is a meeting of equals. Read more of this post

Is Venroy the next Billabong?

Is Venroy the next Billabong?

December 9, 2013

Jake Mitchell

Entrepreneurs spark a new global board short culture. From the humble beginnings of a small factory in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west, Sean Venturi and Theo Smallbone have carved out a global footprint, with a bricks and mortar presence in Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles, where they claim to have spawned a new board short culture: “above-the-knee” swimwear for blokes. Read more of this post

Quantitative Trading Makes Inroads in Asia; Returns for Asian ‘Quant Funds’ Have Outpaced Global Peers, and They Are Growing in Number

Quantitative Trading Makes Inroads in Asia

Returns for Asian ‘Quant Funds’ Have Outpaced Global Peers, and They Are Growing in Number

CHAO DENG

Updated Dec. 10, 2013 11:26 a.m. ET

High-tech trading is making inroads in Asia, as hedge-fund managers gain access to a wider range of market information and look to profit from strategies that go beyond picking which stocks may rise. Funds that use quantitative analysis, in particular, are finding favor in the region. Quant funds, as they are called, rely on mathematical models that crunch numbers from a variety of sources to arrive at trading decisions. Read more of this post

Asia Needs TPP to Spur Reforms; With Asia in a rut, forcing state-owned enterprises to compete would drive growth

Asia Needs TPP to Spur Reforms

With Asia in a rut, forcing state-owned enterprises to compete would drive growth.

FREDERIC NEUMANN AND IZUMI DEVALIER

Dec. 12, 2013 12:21 p.m. ET

Another round of talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, another failure to reach a deal. Negotiators meeting in Singapore this week emerged having missed a year-end deadline to conclude a high-quality multilateral trade agreement. What exactly held things up is not entirely clear since the discussions are held in secret. But with each passing month it becomes more important to conclude TPP. Read more of this post

Globalisation is turning the west against its elites

December 13, 2013 6:57 pm

Globalisation is turning the west against its elites

By Ian Buruma

The international borderless economy must become more equitable, writes Ian Buruma

Anew alliance is being forged betweenGeert Wilders and Marine Le Pen to fight what the Dutch populist calls “this monster called Europe”. They make a striking pair, with their shared taste for dyed butter-blonde locks. Yet their parties – the Dutch Party for Freedom and the French National Front – differ in several respects. Read more of this post

Cheap money party over, analysts warn as fears rise of asset bubbles

Cheap money party over, analysts warn as fears rise of asset bubbles

By AFP | 12 Dec, 2013, 10.22AM IST

ompanies who needed them.

PARIS: Cash is so cheap these days that investors have been borrowing and ploughing them in assets from artwork to wine to bitcoins, betting that prices would rise. And rise they did, some even setting records, but market watchers are now warning that asset bubbles may be forming and could well burst in 2014. Central banks have been flooding the market with money at record low rates, deploying liquidity to fight crisis after crisis that have set in since 2008.  Read more of this post

The powerful Thai generals behind Suthep’s protest movement

The powerful Thai generals behind Suthep’s protest movement

Published on Dec 14, 2013
12:14 AM

BANGKOK (REUTERS) – His whistle-tooting crowds of supporters are dwindling. His threats against Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra veer from the bold to the bizarre. But behind Thailand’s fiery anti-government protest leader, Mr Suthep Thaugsuban, are two powerful retired generals with palace connections, a deep rivalry with the Shinawatra family and an ability to influence Thailand’s coup-prone armed forces. The forces behind Mr Suthep are led by former defence minister General Prawit Wongsuwan and former army chief General Anupong Paochinda, towering figures in Thailand’s military establishment, said two military sources with direct knowledge of the matter and a third with connections to Thai generals. A glimpse into Mr Suthep’s connections sheds light on how he could prevail in a seemingly improbable bid to oust a leader who won a 2011 election by a landslide and impose rule by an unelected “People’s Council” of appointed “good people”, even as his street rallies start to flag.

Thai Protesters Can’t Win by Dismantling System

Thai Protesters Can’t Win by Dismantling System

Hundreds of thousands of protesters bring the capital to a standstill. To placate them, the prime minister dissolves parliament and calls new elections. One might expect the crowds to declare victory and go home, right? Not in Thailand. The demonstrators who have filled the streets of Bangkok over the past several weeks say snap elections called by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra are no concession, because her ruling party is certain to win. Their frustration is understandable — but it’s also irrelevant. Read more of this post

Hedge funds cut fees to win big investors

Last updated: December 12, 2013 7:00 pm

Hedge funds cut fees to win big investors

By Stephen Foley in New York

Do you know what your hedge fund manager is up to?

It is a question that haunts the institutional investors who have piled into hedge funds in increasing numbers in recent years, brandishing increasingly large cheques. Mindful of the historic opacity of the industry, and the wide latitude given to hedge fund managers to invest as they see fit, institutional money has demanded such an array of new transparency and compliance procedures that hedge fund managers often grumble the job is no fun any more. Read more of this post

Thai PM urges protesters to take part in election

Thai PM urges protesters to take part in election

8:42am EST

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Her eyes welling with tears, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pleaded on Tuesday for anti-government protesters to clear the streets after she called a snap election, but protests leaders said she should step down within 24 hours. After weeks of sometimes violent street rallies, protesters dismissed her call on Monday for a general election and said she should be replaced by an unelected “people’s council”, which has stoked concern that Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy may abandon the democratic process. Read more of this post