Bamboo Innovator

The new American capitalism: Rise of the distorporation; A mutation in the way companies are financed and managed will change the distribution of the wealth they create

The new American capitalism: Rise of the distorporation; A mutation in the way companies are financed and managed will change the distribution of the wealth they create

Oct 26th 2013 | NEW YORK |From the print edition

AT THE beginning of the 1980s capital was flooding into the American oil and gas industry. Apache Corporation, an erstwhile conglomerate spanning steel, dude-ranching and car sales, sought to tap into the flow in a novel way. It wrapped a bunch of private oil and gas assets into a new ownership structure that was akin to a partnership but was publicly listed. It was a useful idea—until steep declines in tax rates and energy prices put the Apache Petroleum Company to rest in 1987. Read more of this post

Corporate armistice: Can South Korea’s big and small companies thrive together?

Corporate armistice: Can South Korea’s big and small companies thrive together?

Oct 26th 2013 |From the print edition

LOTTE WORLD IN the Songpa district of Seoul boasts the world’s biggest indoor theme park. Trolleys shaped like hot-air balloons hang from a rail circumnavigating the glass roof. From this vantage point visitors can survey the ice rink, carousel, rollercoaster and other attractions below. A young couple wearing leopard-ear headbands have come from Yongin, where Samsung has an amusement park of its own. Which is better? They are both good, they say, but Samsung’s also has a zoo. Read more of this post

The 38th parallel, separating north and south, is Korea’s most important dividing line. But it is only one of many

The 38th parallel, separating north and south, is Korea’s most important dividing line. But it is only one of many, says Simon Cox

Oct 26th 2013 |From the print edition

ON A RESTLESS night in April 1970, Lee Jae-geun, one of 27 South Korean fishermen aboard a trawler in the Yellow Sea, awoke from a nightmare. He had dreamt that Korea was struck by three titanic waves, each stronger than the last. The final wave swept aside mountains, deluged the country and left the land divided. It was, he thought, a bad omen.

And so it proved. A few nights later a North Korean patrol intercepted his trawler about 50 miles south of the Northern Limit Line, a disputed maritime border between the two Koreas. Armed patrolmen boarded the trawler and abducted its crew. Most of them were repatriated later that year, but the North Koreans had grander designs for Mr Lee, hoping to train him as a spy. It was three decades before he escaped. Read more of this post

South Korea’s education fever needs cooling

South Korea’s education fever needs cooling

Oct 26th 2013 |From the print edition

MIRIM HIGH SCHOOL for girls in Seoul is living proof that South Koreans take education seriously. The students, aged 15 to 18, bow respectfully whenever a teacher passes. Many of them board, and all attend extra-curricular classes from 6pm to 9pm. Do they work too hard? Chang Byong-gap, the headmaster, laughs at the question. Read more of this post

A pram too far: Faced with overwhelming pressures, South Korean women have gone on baby-strike

A pram too far: Faced with overwhelming pressures, South Korean women have gone on baby-strike

Oct 26th 2013 |From the print edition

WHEN MOTHERS SAW Park Chan-hee pushing his young daughter’s pram in the park, they assumed he was unemployed. At the playground on weekdays, he was the only man amid the watchful women and laughing children. Mr Park spent a year as a stay-at-home dad, which he found harder than doing his military service. After his wife’s maternity leave expired, she returned to her job at an agricultural co-operative and he left his position as a museum curator. His male friends thought his decision odd. His parents did not even try to understand, nor did they tell their friends. In their minds, he was reneging on his duty to provide for his family. His wife’s parents, on the other hand, thought their daughter was “blessed”. Read more of this post

What comes after K-pop?

What comes after K-pop?

Oct 26th 2013 |From the print edition

LONG BEFORE PSY made Korean music famous in the West, much of Asia had fallen under the sway of K-pop: tightly choreographed ditties performed by fresh-faced boy and girl bands, exquisitely manufactured from interchangeable parts. Even in North Korea the latest dance routines are eagerly imitated, according to Daily NK, a news hub led by defectors. Dance teachers can earn about 20 times the average worker’s salary, it reports. Read more of this post

Wanda Cinema Line partners with Coca-Cola China

Wanda Cinema Line partners with Coca-ColaChina

Updated: 2013-10-22 18:57

( chinadaily.com.cn)

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The China Securities Regulatory Commission will be prudent in introducing same-day settlement (also known as T+0 settlement), to the A-share market, to protect small investors’ interests

Regulator ‘cautious’ on T+0 settlement

Updated: 2013-10-26 08:04

By Cai Xiao ( China Daily) Read more of this post

Foreign Supermarkets Hand over Register Keys to Domestic Rivals; CP Lotus and Tesco are heading for the door, leaving Chinese companies with bigger operations – and even bigger questions on handling them

10.25.2013 19:35

Foreign Supermarkets Hand over Register Keys to Domestic Rivals

CP Lotus and Tesco are heading for the door, leaving Chinese companies with bigger operations – and even bigger questions on handling them

By staff reporters Qu Yunxu and Yu Ning, and Hong Kong correspondent Dai Tian

(Beijing) – Mergers and acquisitions have never been rare among supermarket operators in China. There have been frequent deals involving domestic and foreign companies, as well as private and state-owned players. Now, an increasing number of foreign supermarket owners have shown they intend to quit the market, selling their assets to Chinese operators. On October 14, domestic supermarket operator Wumart Stores Inc. said it would buy 36 CP Lotus stores in northern and eastern China from Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group). The transaction is worth HK$ 2.89 billion. Read more of this post

The E-Cigarette Industry, Waiting to Exhale

October 26, 2013

The E-Cigarette Industry, Waiting to Exhale

By MATT RICHTEL

Geoff Vuleta was in the crowd at a Rolling Stones concert last year when Keith Richards lit up a cigarette on stage, the arena’s no-smoking policy be damned. Feeling inspired, Mr. Vuleta, a longtime smoker, reached into his pocket and pulled one out himself. People seated nearby shot him scolding glances as he inhaled. So he withdrew the cigarette from his mouth and pressed the glowing end to his cheek. Read more of this post

China’s Coming Economic Slowdown; History shows that every economic miracle eventually loses its magic. How much longer can China sustain such astounding growth?

China’s Coming Economic Slowdown

History shows that every economic miracle eventually loses its magic. How much longer can China sustain such astounding growth?

JOSEF JOFFE

Oct. 25, 2013 7:49 p.m. ET

The big question of the 20th century has not disappeared in the 21st: Who is on the right side of history? Is it liberal democracy, with power growing from the bottom up, hedged in by free markets, the rule of law, accountability and the separation of powers? Or is it despotic centralism in the way of Stalin and Hitler, the most recent, though far less cruel, variant being the Chinese one: state capitalism plus one-party rule? Read more of this post