Bamboo Innovator

SABMiller in Africa: A long-established African firm went global, only to find the fastest-growing market was on its doorstep

SABMiller in Africa: A long-established African firm went global, only to find the fastest-growing market was on its doorstep

May 31st 2014 | KITWE AND ONITSHA | From the print edition

ON A Friday evening in Onitsha, as the beer market is closing, a man carefully straps six cases of Hero lager and two cases of Pepsi to the pannier of his moped. Another rolls away his purchases by wheelbarrow. Coaches parked nearby will soon be filled with day-trippers and their cases of booze. Each day a vast quantity of beer is sold from this closely packed warren of stores. It is part of a sprawl of specialist markets in the city, a commercial hub on the Niger river, which draws in traders from across southern Nigeria.

It was the bustle of Onitsha that persuaded SABMiller, the world’s second-largest beer company, to set up a brewery here. The market takes a slice of SAB’s local production and sells it on to small traders who are otherwise hard to reach. The company had been late in coming to Nigeria. First it acquired a rundown brewery in Port Harcourt in 2009 and then another in Ilesha before it built a brand-new plant in Onitsha in 2012. Already, its capacity is being increased, to slake locals’ ever-growing thirst. Read more of this post

The impossible dream: The surprisingly successful president of the Philippines

The impossible dream: The surprisingly successful president of the Philippines

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

IN 1987, when he was 27, Benigno “NoyNoy” Aquino was in Manila when plotters attempted a coup against the president, his mother Corazon Aquino. Recalling a promise to his late father to look after his mother and sisters, he rushed towards Malacanang, the presidential palace, to join them. He and his four guards were ambushed. Three were killed and one lost his eyesight. Mr Aquino himself still carries a bullet, along with his guilt. Read more of this post

Thailand’s coup: In for the long haul; As crackdown follows coup, the generals may stick around for as long as they think it takes to restructure politics and the economy, and manage the royal succession

Thailand’s coup: In for the long haul; As crackdown follows coup, the generals may stick around for as long as they think it takes to restructure politics and the economy, and manage the royal succession

May 31st 2014 | BANGKOK | From the print edition

IT IS official. On May 26th General Prayuth Chan-ocha secured the royal imprimatur for his coup four days earlier. Dressed in a white army uniform, sword at his side, General Prayuth knelt before a portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej as he formally took up his royal appointment as head of the National Council for Peace and Order, the junta that now runs the country. That the frail 86-year-old king was not there in person hinted at anxieties over the royal succession that have played their part in recent political ructions as well as in the coup itself. Read more of this post

Tiananmen Square: Ageing rebels, bitter victims; Twenty-five years after the bloodshed in Beijing, new details keep emerging

Tiananmen Square: Ageing rebels, bitter victims; Twenty-five years after the bloodshed in Beijing, new details keep emerging

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited. By Louisa Lim. Oxford University Press; 248 pages; $24.95. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

ON THE night of June 3rd-4th 1989 the Chinese army unleashed its tanks in the centre of Beijing to crush a protest that had begun seven weeks earlier against the Communist Party’s autocratic rule. Ever since, Chinese officials grow nervous in the run-up to the anniversary of the crackdown. This year they are especially jittery, fearful that the symbolic passage of a quarter of a century might encourage some dissidents to be more daring than usual in their public remembrance of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who were killed. Security forces around the country are on heightened alert, particularly in Tiananmen Square, the plaza that has become synonymous with the unrest. Read more of this post

South Korea’s household debt: Hole in won; Korean households are struggling under mounting debt

South Korea’s household debt: Hole in won; Korean households are struggling under mounting debt

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

THE Asian financial crisis of 1997 hit Mr Lee hard. His interior-design firm folded and he was officially branded a bad debtor. But the ensuing boom in household credit hit him harder. As banks were newly deterred from lending to businesses, they turned to individuals instead. Credit cards were peddled everywhere, on televisions and from street corners, and to everyone—including Mrs Lee. She racked up a debt of 7m won ($6,900), much of it interest owed. When she divorced him, Mr Lee, jobless, was left to foot the bill. Read more of this post

Picking holes in Piketty: The latest controversy around Thomas Piketty’s blockbuster book concerns its statistics

Picking holes in Piketty: The latest controversy around Thomas Piketty’s blockbuster book concerns its statistics

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

FEW economics books have been as popular or as controversial as “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”. The blockbuster analysis of wealth and income distribution has been a publishing sensation, turning its French author, Thomas Piketty, into a household name. The book’s thesis, that wealth concentrates because the returns to capital are consistently higher than economic growth, has spawned furious debate. Mr Piketty’s preferred remedy (a progressive wealth tax) even more so. But amid the argument most commentators have agreed on one thing: “Capital” is an impressive piece of scholarship. Read more of this post

Asian business: A world to conquer; Asian business is reforming. Its emerging multinationals will change the way we all live

Asian business: A world to conquer; Asian business is reforming. Its emerging multinationals will change the way we all live

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

BUSINESS power follows economic power. In the 1920s British firms owned 40% of the global stock of foreign direct investment. By 1967 America was top dog, with a 50% share. Behind those figures lie cultural revolutions. The British spread the telegraph and trains in Latin America. American firms sold a vision of the good life, honed by Hollywood and advertising. Kellogg’s changed what the rich world ate for breakfast, and Kodak how it remembered holidays. The next corporate revolution, as we describe in our special reportthis week, is happening in Asia. This too will change how the world lives. Read more of this post

North Asian Stocks Come Up Short; Expectations Stocks in China, South Korea and Japan Would Rally in 2014 Have Failed to Bear Fruit

North Asian Stocks Come Up Short

Expectations Stocks in China, South Korea and Japan Would Rally in 2014 Have Failed to Bear Fruit

MIA LAMAR

May 30, 2014 12:47 a.m. ET

Five months into the year, widespread expectations that stocks in China, South Korea and Japan would rally in 2014 have failed to bear fruit, frustrating those betting North Asia would lead gains in the region. Read more of this post

Earnings reports are about to get a lot more useful, if you read the footnotes

Earnings reports are about to get a lot more useful, if you read the footnotes

By Jason Karaian @jkaraian May 29, 2014

Of all the accounting concepts, revenue seems like the simplest. When a customer pays you for a product, you record it as revenue.

But nothing in accounting is ever that straightforward, and CFOs’ ability to game what they report as revenue has a long and sordid history. Fiddling with how and when to record sales as revenue has played a part in just about every big accounting scandal in the recent past, including at Enron and WorldCom. Read more of this post

Huawei emerging as Samsung’s strongest smartphone rival

Huawei emerging as Samsung’s strongest smartphone rival

Staff Reporter

2014-05-30

In October 2009, the operating profits of Samsung Electronics exceeded the combined operating profits of nine leading Japanese electronics firms, including Sony, Panasonic and Hitachi, which could be attributed to the fact that South Korean firms had become bolder than Japanese rivals during the economic recession and had stepped up investment when Japanese companies had scaled back. Read more of this post

Xiaomi to launch high-res smart TV, compatible with iPhone, iPad

Xiaomi to launch high-res smart TV, compatible with iPhone, iPad

Staff Reporter

2014-05-27

Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi will begin accepting preorders for its second-generation smart television Mi TV on June 3 this year. Taiwanese chipmaker Morningstar which supplies the company is expected to benefit from the device sales, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Commercial Times. Read more of this post

Jump in shareholder activism to hit Australian companies

Jump in shareholder activism to hit Australian companies

Published 29 May 2014 14:49, Updated 30 May 2014 11:17

Joyce Moullakis

Australian boards should brace for an uptick in shareholder activism, as lawyers and bankers urge preparedness and engagement with activists and proxy firms to navigate a typically disruptive process.

Shareholder activism remains in its infancy in Australia, but the recent arrival of US specialists in this area, as well as the formation of the Thorney Opportunities Fund, suggests more activity is on the horizon. Read more of this post

Banks structured to deliver poor advice

Banks structured to deliver poor advice

May 26, 2014

John Addis

Something odd occurred last week, something that almost never happens in business, let alone financial planning, a sector famously impervious to the needs of its customers.

An industry body – in this case the Financial Planning Association (FPA), representing over 6,000 planners – argued the case for more regulation. Read more of this post