Bamboo Innovator

Investing in higher education; Student numbers are growing worldwide, but profiting is not easy

March 28, 2014 6:18 pm

Intellectual property: investing in higher education

By Adam Palin

Benjamin Franklin once said that “an investment in knowledge pays the best interest”. The structural shifts in higher education in particular, which are seeing new ways of delivering tuition as well as accommodation and finance, present opportunities as well as potential pitfalls for investors. Read more of this post

Shrewd investors assess history’s threat to globalisation

Last updated: March 28, 2014 4:39 pm

Shrewd investors assess history’s threat to globalisation

By John Authers

History, it appears, has restarted. Back in 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, Francis Fukuyama famously prognosticated that we were witnessing not just the end of the cold war but “the end of history as such”. Our ideological evolution, he said, was complete, with the universalisation of western liberal democracy as “the final form of human government”. Read more of this post

The Next Problem: Too Much Profit? America’s profit-margin miracle has gone on for so long that rather than cheering it on, investors might want to ask what companies are actually doing to keep it going

The Next Problem: Too Much Profit

JUSTIN LAHART

March 27, 2014 4:05 p.m. ET

America’s profit-margin miracle has gone on for so long that rather than cheering it on, investors might want to ask what companies are actually doing to keep it going. Read more of this post

S. Korea’s robot technology rapidly catching up with developed nations

S. Korea’s robot technology rapidly catching up with developed nations

Won Ho-sup

2014.03.27 17:51:14

South Korea jumped into research in robots about 30 years later than the US or Japan. Korea’s development of the first generation robots working in the manufacturing sector began as late as in 1990s. But the country’s robots, an achievement of many scientists, are evolving and rapidly catching up with those of developed countries.  Read more of this post

Australia has ‘lost pioneering spirit’: outgoing BCA president

Australia has ‘lost pioneering spirit’: outgoing BCA president

Published 28 March 2014 11:09

Michael Smith

The Business Council of Australia’s ­outgoing president, Tony Shepherd, warns the nation has become “boring and conservative” as it ­abandons its pioneering spirit and loses its competitive edge. Read more of this post

Kathmandu outdoor clothing retailer bound for North America

Kathmandu outdoor clothing retailer bound for North America

Published 25 March 2014 12:54, Updated 26 March 2014 10:55

Sue Mitchell

Outdoor clothing retailer Kathmandu is eyeing the North American adventure wear market as part of an international expansion plan that promises to drive a new era of growth once its Australian and New Zealand business starts to mature. Read more of this post

China’s New IPO Regime — Manipulation or Emancipation?

China’s New IPO Regime — Manipulation or Emancipation?

2014-02-24 18:05:39

Peter Fuhrman

Chairman and CEO China First Capital

In English we use the phrase ” bee in one’s bonnet” to explain someone with an obsession for a particular point of view. In Chinese, a similar idiom is 挥之不去, meaning you can’t wipe out the stain. Read more of this post

CITIC Group to List in HK by Reversing into CITIC Pacific

CITIC Group to List in HK by Reversing into CITIC Pacific

03-27 15:19 Caijing

China’s state-owned conglomerate CITIC Group is planning to list in Hong Kong by reversing into its CITIC Pacific unit.

China’s state-owned conglomerate CITIC Group is planning to list in Hong Kong by reversing into its CITIC Pacific unit. Read more of this post

Taiwan will lose if trade pact not approved: central bank head

Taiwan will lose if trade pact not approved: central bank head

CNA

2014-03-29

Perng Fai-nan speaks at the association council meeting. Mar. 27. (Photo/Yen Chien-lung) Read more of this post

Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future: China’s history is not a thing of the past and eminent historian Jonathan Spence explains why

03.28.2014 18:37

Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future

China’s history is not a thing of the past and eminent historian Jonathan Spence explains why

By staff reporters Huang Shan and Long Zhouyuan Read more of this post

Property firms increase bank investments over liquidity concerns in China

Property firms increase bank investments over liquidity concerns in China

Staff Reporter

2014-03-28

More Chinese property companies have been investing in banks since late last year, with more than 30 property firms getting involved in the banking industry including China Vanke and Evergrande Group, due to their concerns over liquidity risks, the Shenzhen-based Securities Times reports. Read more of this post

Make whey: Mengniu benefits from Fonterra’s decline in China

Make whey: Mengniu benefits from Fonterra’s decline in China

Staff Reporter

2014-03-29

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative Group has seen declining profits after botulism-causing bacteria was discovered in its products, while China Mengniu Dairy Company has reported rising revenue because of price hikes and acquisitions, Shanghai’s National Business Daily reports. Read more of this post

The End of Chinese Central Planning

STEPHEN S. ROACH

MAR 27, 2014

The End of Chinese Central Planning

BEIJING – “Isn’t it now time for China to abandon the concept of a growth target?”

That was the question I asked Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei this week at the 15th annual China Development Forum, which brings together top Chinese officials and an international delegation of academics, leaders of multilateral organizations, and business executives. Having attended the CDF since former Premier Zhu Rongji initiated it in 2000, I can attest to its role as one of China’s most important platforms for debate. Zhu welcomed the exchange of views at the Forum as a true intellectual test for China’s reformers. Read more of this post