IBM, Lehman create 180-million-dollar fund for investments in China
October 30th, 2006BEIJING (AFP) - Computing giant IBM and investment bank Lehman Brothers, both of the United States, said they had tied up to create a 180-million-dollar fund earmarked for investments in China.
The China Investment Fund will target mid-stage to mature public and private companies across several industries, the companies said at a joint briefing in Beijing.
Christopher Manning, managing director of Lehman Brothers Private Equity, said the two companies had capabilities that were "highly complementary."
The partnership, which marks the first cooperation between the two, will bring together 90 million dollars and three support staff from each side to manage the fund.
Beyond funding, IBM and Lehman will also provide management and technology support to the companies in which they invest.
Manning said that Lehman Brothers currently has an investment group focused on China's real estate market, a sector excluded from the China Investment Fund's scope.
China's biggest air show set to open
October 30th, 2006ZHUHAI, China The world's major aircraft makers gather this week for China's biggest air show, looking to the booming Chinese market to drive sales in coming decades as their industry's growth elsewhere slows.
Boeing, Airbus and companies from 18 other countries including Russia and Brazil are displaying aircraft, radar equipment and other technology at the five-day show, which opens Tuesday in this southern town near Hong Kong.
China is expected to be the fastest- growing market for commercial aircraft over the next two decades. Boeing said last week that it expected carriers to purchase 2,900 new planes worth $280 billion over that period.
Held every two years, the Zhuhai show is the premier showcase for competitors hoping to break into China's aircraft market and for the fledging Chinese industry to attract customers.
China signed a deal last week to buy 150 Airbus A320 planes, in a boost for the European aircraft maker, which has suffered costly delays with the A380 superjumbo jet. At the same time, Airbus signed agreements to open a final-assembly line in China, its first outside Europe.
At the Zhuhai show, Airbus was displaying a scale model of the A380 but no full-size aircraft.
Other exhibitors include Embraer, a Brazilian maker of smaller regional jets, which in 2004 became the first foreign aircraft maker to open a factory in China. Dozens of companies from China's state-run aerospace industry also are showcased at the exhibition.
Displays include a model cabin of an ARJ-21, which is meant to be China's first contender in the market for mid-range jets. The plane, which reportedly is to seat 78 to 105 passengers, is made by China Aviation Industry, also known as AVIC I. The company has not said when it expects to bring its first models to market.
Russian manufacturers are showing off fighter jets and military cargo planes, reflecting China's importance to Russian arms exporters. The United States and the European Union have barred arms sales to China since its 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
Russian aircraft on display in Zhuhai included supersonic Sukhoi fighters, but there was no indication Monday that Moscow would be showing its most advanced aircraft. Russian military planners are reportedly uneasy about selling their best technology to China.
ZHUHAI, China The world's major aircraft makers gather this week for China's biggest air show, looking to the booming Chinese market to drive sales in coming decades as their industry's growth elsewhere slows.
Boeing, Airbus and companies from 18 other countries including Russia and Brazil are displaying aircraft, radar equipment and other technology at the five-day show, which opens Tuesday in this southern town near Hong Kong.
China is expected to be the fastest- growing market for commercial aircraft over the next two decades. Boeing said last week that it expected carriers to purchase 2,900 new planes worth $280 billion over that period.
Held every two years, the Zhuhai show is the premier showcase for competitors hoping to break into China's aircraft market and for the fledging Chinese industry to attract customers.
China signed a deal last week to buy 150 Airbus A320 planes, in a boost for the European aircraft maker, which has suffered costly delays with the A380 superjumbo jet. At the same time, Airbus signed agreements to open a final-assembly line in China, its first outside Europe.
At the Zhuhai show, Airbus was displaying a scale model of the A380 but no full-size aircraft.
Other exhibitors include Embraer, a Brazilian maker of smaller regional jets, which in 2004 became the first foreign aircraft maker to open a factory in China. Dozens of companies from China's state-run aerospace industry also are showcased at the exhibition.
Displays include a model cabin of an ARJ-21, which is meant to be China's first contender in the market for mid-range jets. The plane, which reportedly is to seat 78 to 105 passengers, is made by China Aviation Industry, also known as AVIC I. The company has not said when it expects to bring its first models to market.
Russian manufacturers are showing off fighter jets and military cargo planes, reflecting China's importance to Russian arms exporters. The United States and the European Union have barred arms sales to China since its 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
Russian aircraft on display in Zhuhai included supersonic Sukhoi fighters, but there was no indication Monday that Moscow would be showing its most advanced aircraft. Russian military planners are reportedly uneasy about selling their best technology to China.
ZHUHAI, China The world's major aircraft makers gather this week for China's biggest air show, looking to the booming Chinese market to drive sales in coming decades as their industry's growth elsewhere slows.
Boeing, Airbus and companies from 18 other countries including Russia and Brazil are displaying aircraft, radar equipment and other technology at the five-day show, which opens Tuesday in this southern town near Hong Kong.
China is expected to be the fastest- growing market for commercial aircraft over the next two decades. Boeing said last week that it expected carriers to purchase 2,900 new planes worth $280 billion over that period.
Held every two years, the Zhuhai show is the premier showcase for competitors hoping to break into China's aircraft market and for the fledging Chinese industry to attract customers.
China signed a deal last week to buy 150 Airbus A320 planes, in a boost for the European aircraft maker, which has suffered costly delays with the A380 superjumbo jet. At the same time, Airbus signed agreements to open a final-assembly line in China, its first outside Europe.
At the Zhuhai show, Airbus was displaying a scale model of the A380 but no full-size aircraft.
Other exhibitors include Embraer, a Brazilian maker of smaller regional jets, which in 2004 became the first foreign aircraft maker to open a factory in China. Dozens of companies from China's state-run aerospace industry also are showcased at the exhibition.
Displays include a model cabin of an ARJ-21, which is meant to be China's first contender in the market for mid-range jets. The plane, which reportedly is to seat 78 to 105 passengers, is made by China Aviation Industry, also known as AVIC I. The company has not said when it expects to bring its first models to market.
Russian manufacturers are showing off fighter jets and military cargo planes, reflecting China's importance to Russian arms exporters. The United States and the European Union have barred arms sales to China since its 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
Russian aircraft on display in Zhuhai included supersonic Sukhoi fighters, but there was no indication Monday that Moscow would be showing its most advanced aircraft. Russian military planners are reportedly uneasy about selling their best technology to China.
ZHUHAI, China The world's major aircraft makers gather this week for China's biggest air show, looking to the booming Chinese market to drive sales in coming decades as their industry's growth elsewhere slows.
Boeing, Airbus and companies from 18 other countries including Russia and Brazil are displaying aircraft, radar equipment and other technology at the five-day show, which opens Tuesday in this southern town near Hong Kong.
China is expected to be the fastest- growing market for commercial aircraft over the next two decades. Boeing said last week that it expected carriers to purchase 2,900 new planes worth $280 billion over that period.
Held every two years, the Zhuhai show is the premier showcase for competitors hoping to break into China's aircraft market and for the fledging Chinese industry to attract customers.
China signed a deal last week to buy 150 Airbus A320 planes, in a boost for the European aircraft maker, which has suffered costly delays with the A380 superjumbo jet. At the same time, Airbus signed agreements to open a final-assembly line in China, its first outside Europe.
At the Zhuhai show, Airbus was displaying a scale model of the A380 but no full-size aircraft.
Other exhibitors include Embraer, a Brazilian maker of smaller regional jets, which in 2004 became the first foreign aircraft maker to open a factory in China. Dozens of companies from China's state-run aerospace industry also are showcased at the exhibition.
Displays include a model cabin of an ARJ-21, which is meant to be China's first contender in the market for mid-range jets. The plane, which reportedly is to seat 78 to 105 passengers, is made by China Aviation Industry, also known as AVIC I. The company has not said when it expects to bring its first models to market.
Russian manufacturers are showing off fighter jets and military cargo planes, reflecting China's importance to Russian arms exporters. The United States and the European Union have barred arms sales to China since its 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
Russian aircraft on display in Zhuhai included supersonic Sukhoi fighters, but there was no indication Monday that Moscow would be showing its most advanced aircraft. Russian military planners are reportedly uneasy about selling their best technology to China.
Operational design components, program metrics, and how onboarding differs from orientation
October 30th, 2006This checklist continues last week's article about comparing your onboarding program against the design components of a "world-class" onboarding program.
Part 3: Operational Design Components
The last level of components for world-class onboarding programs is still important, even though they are more operational in nature. They include the following:
A written and integrated plan. World-class onboarding programs have a short written plan that is integrated with the overall business plan, the HR plan, and the recruiting plan. In addition, hiring managers and those impacted by the onboarding program should be involved upfront in the program design and planning process.
A compelling business case. The program design must include the development of a compelling business case that convinces the chief financial officer, as well as line managers, that the onboarding program will directly improve their individual business results.
Prioritized jobs. Because there is never enough budget, world-class onboarding programs prioritize and focus their talent, time, and resources toward onboarding individuals in mission-critical jobs, critical business units, and in jobs with a significant revenue impact.
Continuous improvement and testing of system effectiveness. The onboarding program should have a formal process for continuously assessing and improving its processes and output results by assessing each onboarding success and failure and then feeding back the information to process managers. In addition, World-class onboarding programs periodically use "mystery shoppers" to identify system problems.
Ownership by management. The onboarding program design should make it clear that onboarding problems and processes are owned by hiring managers. Managers must realize that they suffer the most when poor onboarding takes place.
Individual accountability. Responsible individuals must also be rewarded or punished based primarily on program performance.
Best practice sharing. The onboarding program must have a formal design component for the rapid identification, sharing between business units, and the adoption of best practices related to onboarding.
Risk-taking for improvement. The onboarding program must have design features that encourage periodic experimentation, pilot tests, split samples, and reasonable risk-taking, as long as rapid learning occurs after a failure.
Data-based decision-making. Major onboarding program design and resource decisions must be made based primarily on data, rather than just on emotion or historical practice.
Uses the latest technology. The onboarding process should be paperless and offer additional information on an exclusive onboarding website.
External recognition. Although world-class programs maintain their competitive advantage by keeping their critical design components relatively secret, world-class onboarding programs eventually do receive some external recognition. This includes winning ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards or Optimas awards; being highlighted in major HR, recruiting, and general business publications; being included in benchmark studies; and/or being featured in academic case studies.
The program avoids common onboarding program killers. Some examples that keep your program from reaching world-class status or may cause it to fail:
Letting the program be run 100% by the benefits function, which almost guarantees "death by form" (i.e., boredom and loss of enthusiasm as a result of filling out forms all day).
Over-reliance on videotapes and slideshows, with little time for interaction.
Not having a "local component" of onboarding at the departmental level in addition to the corporate component.
Failing to make effective onboarding as part of a manager's performance appraisal and bonus process.
Failing to reward the onboarding program manager and the manager of each independent HR and non-HR component of the process, based on program performance.
Reserves set to surpass US$1 trillion
October 30th, 2006Oct. 30 - China's foreign exchange reserves look set to hit the US$1 trillion mark at the end of this month or beginning of November. But as the figure rises, so does the debate over how to best manage it.
The reserves, already the world's biggest, surged to US$987.9 billion at the end of September, largely driven by a burgeoning foreign trade surplus and massive inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI).
In the first nine months of the year FDI stood at US$42.59 billion, although this was a 1.52 per cent drop year-on-year.
Reserves grew on average US$18.8 billion each month from January to September, statistics from the central bank show.
"How to manage such a huge reserve is a big challenge," said Yi Xianrong, a research fellow at the Institute of Finance Research under the Chinese Academy of Social Science.
"The crux of the problem is that you have to keep the value stable or increasing," Yi said.
The ballooning foreign reserves, many economist say, is a major reason behind the loose money supply. This is because the central bank has to issue additional money to mop up the excess US dollars in the market, resulting in excessive liquidity in the banking system.
And the fluctuating foreign exchange rate also poses a huge risk, economists say.
In a bid to minimize such risks, the central bank should diversify its existing US dollar-dominated foreign reserves structure, and increase its holdings of euros or other major international currencies, said Li Yongsen, a finance professor at Renmin University of China.
The central bank, he said, could also buy more state bonds issued by other major economies and decrease holdings of US Treasury bills.
"It's better to spread the risks, and not put all your eggs in one basket," Li said.
The professor also suggested that the country might consider using the huge foreign reserves to purchase some strategic resource reserves such as oil.
But such a plan should proceed with caution, both Li and Yi warned, citing the huge risks involved due to changing resource prices.
In the short term, increasing imports is an effective way to decelerate foreign reserves, economists said. This would also reduce trade frictions with some countries that have a high trade deficit with China.
Economists also said the country should further relax controls on capital outflow, in order to create a better balance of international payments.
In a bid to ease foreign reserves and broaden investment channels, China has introduced a QDII (Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors) scheme, allowing them to invest overseas.
By October 10, the foreign exchange regulator had granted quotas worth US$11.6 billion to QDIIs.
"This is the right approach for creating a two-way capital corridor," said Yi. "We used to put too much emphasis on attracting foreign investment and feared capital outflow."
China is also shifting from a long-held policy of stockpiling foreign reserves in State coffers, and instead encouraging households and businesses to hold more foreign currency.
Individuals, for example, are now allowed to buy up to US$20,000 in foreign exchange a year, up from the previous US$8,000.
Previously, China invested some foreign exchange reserves in banks.
Central Huijin Investment Company, an investment arm of the central bank, injected a total of US$45 billion in foreign exchange reserves into China Construction Bank and Bank of China in 2003.
It poured another US$15 billion into the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2005.
Roadmap for finance
October 30th, 2006Debate about whether different financial sectors should be mixed or strictly compartmentalized in China has never really abated even after the enactment of the 1995 Commercial Bank Law, which stipulates separation.
The clause about absolute separation between banking, securities and insurance and other financial sectors was written into the law in the aftermath of a series of losses believed to be caused by the mixed operations by financial institutions in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
But an unavoidable side affect of this compartmentalization is its limited development scope and, quite ironically, limited tools for financial enterprise risk management.
The time is ripe now to make it clear that the barriers will be torn down gradually to give our financial institutions an opportunity to become more competitive and thus make the whole financial industry more efficient.
The pressure to scrap the barriers comes from both inside and outside.
After more than two decades of market-oriented reforms, China's financial industry is now at a stage where many of the industry players are in genuine need to expand.
This is quite a different situation from 1990s when many financial institutions waded into other sectors simply for speculative interests. Today, insurance companies are in dire need of more investment vehicles to generate profits and pay their customers.
Commercial banks also need more sophisticated tools many of the useful ones are beyond the boundary of the banking sector to dispose of their non-performing assets. Four asset management companies were established in 1998 to specialize in handing the bad assets of major State banks. But the banks need to fend for themselves in dealing with their new bad assets. In fact, some ambitious financial institutions never gave up their efforts to breach the barriers.
Regulators have also been wise enough to approve some experiments, a hallmark practice for China in its history of economic reform. Regulators made a significant step earlier this week to allow insurance companies to invest in commercial banks.
However, a more clear answer about the prospects of an integrated financial industry should be made and a roadmap presented to make people know where the industry is heading.
It was reported that to meet the need for an integrated financial industry, a mega regulator could be established to oversee the whole financial sector.
Such a regulator can be useful. But what is more important is that industry players and regulators should greatly enhance their capabilities to deal with potential risks.
Challenges for regulators are particularly big because they have to be well versed in the whole financial industry and be well equipped to tackle all the problems that they have never met in the compartmentalized framework.
China-ASEAN summit to focus on regional trade
October 30th, 2006NANNING, Oct. 30 - China and ASEAN leaders are gathering here for a high-level summit meeting on Monday, with the aim to pursue regional free trade and enhance political mutual trust.
Leaders of eight ASEAN countries arrived in Nanning Sunday for the summit include prime ministers of Cambodian, Singapore, the Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, president of the Philippines, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Leaders of the remaining ASEAN members are expected to arrive here Monday.
This is the first time leaders from China and the ten ASEAN member countries to convene in China. They are widely expected to chart a future direction of China-ASEAN relations in the coming years.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will hold bilateral meetings with the ASEAN countries leaders respectively on the sidelines of the summit.
A joint statement is expected to be inked by China and ASEAN countries upon the conclusion of the summit, charting the future China-ASEAN cooperation blueprint.
The third China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit are to kick off on Tuesday.
Chinese experts on international studies believe that the summits and Expo will push the China-ASEAN strategic partnership to a new level.
Shen Shishun, an expert with China Institute of International Studies, said Chinese and ASEAN leaders will probably review the development and achievements of the bilateral relations and set out the future China-ASEAN cooperation.
BLUEPRINT FOR CHINA-ASEAN FREE TRADE AREA
The upcoming commemorative summit is widely believed to lay a solid foundation for accelerating the establishment of China-ASEAN free trade area, which will realize free flow of goods, services and investment.
China-ASEAN free trade area, which will comprise China, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, encompass 1.8 billion population and realize a combined gross domestic product of 2 trillion U.S. dollars when completed in 2010. It is expected to be the most populous free trade area of the world and the largest free trade area amid developing countries.
To fulfill the scenario, a series of measures have been taken.
Beginning from July 1, 2005, China and ASEAN countries started their tariff reduction process. The two sides will gradually reduce or cancel tariffs on 7,000 kinds of products.
By 2010, China and six old ASEAN member nations -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- will impose zero tariffs on most normal products, while China and the other four new ASEAN members -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- will do the same in 2015.
China and ASEAN's ambitious free trade area project is based on their 15-year-long comprehensive and brisk trade development. According to Chinese statistics, China-ASEAN bilateral trade grew over 20 percent annually over the past 15 years, reaching 130 billion U.S. dollars last year, 15 times the figure in 1991. China is now ASEAN's fourth largest trading partner and ASEAN is China's fourth largest as well.
The trade volume between the two sides is expected to reach 200billion US dollars by 2008, two years ahead of schedule, as construction of the China-ASEAN free trade area is surging ahead.
The World Bank has predicted that China-ASEAN free trade area, upon completion, will turn to be one of the most influential economic powers in the Asia-Pacific region.
ENHANCED MUTUAL POLITICAL TRUST
The upcoming commemorative summit is believed to enhance the mutual political trust between China and ASEAN.
By 1991, China established diplomatic ties with all members of ASEAN. It became ASEAN's all-around dialogue-partnership country in 1996. Currently, China and ASEAN are bent on cementing the "strategic partnership oriented to peace and prosperity".
China has established a multi-level and regular dialogue mechanism with ASEAN with the "ASEAN plus China summit" as the core.
Shen Shishun said the China-ASEAN summit demonstrated that ASEAN countries have put ASEAN-China relations at a more prominent position and the China-ASEAN relations has ushered into a new stage characterized with dialogue, cooperation and common development.
A latest report released by the ASEAN-China Eminent Persons Group (EPG) pointed out that on the political front, the establishment of a strategic partnership for peace and prosperity has laid a solid foundation for the long-term ASEAN-China dialogue partnership.
In the security area, the report said China and ASEAN countries are carrying out cooperation in eight important areas including in the fight against drug trafficking, trafficking of people, illegal immigration, piracies, terrorism, arms smuggling, money laundering and international economic crimes.
The political and security relationship between ASEAN and Chinais relatively new and developing. The report said ASEAN and China should focus on confidence-building measures to create a climate conductive to engagement and cooperation.
ACCELERATED CULTURAL EXCHANGES
"Well implementation of policies hammered by China and ASEAN state leaders requires understanding and support from common citizens. Cultural exchanges is one of important channels to promote mutual understandings and trust among peoples of China and ASEAN," said Zhai Kun, an expert with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.
China and ASEAN countries are taking various measures to promote cultural exchanges, including holding personnel training, promoting tourism and holding art festivals.
The China Guangxi International Youth Exchange Institute has trained more than 200 young officials from ASEAN countries.
China and ASEAN countries are becoming the major tourism destinations and tourist sources for each other.
Some grand art festivals, such as Nanning International Folk Song Festival, are held annually to showcase the splendid arts and culture of China and ASEAN countries.