The launching of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (SFTZ) approximately one year ago generated considerable excitement. Months before its launch, Chinese media began to talk of an area that would be “grander and bolder than anything that has ever been conceived.” As far as foreign investors were concerned, the SFTZ’s...
Tag: China
September 20, 2014
Inward foreign direct investment into China hits two-and-half year low, though service IFDI and IFDI from Korea remain bright spots for the first eight months of 2014. The fray about whether or not China’s antimonopoly investigations fairly treat foreign firms increasingly draws in foreign governments with some foreign executives backing…
August 22, 2014
The first US-Africa summit took place in August. It afforded the US an opportunity to show it was not completely distracted by events in Gaza and Ukraine. It also gave US businesses, encouraged by US President Barack Obama, a chance to strike deals with giants like Coca-Cola, General Electric, and...
August 19, 2014
Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, founder and Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, gave a keynote address, entitled “The Imperative of Paying Attention to the Politics of Chinese Outward Investment,” to the 8th annual China Goes Global Conference in Shanghai. Dr....
July 31, 2014
Roughly ten days ago, Shanghai authorities carried out a raid on Shanghai Husi Food Co. (owned by US-based OSI Group), a supplier of beef, chicken, and pork products to fast food chains such as KFC, convenience store FamilyMart, and coffee chain Starbucks. The raid occurred after undercover reporting revealed the...
June 19, 2014
The China car market assumed great salience in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis, which pummeled auto demand elsewhere, Beijing’s successful use of stimulus measures to speed economic and sectoral growth, and the rapid expansion of China’s car culture. In response, many foreign firms accelerated their China...
June 2, 2014
China has been at the center of business strategy for Japanese firms, which is not surprising given that China overtook the US as the largest market for Japan’s exports in 2006. The first decade of the century was dubbed “the third wave” of Japanese FDI flows to China. Even if...
May 28, 2014
Foreign firms have now found themselves confronting a challenging operating environment in Vietnam tied to violent demonstrations that involved thousands of protestors venting their displeasure with China’s deployment of an oil rig near the disputed Paracel/Xisha Islands, claimed by both China and Vietnam. Although protestors targeted “Chinese” firms, they also...
