From Beijing, an unfiltered view on business and economy.
Again a small EMBA delegation, organized by the Wagner Group in a tea house: “Yue Xi Xiang Lin”, on 18 October 2018. Good to see again Prof. drs. Philip Wagner.
Wagner Group, see https://www.wagner.nl/
Focus was on food, agriculture, retail and hospitality.
The title of the presentation was “A(nother) view on China – Challenges” and also covered the above-mentioned. Duration around 90 minutes.
See here the text of an informal luncheon address by my friend Michael Graham, former EU official currently living in Beijing, looking at BREXIT in a historical context.
It was addressed in Beijing at a Chinese-American group on 6 March 2017.
The title:
BREXIT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
PERCEPTIONS AND OUTLOOK IN THE UK AND IN EUROPE
Download here: 170306 Brexitspeechrev3
The well researched document gives a unique insight and provides historical data on how the EU was set up and evolved over the years, how the complex interactions between the UK and the rest of the EU changed, how it led to Brexit, and how it could affect the Brexit negotiations. It also explains the underlying causes that lead to the Brexit vote.
No Dunkirk Spirit Can Save Britain From Brexit Defeat
The following article from the New York Times gives a rather sober/somber outlook on what Brexit could mean for the UK: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/opinion/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-brexit.html
See here two quotes:
A senior ex-diplomat, a man who has spent a professional lifetime building up Britain’s trade and its credibility with investors, is aghast at what the Brexit chaos is doing to our reputation. “The core narrative of the country for the past 40 years has been that we’re stable and politically predictable; the ideal platform for investing into the single market,” he told me. “And now we’re rudderless and in a mess.”
…
Britain is not an economic powerhouse waiting to be liberated. We are a country of mediocre education and limited skills, whose preening vanity has prevented us from seeing our failings. Our membership in the European Union is not a set of restraints; it is what has been propping us up. If we insist on cutting ourselves off, parts of our economy will start to die.
Does not sound encouraging…
Speaking to Dutch, US and UK MBA this year, see here first our Dutch group. The MBA group visits China about twice a year.
Twelve participants from the Wagner Executive MBA Sport Management – sports managers, led by Prof. drs. Philip Wagner.
As usual, seminar done in Duge Boutique Hotel, on Friday 17 March 2017, duration of about two hours including Q&A.
Theme: A(nother) view on China – Sport in China – China’s challenges
Westfield University (Massachusetts, USA). Group of 15 undergraduate students (International Business) with two professors.
Duration: well over 2 hours with a lively Q&A.
Organized by The China Guide, in the VIP room of Legend Beer (Gongti Xi Lu) on 1 June 2017.
Theme: A(nother) view on China – China’s challenges
Cass is a regular, usually visiting in summer. On Friday 14 July I talked to a group of about fifty EMBAs, in the Regent Beijing Hotel (Jinbao Street). Duration: about two hours including Q&A.
Organized by Legacy Ventures London, see www.legacy-ventures.com. We work together since many years.
Group led by Dr. Alessandro Giudici, Lecturer in Management, Cass Business School.
Theme: A(nother) view on China – China’s challenges
Along the usual introduction on China, also this:
How is policy formed in China? How are government policies created and which stakeholders are more likely to be involved in its creation? To which stakeholders is the government more likely to be “sensitive”? The underlying big questions: how predictable are Chinese policies and Chinese policy shifts? What direction are they likely to take?
I was lucky that day for two reasons: I managed to go and return without the forecast of thunderstorms. And being so early I had the time to solve an unexpected problem: I did not have a connector for HDMI… The hotel did solve it!
All candidates up for election in the European Chamber of Commerce in China are capable and merit our vote. I am supporting Daniel Albrecht for vice president EUCCC simply because he stands up to do more for SMEs, an often neglected crowd in the Chamber and in top-level meetings. Mats Harborn is another strong candidate.
See here all candidates:
http://agm.europeanchamber.com.cn/beijing/#candidates
See: MOTIVATION_LETTER_DANIEL_ALBRECHT
After being an active member in the EUCCC since 2014 I decided to run for the position of Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC).
This is the first time I run for a position on the Board of the EUCCC. I see this as a chance to bring fresh ideas and new energy into the chamber as a board member.
Through my professional experience in Beijing I have become familiar with problems affecting European SMEs such as general legal issues as well as IPR matters. As a small company I have encountered also the difficulties of working in China, being very different from issues faced by multinationals. For SMEs it is more difficult to get support from officials or other institutions due to a lack of a proper lobbying. My clients have been based in several European countries so I am familiar with their different needs and requirements.
I have more than ten years of China experience. In the past I worked for different Chinese and foreign law firms. I have been a member of the EUCCC since 2014, being active in the SME, IPR and CSR Working Groups. Since 2016 I have been helping the China SME IPR Help Desk as an external expert.
In my work for the Chamber, I have devoted myself to write comments and articles for the position papers and other publications and to try to contribute substantial input to change national regulations.
As a Vice president and advocate of the European SMEs I will focus on:
Biography
Daniel Albrecht, German attorney at law, married with a Chinese wife and has a 14-year -old daughter. As an attorney for more than ten years, he is a trusted lawyer of several embassies. Daniel used to be the founder, as well as a lawyer of DA-Legal, after practicing law in Germany, Japan and China, now he is running his own company, Starke, in China since 2014. With more than ten years’ experience in law area, especially in Chinese Law, he also acts as the external expert of EU China IPR SME Help Desk since 2016. Daniel has not only lots of work experience but also a number of academic experience in Law Field. Having experience as an invited lecturer in universities in Germany, he is now a guest professor of Civil Law of China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) since 2016. During his career in law, he has published several articles aiming e-commerce, IPR and other law issues in Chinese, Japanese and German magazines.
Daniel also devotes himself to voluntary works. He had been the president of the China-German-Business-Network since 2009 to 2016. From 2015 to 2016, he was the president of the Rotary Club of Beijing. Daniel is also active in different chambers of commerce in China, of which related mostly to SME topics and activities. He always has enthusiasm for organization works and willing to exert efforts.
As reported earlier, IPR is a major problem as In China anything can be copied.
Some copies can be hilarious but some other copies are rather bad for your health.
Fake rice, yes that exists as well as fake eggs. There was a hoopla in Nigeria about imports (from China, what else?) said to be fake rice. Then the authorities got fuzzy and confused about it. Maybe they ate the rice?
Geely tried to copy Rolls Royce. Nice try.
Pollution masks had a really familiar logo. Maybe with a smell of beer? Healthy Heineken!
Cosmetics can be pretty tricky, there are so many fakes on the market. Mostly they show their true face by the spelling mistakes. Lancôme suddenly becomes Lancômes. Problem is, 99% of the Chinese hardly can read any English and are easily fooled. Pretty dangerous to use those products as one has no idea what’s inside.