Google Site Open to All

Just a few days ago, Google announced that Google Site is now open to all, and free. This is a typical example of my previous open about business strategy: Startups Are Afraid of Other’s Generosity? Maybe. Though the upload limit of Google Site is there, this is clearly a step consistent with the fundamental business strategy of Google. The competition between these giants is far from over: Ebay, Microsfot, Yahoo, and Google.
When the infrastructure of IT becoming increasingly mature, the focus of competition has changed. There's a shift underway in how people use computers and the Internet. Every day more utility is being delivered over the Web. Full applications can now be run in a browser, accessible from any computer. Data portability prevails. Software? But for the basic softwares, most are becoming redundant and marginalized. Some websites are just softwares of the traditional sense. Software are becoming Webapps China Business Watch has interviewed more than 1,000 startup CEOs. Most are now out of business
So, watch out the trend. It’s the same for traders and industrials. So we think it’s very important to analyze the industry trend. We'll talk more about it. Stay tuned.

6 Industry Trends of 2008 in China

After analyzing the major industries, China Business Watch finds the 6 major industry trends of China in 2008. A good understanding of the major industry trends can help your make the right strategic decision.
1. Science and technology develops by heaps and bounds. For example. Patent applications exceed 268,000 in H1
2.Domestic consumption gives opportunity to investment opportunity, and international aviation and telecom sectors attract the largest investment.
we find that New Guangzhou Airport IT Company Forms and
57 Boeing 737s for Xiamen Airlines means more investment in the infrastructure.
On the other hand, in the Telecom sector Number of China's cellphone users grows by record 9.46 mln in February , which lead people to wonder if 3G Networks Coming Soon?
3. Cooperation between local companies and international giants are commonplace and accelerating.
Gome Cooperates With Microsoft To Promote Operating Systems
Nokia Siemens Networks to build GSM-Rail network for Wuhan to Guangzhou line
Tiger Ethanol International Enters Into China Supply Agreement
4. Some foreign giants are expanding their market share in China aggressively.
PAY88 Expanding Products To Shanghai
Tiger Ethanol Places Plant In Xinjiang
GobiMin Aims To Churn Earth In Xinjiang
5.Go green: the concern for environment and environmental protection is definitely a trend for the yeats to come.
More Money for Clean Up the environment,
Coal industry urged to speed up energy saving
China SEPA is Promoted
6. Policies are very supportive:
Anti-monopoly law not to affect foreign investment
NDRC: China welcomes foreign investment in hi-tech industry

Some High-profile Companies of China

Here are some high-profile companies of China. All of them have very strong earning power, and have great earning potentials.
In the energy sector:
China Huadian Corporation Sets Up New Energy Company
Huaneng Unveils New Energy Company In Xinjiang

In the banking sector:
China Everbright Bank Deploys Kalignite Multivendor ATM Software

In the telecom sector:
Huawei Wins HSPA Contract From France Telecom's Orange

In the the retail sector:
GOME Becomes Microsoft's China Sales Partner

In the the civil aviation sector:
57 Boeing 737s for Xiamen Airlines

More Money for Clean Up

China has earmarked $5.9 billion to fund environmental protection and energy-saving projects this year, the finance ministry said on Monday. In a statement posted on its website, the ministry said the funds would be used to scrap obsolete capacity, improve sewerage in central and western China and clean up several rivers across the country.
It also said that China would consider setting up a “pay to pollute” regime and a trading system for pollution quotas. The investments underscore the growing political emphasis on sustainable development in a country with some of the world’s most polluted air and rivers.

100 BEST COMPANIES OF U.S.A. TO WORK FOR IN 2007

Rank Company Job growth % Company size U.S. employees
1 Google 67 Medium 6,500
2 Genentech 25 Medium 9,979
3 Wegmans Food Markets 8 Large 33,737
4 Container Store 14 Medium 2,866
5 Whole Foods Market 15 Large 37,806
6 Network Appliance 33 Medium 3,553
7 S.C. Johnson & Son 0 Medium 3,400
8 Boston Consulting Grp. 15 Small 1,434
9 Methodist Hospital Sys. 5 Medium 9,424
10 W.L. Gore & Associates 9 Medium 4,945
11 Cisco Systems 3 Large 27,493
12 David Weekley Homes 19 Small 1,622
13 Nugget Market 1 Small 1,099
14 Qualcomm 17 Medium 8,860
15 American Century Invest. 1 Small 1,783
16 Starbucks Coffee 15 Large 109,873
17 Quicken Loans 19 Medium 3,512
18 Station Casinos 27 Large 13,957
19 Alston & Bird 6 Small 1,598
20 QuikTrip 0 Medium 7,833
21 Griffin Hospital 6 Small 1,098
22 Valero Energy 12 Large 18,730
23 Vision Service Plan 3 Small 1,968
24 Nordstrom 6 Large 48,374
25 Ernst & Young 6 Large 24,995
26 Arnold & Porter -8 Small 1,292
27 Recreational Equip. (REI) 16 Medium 8,522
28 Kimley-Horn & Assoc. 23 Small 2,173
29 Edward Jones 2 Large 30,326
30 Russell Investment Grp. 12 Small 1,206
31 Adobe Systems 33 Medium 3,604
32 Plante & Moran 11 Small 1,501
33 Intuit 6 Medium 6,889
34 Umpqua Bank 8 Small 1,435
35 Children's Healthcare of Atlanta 7 Medium 5,256
36 Goldman Sachs 6 Large 12,542
37 Northwest Community Hospital 7 Medium 3,299
38 Robert W. Baird -2 Small 2,080
39 J.M. Smucker -4 Medium 2,853
40 Amgen 21 Large 13,554
41 JM Family Enterprises 8 Medium 4,452
42 PCL Construction 19 Medium 3,020
43 Genzyme 10 Medium 5,920
44 Yahoo 26 Medium 6,840
45 Bain & Co. 11 Small 1,370
46 First Horizon National -6 Large 12,491
47 American Fidelity Assur. -2 Small 1,358
48 SAS Institute 2 Medium 5,239
49 Nixon Peabody 2 Small 1,511
50 Microsoft 13 Large 44,298
51 Stew Leonard's 5 Small 1,899
52 OhioHealth 7 Large 10,836
53 Four Seasons Hotels 10 Large 11,584
54 Baptist Health Care 0 Medium 4,095
55 Dow Corning 8 Medium 4,052
56 Granite Construction 7 Medium 4,662
57 Publix Super Markets 6 Large 136,863
58 PricewaterhouseCoopers 8 Large 28,463
59 Pella 9 Medium 9,331
60 MITRE 3 Medium 5,759
61 SRA International 21 Medium 4,861
62 Mayo Clinic 4 Large 39,457
63 Booz Allen Hamilton 8 Large 16,691
64 Perkins Coie -1 Small 1,519
65 Alcon Laboratories 4 Medium 6,460
66 Jones Lang LaSalle 26 Medium 7,812
67 HomeBanc Mortgage -2 Small 1,312
68 Procter & Gamble 2 Large 34,142
69 Nike 5 Large 13,664
70 Paychex 9 Large 10,911
71 AstraZeneca 1 Large 12,263
72 Medtronic 8 Large 21,648
73 Aflac 7 Medium 4,326
74 American Express -4 Large 29,145
75 Quad/Graphics -1 Large 10,099
76 Deloitte & Touche USA 9 Large 34,011
77 Principal Financial Grp. 3 Large 13,075
78 Timberland 6 Small 2,016
79 TDIndustries 4 Small 1,345
80 Lehigh Valley Hospital & Health Ntwrk. 12 Medium 7,838
81 Baptist Health S. Florida 4 Medium 9,446
82 CDW 8 Medium 4,293
83 EOG Resources 17 Small 1,181
84 Capital One Financial 59 Large 19,047
85 Standard Pacific 25 Medium 2,856
86 National Instruments 6 Small 2,294
87 Texas Instruments -7 Large 15,274
88 CarMax 10 Large 12,553
89 Marriott International -1 Large 124,350
90 Men's Wearhouse 4 Large 11,508
91 Memorial Health 10 Medium 4,685
92 Bright Horizons 4 Large 14,164
93 Milliken 1 Medium 9,500
94 Bingham McCutchen 4 Small 1,618
95 Vanguard 6 Large 11,410
96 IKEA North America 21 Large 11,157
97 KPMG 4 Large 21,042
98 Synovus 4 Large 12,474
99 A.G. Edwards 1 Large 15,794
100 Stanley 6 Small 2,309

Nokia Siemens Networks to build GSM-Rail network for Wuhan to Guangzhou line

Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture between Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG, said it will supply base stations, a core network and an advanced high-speed railway tunnel communication service.
The project in southern China is scheduled for completion by the end of 2009. The Wuhan-Guangzhou line will be 968 kilometers (601.5 miles) in length.
Analysts say this is part of Nokia Siemens Networks's efforts to grab more market share in the China's huge mobile telecom business.

NDRC: China welcomes foreign investment in hi-tech industry

A senior official on Thursday said China welcomed more overseas investment to develop the country's hi-tech industry."China welcomes more international hi-tech companies to set up regional headquarters, R&D centers, procurement centers and training centers in China, and encourages domestic enterprises to explore overseas hi-tech markets," Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference.
Zhang said China's hi-tech industry had utilized more and more foreign investment over the last two decades and multinational companies had set up more than 1,000 research institutions all over the country.
"Take the telecommunications sector, the past six years have seen about 100 million new subscribers every year and the number of phone users nationwide had hit 880 million by the end of August," he said.
As one of the world's largest hi-tech industry and largest hi-tech exporter, China produces more computers, mobile phones, antibiotics and vaccines than any other countries worldwide.
The hi-tech industry in the three coastal regions of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Bohai Bay accounts for more than 80 percent of the national total in terms of scale of industry. Major industries include bio-medicine, aviation and aerospace, micro-electronics, photoelectron and software.
In 2006, the total revenue of the hi-tech industry exceeded 5.3 trillion yuan (US$706 billion), with its added-value contributing 8 percent of GDP growth. Hi-tech exports stood at US$281.5 billion in 2006, more than four times of that in 2002, almost a third of China's total export volume.
The official predicted the total revenue of the hi-tech industry would exceed 6.3 trillion yuan in 2007 and hi-tech exports would come to US$350 billion.
China plans to focus on nine major special projects in the next few years, including integrated circuit and software, new generation mobile communication, next generation Internet, digital voice and video technologies, advanced computing, biological medicine, commercial airplanes, satellite as well as new materials.

Expert: China to become world's 2nd largest trader

China will this year replace Germany as the world's second largest trader with 2.1 trillion US dollars in foreign trade and may overtake the world's largest trader, the United States, by the end of the decade, says a senior Chinese researcher.

"China maintained a growth rate of more than 20 percent in foreign trade in the first quarter and is likely to maintain the momentum throughout the year," said Li Yushi, vice president of the Research Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce. Despite a growth rate that declined to 6.9 percent in March, foreign trade in the first three months totaled 457.7 billion US dollars, up 23.3 percent year-on-year.

Exports reached 252.1 billion US dollars, up 27.8 percent, while imports were valued at 205.7 billion US dollars, up 18.2 percent, according to figures released by the Chinese customs.

While the Ministry of Commerce projected foreign trade to grow by about 10 percent a year between 2006 and 2010, Li's institute predicts the growth rate will be between 12 and 15 percent.

"Based on these predictions, we can tell that China will overtake the United States to be the world's largest trader in 2010," Li told a seminar on China's foreign trade prospects in Guangzhou.

China started to lower export tax rebates on numerous items last September to help bring down its trade surplus, said Li." The government is also developing policies aimed at expanding imports by encouraging domestic companies to import state-of-the-art equipment and technologies."

China's soaring exports in 2006 expanded its trade surplus to a record 178 billion dollars, up 74 percent from the previous record of 102 billion dollars set in 2005.

China's trade surplus for the first two months of the year hit 39.6 billion US dollars, more than the entire first quarter of last year

In March, however, the surplus dropped to 6.87 billion US dollars, dipping below the 10 billion US dollar mark for the first time since March 2006.

The World Trade Organization said in a report last week that China's product exports started to exceed those of the United States in the second half of 2006, but figures for the the entire year show China ranked third in exports, after Germany and the United States.

Number of China's cellphone users grows by record 9.46 mln in February

The number of China's mobile phone subscribers in February grew by a record 9.46 million from the previous month, powered by reduced handset prices and user charges, the Ministry of Information Industry said on Monday.
China had 565 million mobile phone users by the end of last month, up from 556 million in January and 547 million in December, the ministry said in a statement.
The number of fixed-line subscribers fell 3.26 million in the first two months to 362 million by the end of February. The figure has decreased for seventh months in a row, according to the ministry data.
China's two wireless operators signed up a total of 86.2 million new subscribers last year, with 68.1 million attributed to China Mobile.
The nation's top wireless operator said in its annual report last Wednesday that half of the new subscribers were from the countryside, which had "become a key source of new subscribers and an important impetus behind revenue growth."
China was expected to have more than 600 million mobile phone subscribers by 2010, about 46 percent of its population。

57 Boeing 737s for Xiamen Airlines

The domestic transportation market of China is amazingly huge. For example, more tracks are needed for China's bullet train.
As for the civil aviation, more planes are needed.
Xiamen Airlines of China is negotiating with Boeing to buy 25 additional 737-800 single-aisle jets, according to China’s Xinhua news agency. The order would be worth $1.8 billion at list prices.
Boeing already has delivered five new 737-800s to Xiamen , and the airline has 27 more on order. With the addition of a few leased jets, Xiamen plans to have 60 new 737-800s by 2013, Xinhua said.
Its growth is fueled by regional economic development and increasing business ties between Xiamen and Taiwan.

3G Networks Coming Soon?

China Mobile plans new subsidiary，because the user base is growing at an alarming rate. That is why Nokia Siemens Networks plan to build GSM-Rail network for Wuhan to Guangzhou line.
The competition is white hot. The parent of China Mobile (Hong Kong), the country’s top cellphone operator, plans to set up a new subsidiary to run the third-generation wireless network. The new unit would mainly be in charge of the construction and layout of China’s homegrown TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) standard, according to a report published on the official Xinhua news agency’s Web site.
The tender for contracts to build the country’s high-speed TD-SCDMA network has risen to 26.7 billion yuan from 18 billion yuan, mainly due to rising prices for equipment, Xinhua said. The results of China Mobile’s tender to gear makers to build TD-SCDMA contracts are expected to come out at the end of April.
Having parent company China Mobile oversee the large amounts of capital flowing into TD-SCDMA projects meant the National Development and Reform Commission would be better able to steer the scale and direction of investment and support the project. NDRC is China’s top economic planner and is working with ministries to design the country’s 3G strategy.
China’s 3G rollout — now expected later this year or early next year by most analysts — has been pushed back for years.

China SEPA is Promoted

China’s government is boosting the authority of its long-toothless environmental watchdog agency in an attempt to rein in the rampant pollution wrought by rapid economic development. The State Environmental Protection Agency, known as SEPA, is on track to be promoted to a full-fledged Cabinet ministry. Under the plan, SEPA would become the Ministry of Environment, said Hongjun Zhang, a former SEPA official and environmental law expert, and Lo Sze Ping of Greenpeace in Beijing.
Environmental degradation has fouled the air in cities and poisoned farmland and water sources, sparking protests at home and spoiling China’s relations abroad.
Zhang said SEPA’s staff could be increased to 300 or 400, and that over time the body would be given more authority over local environmental bureaus, which tend to be beholden to local industries and politicians and often flout the rules.
SEPA, formed in 1998, has struggled to turn itself into a real enforcer of often ignored environmental rules. Staffed by professionals and with an outspoken deputy head, the agency has tried in recent years to shame polluters.

Renewable Energy Development Project

Here is some good news for the renewable energy development providers.
The World Bank's Chinese Renewable Energy Development Project has backed the use of PV in rural China. The project design is based on a market-driven approach to renewables, which undertakes the following:
Focus on promoting commercial or near-commercial applications;
Combines international advances in technology with proven Chinese low-cost production capabilities;
Taps the large potential demand by lowering costs and improving products, system reliability, and consumer services.
The project aims to foster development of a sustainable market for PV technologies capable of supplying electricity in an environmentally sustainable way. This provides modern energy to dispersed rural households and institutions. To achieve this, the PV part of the project (the project also includes wind generated electricity) consists of the following two components:
The supply of a total of 10 megawatts via PV systems to 300,000-400,000 households and institutions in remote areas of six north-western provinces. A direct grant is provided to PV system companies to assist them to market, sell and maintain PV systems in Qinghai, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Xizang, western Sichuan and adjacent areas. The systems are aimed mostly at rural households and institutions without access to electricity, to provide power for lights, radios, televisions, and other appliances. The companies that sell PV systems receive a grant of US$1.50 per watt of PV capacity for every system with a capacity of 10 watts or greater. This financial support helps local companies to improve PV product quality, improve warranties and after-sales services, strengthen business capabilities, and increase marketing efforts. The direct grants are complemented by support to the companies to assist PV market development. A Project Management Office (PMO) manages the programme, which works to overcome barriers and develop markets for PV through activities such as public information campaigns; capacity building to improve commercial capabilities of PV companies; a study to investigate the opportunity for increased affordability; market monitoring, obtaining feedback from producers and consumers; and other activities such as small-scale demonstrations in high visibility areas.
Support for technology upgrading to improve the performance and reduce the costs of solar PV technologies in China. Financial assistance to PV industries is provided through grant-assisted technology improvement projects, which share up to 50 per cent of improvement costs; production investment projects assisted by loans to help pay for production equipment, follow-up or other investments; technical assistance for program management and institutional strengthening activities.

China Bullet Trains - More Tracks Needed

At 5:38 am sharp yesterday the sparkling white, futuristic No. D460 train departed Shanghai Station, heralding a new era of high-speed rail travel in China. The trains support WiFi services for those with laptops and other mobile devices wanting to keep in touch.
The Ministry of Railways told AFP that 52 trains have been deployed on short distance services. By the end of the year, the ministry said 108 more trains will be added.
China, now the world’s fourth-largest economy, is keen to show off the new bullet trains as evidence that it can develop its own technology in key sectors. But they are still mainly built abroad on the basis of technology transfer agreements with industry heavy-hitters such as Japan’s Mitsubishi-Kawasaki, Canada’s Bombardier, German giant Siemens and France’s Alstom.
The head of Alstom’s operations in China, Alain Berger, said that given the complexities involving the installation of new tracks, signalling and power sources, Beijing’s achievement was to be applauded.
However, currently only 6,000 kilometres of track can accommodate the high-speed trains.By 2020, China hopes 13,000 kilometres of track, or about one-fifth of the nation’s current 77,000 kilometres, will be able to handle bullet trains.
“Tickets are quite expensive,” said one passenger, who paid 42 yuan (5.43 US dollars) on the bullet service between Beijing to Tianjin. The usual price on the fastest express train on the same line is 30 yuan.

NBS: China in midway of industrialization

China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that over the past five years China's industrial economy has been developing in a healthy, fast and steady way amid structural adjustment, and the country is in the midway of industrialization.
In its latest report, the NBS said that since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2002, China's industrial economy has reinforced its leading position in national economy. In 2006, the industrial added value hit 9.04 trillion yuan (about US$1.2 trillion), up 57.9 percent from 2002 in constant terms.
Between 2003-2006, the increase of China's industrial production fluctuated between 11.5 percent and 12.8 percent, featuring rapidly expanding scale, output and export. China tops the world in the output of steel, coal, cement, TV sets and cotton fabric, and ranks second in power generation, third in sugar output and fifth in crude oil output.
In 2006, the added value of industrial economy accounted for 43.1 percent of national economy, further consolidating its leading position in the economy. Industrial economy will continue to play an important role in the economy considering that there is still a long way to go to accomplish the industrialization process, the report said.
The internal structure of the industrial economy has had clear improvements, the report said. The great progress of energy and raw materials industries provides strong support to national economy; non-ferrous and non-metal mining products, chemicals and machinery industries have also experienced fast development; and the washing out of obsolete production facilities has helped improve product structure.
It should be noted that different regions of the country have all enjoyed rapid development of industrial economy over the past few years, with the east coastal areas, central China and western China all increasing about 1.9 times, and northeast China up about 1.6 times.

Trade and investment boom

In the past four years, the nation has become the world's third-largest trader, the 13th-biggest foreign investor and a major target for overseas funds.
Boosted by steady global economic growth and fast expansion and reform of its trade system, China's imports and exports have seen robust development since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China convened in 2002, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.
China's foreign trade expanded nearly 30 percent on average in the past four years, with exports increasing 31.3 percent annually and imports increasing 28 percent annually. This has brought the country's trade volume in goods to US$1.76 trillion last year from $620.8 billion in 2002.
In 2006, exports rose by 27 percent year-on-year to US$969 billion, while imports climbed 20 percent to US$791.6 billion. The total trade volume grew 23.8 percent from a year earlier.
According to the World Trade Organization, China went from being the fifth-largest trader by volume in 2002 to the third-largest in 2004.
The nation has encouraged companies to climb the industrial chain since 2002, by improving exports in hi-tech products, cultivating brands and strengthening research and development. This policy has helped Chinese firms sharpen their competitive edge in the household electronic equipment and information sector. Electronic and machinery as well as hi-tech products are gradually replacing labor-intensive light industrial goods to become China's major exports.
Bilateral trade
Meanwhile, the nation is actively involved in regional economic cooperation and bilateral trade.
China has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with the ASEAN, Chile and Pakistan. It is negotiating with another six economies, including Iceland, New Zealand and Singapore, and doing a feasibility study on similar agreements with India, South Korea and Peru, according to the NBS.
The country's optimized investment environment has continued to attract strong interest from foreign investors in the past four years.
In 2002, foreign direct investment (FDI) in China exceeded US$50 billion for the first time and has increased steadily since. The figure in China's non-financial sectors was US$63 billion last year.
China had accumulated US$703.9 billion in actual foreign direct investment by the end of last year.

Facts and Figures About China

China has More Than 2.6 million websites.
China has 162 million Internet users in 2007 (132 million Internet users in 2006).
China now has 97 million broadband users.
China has about 440 million mobile phone users.
Population hits 1.30756 bln by 2005: Survey.
China has 20 million bloggers.
China's online sales to top 51 bln yuan in 2007
Economy Grew 9.9% in 2005, Statistics .
China to have over 440 mln mobile phone users
Total number of journalists in China: 700,000.
By June 30, about a quarter of China's 123 million Internet users were regularly engaged in on-line shopping, 50 percent more than the same time last year.
More than 89,000 killed on China's roads in 2006
China's 2006 natural disasters killed over 3,000
The number of China-made movies reached 330 in 2006, up 27 percent over the previous year.

Anti-monopoly law not to affect foreign investment

BEIJING -- An official with China's top legislature says the government will maintain its policy of encouraging foreign investment unchanged after the passing of the country's first anti-monopoly law.
The official with the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress said the necessary security checks on foreign investment in domestic enterprises would pose no obstacles to the utilization of foreign capital.
The legislature passed the anti-monopoly law on August 30 and it will come into effect on August 1, 2008.
The law requires checks on mergers of foreign and Chinese enterprises to ascertain whether they affect national security.
"China has already established basic checks on foreign investment through regulations," the official told Xinhua.
A regulation issued by the State Council authorized government departments to initiate checks if the foreign firms "jeopardize national security or public interests" or "employ Chinese developed technology".
Another rule jointly published by six ministries and departments requires foreign companies to submit to checks if they take control of a joint venture in one of China's key industries.
"Checks on mergers of foreign and domestic firms are practiced by many countries," the official said, adding the law was following international practice.
"The anti-monopoly law will intensify regulation of the market and help to provide a better market environment for both domestic and foreign investors," he said.
The official said the law would prevent SOEs in monopolistic industries such as petroleum, telecommunications, mail services and tobacco from abusing their market dominance to lower services and disregarding the public interests.
China joins more than 80 countries in adopting an anti-monopoly law.Drafting of the law began in 1994.
Experts said China's socialist market economy had matured in the last decade, and the current market circumstances made the introduction of an anti-monopoly law imperative.