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Economy

Why 9 Of 10 Chinese Businesses That Go American Fail

A new study says some 90 percent of investments by China’s businesses in American operations don’t succeed. Chinese experts explain.

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Society

Tough Times In Yemen: Economic Crisis Leaves Nothing Untouched

SANA’A — Antar Al-Aldharij pins his opponent down on the mat without using a dagger or a rifle. Yemen“s national judo champion, who trains every afternoon in a gym just outside of the capital, Sana’a, just needs the strength of his arms and bare hands. Al-Aldharij and his teamates share the small room of just […]

Categories
Future

The Biggest Losers In China’s Massive Urbanization Plan

As the country plans to seize farmers’ land and move them into more populous, resettled areas to drive the economy, it’s clear who the losers will be.

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Economy Society

In China, Qigong Masters Take On Corporate Guru Status

BEIJING — Economists rack their brains studying the nature of business. In the simplest terms, the essence of business is to make money. But in today’s China, as elsewhere, particular political, economic and social factors make a difference — and a wide range of uniquely Chinese money-making mechanisms have been developed. What Wang Lin, the […]

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Future

Resource-Rich Colombia’s Green Energy Gambit

Global warming is a big problem in Latin America, but the private sector is busy developing alternative energy sources. Has the rush to innovate arrived in time?

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Geopolitics Society

Will Marina Berlusconi Carry On The Dynasty?

The eldest daughter of the disgraced prime minister controls the family businesses with an iron fist. The question is whether she’ll decide to bring the same passion to politics.

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Ideas

A Challenge To And From China’s Entrepreneurs

BEIJING – In China, politics is something that worries and tangles up the minds of businessmen, perhaps more than others. Two recent events shed new light on what we can call the political anxiety of Chinese entrepreneurs. The first incident came after the remarks of Liu Chuanzhi, the chairman of tech giant Lenovo, during a […]

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Economy Ideas

Why More Chinese Firms On The Fortune 500 Is Bad News For China

In the latest edition of Fortune Magazine“s “Global 500,” exactly 85 Chinese corporations have made the list. That’s an increase of 16 companies compared with last year. But let’s take a closer look at the numbers. Of the companies listed, 90% are stated-owned enterprises (SOEs), and just two of the new batch on the list […]

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Economy

Corporate “Social Responsibility” – An Alibi For Perilous Deregulation

–OpEd– SANTIAGO – After four long years in court, the 10 Chilean pharmaceutical executives prosecuted for colluding to raise the prices of 222 medicines can breathe easy. These business leaders from the companies Salco-Brand, Ahumada and Cruz Verde were in fact convicted, but the sentence amounted to a meager fine — the equivalent of $445,000 […]

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Economy

Inside Jobs: How Cartel Busting In Europe Came To Resemble A Spy Thriller

BRUSSELS – You know, those spy movies of some bespectacled hero photographing secret files, looking up every few seconds to make sure there’s not a burly KGB agent around. One executive from the Degussa chemistry group found himself in such a scene in 2002, entering a fancy Zurich building with a camera in his hand, […]

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Economy

Doing Business In Russia Isn’t About To Get Any Easier

MOSCOW – Earlier in June, during the last congress of the All-Russia People’s Front, a movement created by President Vladimir Putin in 2011, Putin announced that one of his primary goals was to create a new era of industrialization in Russia. Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Andrey Belousov announced in the same meeting that by […]

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Economy

Not Just Cars Anymore: New *Lease* On Life Now For All Kinds Of Stuff

PARIS – Baptiste Langlais shows off his new watch proudly. “In my sector, we like beautiful mechanics,” jokes the car salesman from the Paris region. His latest whim? An 8,500-euro Jaeger-LeCoultre wristwatch. “A big investment, especially these days,” he admits. But he has found a way to reconcile reason and passion. Launched a few months […]

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Economy

Why Russia Can Pay Millions To Public Sector Bosses

MOSCOW – Only a couple of years ago, government jobs were lucrative and only for the highest-ranking executives in Russia. But that is changing, and now the public sector is aggressively competing in the job market, offering competitive salaries and poaching talented employees from private companies. In Russia, unlike in Europe or the United States, […]

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Economy

Why It’s Time For China To Lose Its Copycat Mentality

After five long years of battle in court, Adidas has finally settled with Adivon, a Chinese sportswear company. The latter is to transfer its Chinese trademarks and the triangular logo to the German multinational and will not be allowed to use them again, in any store. Meanwhile, another unfinished lawsuit has aroused even more attention. […]

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Economy

Boomtown Ethiopia – Can Former Poster Child Nation Become A Model For African Growth?

Once it was USA for Africa, now Ethiopia’s expats are returning to be part of a striving new middle class.

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Geopolitics

What Cartes Thinks – The Blunt-Talking Billionaire Set To Be Paraguay’s Next President

Horacio Cartes won a comfortable victory in last weekend’s election, putting the long-ruling Colorado Party back in power. But this time it may be a new brand of personality politics.

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In The News

Macy’s And Costco Come To China, But Only Online

Categories
Economy

How A Freewheeling Indian Market Became The Hub Of The Global Diamond Trade

Step inside the diamond market in Surat, where billions worth of the precious stone circulate every month. There are serious concerns about both security and origins.

Categories
Economy

Rahul Gandhi, India’s Corporate Elite And The Enduring Power Of Family Dynasties

In the private sector as in politics, a small group of influential dynasties still rule the country. Being on the outside, makes a play on power virtually impossible.

Categories
Society

For Congolese Women, A Trade Is The Path To Independence

BENI – Gisèle Masika, a young divorced woman from this Congolese city, says she wants nothing of her aunt’s life as a housewife. “My aunt can’t do anything, her husband takes care of everything, and he has no consideration for her,” she says. Like other women in Beni, in northeastern Congo, Masika decided to learn […]

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Geopolitics

China’s “String Of Pearls” Strategy To Secure The Ports Of South Asia

CHITTAGONG – In the port of Chittagong, containers pile up like colorful cubes of sugar. Dozens of ships scurry down the estuary of the Karnaphuli, the river that winds around the economic capital of Bangladesh to finally stream down into the Bay of Bengal. The port is bustling. The newly built mooring container terminal (NCT) […]

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Economy

Walmart And Company Bribing Their Way Through Latin America

-Editorial- SANTIAGO – The recent corruption scandal involving Walmart in Mexico has coincided with the last corruption ranking by Transparency International. The giant American retailer, which also has stores in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and several Central American countries, has been accused of systematically paying bribes in Mexico that total more than $24 million over the […]

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Geopolitics

Pan-Africanism Alive In Rwanda, As Visa Requirements Eased For All Africans

KIGALI– Beginning in January, every African visitor to Rwanda will be granted his or her visa upon arrival in the country from any border post. This “on-the-spot” visa process, according to Ange Sebutege, communications officer at the Rwandan Immigration Services, is designed to bring in more Africans tourists. Until now, visitors had to fill out […]

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Economy

Hey Grandpa, You’re Rockin’ It On Facebook!

Seniors Demographic Reaches Social Media Tipping Point.

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Economy

Italy’s Best Shot At Economic Recovery: Immigrant Entrepreneurs

LA STAMPA, LA REPUBBLICA, CORRIERE DELLA SERA (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME – Italy’s struggling economy appears to have at least one good shot at bouncing back: immigrant entrepreneurs. According to La Stampa, the businesses of non-EU immigrants account for 5.7% of Italy’s GDP. Confesercenti, the Italian association for small and medium businesses, says the number of […]

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Economy

Riding Coach: A Cheaper Road To Cracking The Chinese Luxury Market

BEIJING – While many other luxury brands are facing a sharp decline in their sales in China, the American brand Coach is busy writing a different story. As a relatively more accessible luxury brand, its prices have always been 50-75% lower than the top luxury brands. Now for the first half of this year, it […]

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Economy

Trade And Tax Shelters – Can Panama Become “Latin America’s Hong Kong?”

PANAMA CITY – Panama’s fiscal incentives are luring more and more people to its shores: multinationals, retirees in search of sun and investors seeking new opportunities. Real estate prices are ballooning into a mini Manhattan-on-the-Pacific. The latest notable arrival is PKB Privatbank, the first private Swiss bank to open a “banking center” in Panama City. […]

Categories
Economy

Report: Brazil Is Most Expensive Developing Nation For Doing Business

SÃO PAULO – Brazil is the most expensive developing nation for doing business and has costs similar to developed countries, according to a study by consulting firm KPMG. “Competitive Alternatives” is a regular KPMG report that compares the structure of costs for companies in different countries and localities, taking into account taxes, labor, rent, cost […]

Categories
Economy

European Sites Lead Hitchhiking (And Ride-Sharing) Into Digital Age

RTL, L’EXPRESS (France), LA STAMPA (Italy) PARIS – The scraggly hitchhiker with his thumb out on the road has given way to the plugged-in free (or almost free) rider with both thumbs on his smart phone. And it is Europe that’s leading the way in finding efficient new ways of hitting the road on the […]

Categories
Economy

A Recipe For Old-World Publishers To Respond To Rise Of The E-Book

-Analysis- PARIS – Whether or not they pose a real threat to the traditional book publishing industry, e-books are indisputably the talk of the town. Still, few in the sector are able to fathom the full extent of the ongoing digital transformation, which is both far-reaching, yet still largely invisible. From booksellers to printers, everybody […]

Categories
Society

In Congo, The Return Of Immigrants Who Failed To Strike It Rich In Europe

GOMA – After trying their luck in Europe, a growing number of Congolese immigrants are returning home to Goma in the North Kivu province to start their own businesses. Their accounts of hardships – which offer an alternative view of Europe – discourage those who are thinking of following in their paths. “Life in Europe […]

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