Harvard China Review Conference 2005 - Copious Consumption
The 8th Harvard China Review Conference was held in Harvard Law School on last Saturday, April 30. I joined the conference for 4 of its panel discussions, namely:1) Urban Development in China
Some development plans and issues/problems were illustrated and discussed, with the participation from US Deprtment of Urban Development and Housing, Chinese officials and also developers. Most interesting topic was how does the Chinese government or the industry solve the problem of incompleted apartment in cities ("lan wei lou" in Chinese). The government is actually allowing the industry or the stronger developers to buy the incompleted ones and let them finished. Some other parts in China, such as Hai Nan Province, the Central government is subsidising, too. Some other solutions includeasking investment banks to buy the incompleted buildings.
2) Supply & Demand in China (Advertising & Marketing)
Some interesting commericials in China, as more and more companies are learning about the concept of branding and marketing. One of which was Guang Ming's Rose Yogurt from the Shanghai market. Instead of adopting a common approach, the company launched a series of campaigns building up the brand equity with the the leverage point - Rose Yogurt brings romance to young women. Another great findings for me was there is actually about 40% of buying happened online in China! And it's not just Chinese living in the major cities but also the 2nd tier cities and others, primarily buying Books and Computer items which are not available in the local markets. Digital TV is also booming...industry figures show there are 100,000 subscribers currently and estimated to be 100 millions by 2008! The industry is now learning how to "Test, Measure and Learn" from the marketplace and the consumers.
3) Beijing Olympics 2008
With the US$24.1 billion annual ad expenses, China is catching up and the growth rate is expected to be at 30% annually. It seems too early to estimate the total amount of advertising dollars going to be spent for Beijing 2008 but one fact can be used as a parameter - all the outdoor ad spaces surrounding the Olympics Park in Beijing are sold now! Besides, the revenue from broadcasting right is expected to be US$1 billion!! But there exist also challenges ahead - Ambush Marketing (brands engaging in promotion & ads without paying sponsorship fees) and the issues surrounding Intellectual Property right - how exactly the government is going to implement measures to crack down the counterfeits and infringement.
4) Finance in China (Captial markets)
Given the loan rate is rapidly increasing in China (15-20%), challenges basically lie in the Banking System - such as how the BIG 4, namely China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank, Industrial & Commericial Bank and Bank of China, are going to be privatized and listed (after their IPOs); the cooperations between foreign invested banks and Chinese banks, the development of securitization, etc...One success model suggested by NASDAQ involves: Principles + Market Structure + Executive System...the effectiveness of implementing these elements seems to be critical to success.
posted by CalvinCK @ 7:24 PM
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