The week that was: Lenovo snaps up Motorola Mobility and climbs up to Number Three in the global smartphone market; JD.com to list in the US; and Tencent Maps gets aggressive in the streetview segment. Lenovo says, “Hello Moto!” Remember Google’s much touted purchase of the US mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility in 2012? It […]
CHINA ROUND-UP: Workforce Shrinks Again; Lenovo Buys IBM Server; And Big Four Auditors Barred
The week that was: China workforce declines two years in a row; trust product distributed by ICBC faces default; Lenovo strikes China’s biggest tech deal by buying an IBM branch; and the Big Four’s China affiliates are barred from US businesses. Lenovo buys another piece of IBM Nine years after the iconic brand of ThinkPad changed […]
How Chinese Companies are Making it in America
How private Chinese companies are navigating mergers and acquisitions in the US. At times, the obstacles seemed insurmountable. The acquisition of A123 Systems, an American manufacturer of lithium ion batteries, by a Chinese auto parts maker named Wanxiang triggered vehement opposition in the US. Lawmakers protested that the technology being sold to the Chinese had […]
Search Engine Scuffles: Why lightweight Sogou is still an Important Player
Chinese search engine lightweight, Sogou, has recently garnered industry-wide attention and sparked rumors of a takeover by heavyweight Baidu. What’s all the fuss about? Sogou, literally translated as “Search Dog”, is one of China’s largest search engines with approximately 400 million active users. The search engine couples unique Chinese language keyword input software with a […]
Digital Promised Land: Retailers Look to E-Commerce to Succeed in China
Can Western retail brands make it big in China’s e-market? In September 2012, The Home Depot announced that it was closing all seven of its megastores in China. After eight years of consumer research and a $100-million 12-store acquisition, The Home Depot called it quits in China after realizing that China isn’t a sure return […]
Banking Abroad: The Globalization of Chinese Banks
Chinese banks employ various strategies as they steadily march into international markets On July 6th 2012, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank by market value, became a controlling shareholder in The Bank of East Asia’s US subsidiary after receiving final approval from American regulators to purchase 80% of the bank’s […]
Stepping Out: The Globalization Strategies of Chinese Companies
Chinese companies are globalizing on an unprecedented scale, but with mixed success. For the investors, it was all backwards. In early 2011, Chinese dairy producer Bright Food convened a meeting with outside investors and consultants. The company had mountains of cash, priceless connections and Beijing’s blessing. Having grown to become China’s second-biggest food and drink […]
C-Suite Interview: Liang Xinjun, Vice-chairman and CEO, Fosun
The Fosun Group, a Shanghai-headquartered conglomerate, has diverse business interests ranging from insurance and healthcare, to retail, steel and mining. Founded in 1992, Fosun has already made it to the list of China’s top enterprises—in 2011, it ranked 81st among the top 500 enterprises in China ranked by Fortune. The group attributes its success […]
Teng Bingsheng on the global M&A strategies of Chinese Companies
Here’s a question. What do the following mergers and acquisitions have in common: Lenovo and IBM’s PC division, TCL and Thomson Electronics’ TV arm, and BenQ and Siemen’s cellphone business? According to Teng Bingsheng, Associate Professor of Strategic Management and Associate Dean responsible for the CKGSB MBA program, there is one common thread that runs […]
Cereal Success: Bright Food snaps up Weetabix
As Bright Food buys up iconic breakfast brand Weetabix, questions arise over whether China is eyeing a larger takeover of Western food firms?
