Toyota SUV in trouble via Wikipedia The effects on trade between Japan and China cause by the Fukushima nuclear disaster is bigger than expected, warns Shaun Rein at CNBC, as Chinese consumers not only stop buying Japanese food, but Japanese products like Toyota‘s SUV cannot reach the Chinese market. Rein is bullishRead More →

Not popular in China via Wikipedia Foreign DIY-stores like B&Q, Home Depot and Saint-Gobain are retreating from China despite the booming economy, and nobody should be surprised, tells Shaun Rein in The Age. DIY does not fit the image people want to have. The Age: “Do-it-yourself is not popular inRead More →

Image by Fantake via Flickr The March Newsletter of the China Speakers Bureau is now online, with the latest news about our speakers and an overview of the corporate failings in China over the past month, while their markets keep on growing. We look over Groupon, BestBuy, Mattel‘s Barby, HomeRead More →

Entrance Apple store Shanghai by randomwire via Flickr A visit to Apple’s store in Pudong, Shanghai leave no room for doubt: the company is doing very well. Shaun Rein analyzes in CNBC how the laggard from 2009 turned into a winner in 2011, where other retailers like BestBuy, Home DepotRead More →

Image by Zingaro. I am a gipsy too. via Flickr The sudden closure of Mattel‘s Barbie store in Shanghai seems to have nobody apart from Mattel, says retail analyst Paul French in the LA Times, today. He is sceptical about the firm’s announcement they are merely changing plans. The closureRead More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Foreign firms in China currently make fat margins, showing the strenght of the economy, Shaun Rein tells Bloomberg, despite high profile failures like Barbie, Home Depot and BestBuy. Inflation might still be a huge problem, but there is no bubble in the making, he argues.Read More →

Image by Fantake via Flickr Even though Chinese consumers are spending more on expensive products like Apple, they shunned the Best Buy stories, explains Shaun Rein in CNBC. The economy of scale did not pay off: According to our research, Best Buy in China was perceived as being too expensive,Read More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Home Depot and BestBuy were just two of the foreign companies in China that failed, while the consumer market is reaching record heights. Shaun Rein explains what they were missing in CNBC. First, they get China’s middle class wrong: For one, Western brands needRead More →

Annette Nijs Executive Director Global Initiative of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Annette Nijs led earlier this week a signing ceremony for a partnership between her school and the Dutch multinational Philips, a partnership focusing on health care and innovation. From the CEIBS-website: Annette Nijs called the eventRead More →

Former flagship in Xujiahui, Shanghai The decision by US electronics retailer BestBuy to close its outlets in China hardly comes as a surprise, says retail analyst Paul French in USA-Today. “They were ahead of the consumer.” Unlike the warehouse style of top Chinese electronic chains Gome and Suning, where salesRead More →

US senator Charles Schumer via Wikipedia Is China closing its doors, as companies like GE, BASF and Siemens say, or is it more open than ever, as the country’s officials say? It’s a matter of perception, writes Shaun Rein in CNBC, especially now America’s economy is in trouble and politiciansRead More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Shaun Rein recalls in CNBC a proposed investment of US§ 50 million in a Chinese internet venture that did not exist, and was only cancelled after some solid due dilligence was done. The investor “had only been to China once, when the CEO ofRead More →