Is Govt Backing of PE Funds Unique to China?

Xie Ping, head of China's Private Equity fund, must be unfamiliar with one of Canada's largest and most influential funds such as OTPP, which was involved in some of the biggest deals in the world. Xie said, 

"China’s private equity industry is unique because it’s dominated by the State and will follow a different path from overseas peers." 

Entities that manage private equity in China and those that invest in such funds are primarily State-owned institutions, China Investment Corp’s Xie said in Beijing.

By having government backing, China’s private equity funds can increase the value of Chinese companies in which they invest, the report cited Xie as saying. This is an aspect of the Chinese market that is different from other countries, he added.The ability to invest directly in private equity is currently limited to a few large State-owned institutions such as China’s national pension fund, the report said.

Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing Xie Ping, vice-president at the nation’s $300 billion sovereign wealth fund.

How to Boost Sales

US executives are turning to reality television to repair the battered image of corporate America, turning a show, in which bosses work incognito alongside their most poorly-paid employees into the most successful tool for restoring brand images.

Undercover Boss was responsible for seven of the year’s 10 most effective product placements according to Nielsen, the measurement company, which looked at how well audiences recalled the brand and how much the show improved their opinion of it. Nielsen’s data show a trend towards such extended features on a single company rather than the traditional highlighting of brands in programmes such as American Idol.

"In difficult times, people are interested in watching TV programmes where there is some recognition of the difficulties they face,” says Stephen Lambert, the executive producer behind Undercover Boss and Fairy Jobmother, a UK import about getting the unemployed back to work. “At a time of great insecurity people like watching shows where people end up in a better place.”

Undercover Boss typically ends with the executive setting up a health scheme or taskforce, and rewarding employees with scholarships, holidays or, in one case, a 7-Eleven franchise.

Read more at Financial Times 

Sir James Goldsmith talks about outsourcing to China

Twenty years ago, Sir James Goldsmith talks about how America will kill its own economy. It is quite horrifying hearing Goldsmith accurately predict today's situation as Clinton's trade agreement GATT gets implemented and the long term consequences unfold. Goldsmith talks about how jobs will get obliterated as they are exported from America and the number of jobs reduced sharply.
Goldsmith asks,"What is the purpose of an economy?" He says it is there to serve the needs of society - prosperity and stability. He adds, "Material wealth would solve our problems and we achieved that. We have destabilized society because the economy is no longer serving us."
"Who benefits from these trade treaties? Major corporations benefit. What is good for GM is good for the USA is no longer true. They are no longer linked to the USA. They farm out their production wherever they can get the cheapest capital and labour."
Charlie Rose is stunned at the suggestion that automobile manufacturing or technology industries would move out of America. I would enjoy Charlie Rose doing a "Stupid Things I Said in the Past 20 Years on my Show." This show is almost painful to watch as a wise entrepreneur who can see the patterns of industry tries to get across his correct vision of the outsourcing of American jobs. Clinton's spokesperson does not listen and just shouts him down. She ran the London School of Economics and boy, if this is the type of "thought leader" leading our universities, the type that refuses to listen but shouts down the opponent, it is not a good trend.
Clinton's aid says. "When American jobs are moved abroad, they add jobs here too."
Goldsmith points out that new jobs are part time and lower skilled. This was back in 1992. We have seen that real income has not risen since 1992. Goldsmith saw the future, here is the interview:

Enjoy your holidays and Happy New Year

Needed Words for Your Strategy

I make every effort to read new business strategy books and articles. In 90 percent of cases, I can dismiss neither the author's thought process nor his or her evidence—but I am always taken aback by the abundance of "clever" and the absence of any discussion or consideration of the ability to implement the suggestions made or implied. There is total silence around the subject. For example, I did a quick analysis of the Index of one "famous" strategy tome circa 2007—words like "people" and "customer" and "leadership" and "implementation" and "execution" were literally missing.