Archives: April 2009

Acer’s Disappointing Earnings

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on April 29

Taiwanese PC maker Acer today reported profits for the first quarter were down 31%, to $60 million. As this Bloomberg article points out, that was below expectations; analysts were expecting...

China Has World's Fastest Growing Wind Power Capacity

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 28

China’s environmental record gets plenty of bad press—-toxic lakes, contaminated rivers, cities enshrouded in a permanent haze of smog—-so here is some good news for a change: the Global Wind...

The Honda Insight, the Toyota Prius and profits

Posted by: Ian Rowley on April 28

Ask a Toyota or Honda executive how much their respective companies make per hybrid car and you're unlikely to get a straight answer. Indeed, it was progress of sorts a...

Japan's Konami In Spotlight Over Videogame About Iraq War

Posted by: Kenji Hall on April 28

Videogames about military combat are standard fare. But one that faithfully recreates the November 2004 battle between U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents has kicked up a lot of controversy. Developed...

Samsung Unveils its First Android Phone

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on April 27

Samsung Electronics on Apr. 27 unveiled its first smartphone using the Android operating system backed by Google. The South Korean electronics giant is the second company to roll out...

Slump Spurs Debate: How to Reshape Japan Inc.

Posted by: Kenji Hall on April 24

With the global economy now in a deep funk Japan’s export machine is idling. The latest evidence came this week, when Japan reported a trade deficit of 725.3 billion yen...

Expect India Politicians to Capitalize on H-1B Visa News

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on April 24

Indians already worried about a growing anti-outsourcing movement in the U.S. have another problem on their hands. Two U.S. senators are re-introducing a bill, originally proposed two years ago, to...

Vietnam's Casino Dreams: Gambling Paradise?

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 22

Mao Zedong always described China and Vietnam as being as close as “lips and teeth”, so it’s no surprise that Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung put in an...

Japan: Work Less and Save the Economy

Posted by: Kenji Hall on April 21

The Japanese government is entertaining some new ideas for getting consumers to dip into their savings. Here’s one: Penalize companies whose employees don’t take their vacations. The financial daily Nikkei...

Going green at the Shanghai show

Posted by: Ian Rowley on April 20

In recent times, environmental themes have been unavoidable at big auto shows and this year’s Shanghai show, which opened to the media today, is no different. That many of...

India's Outsourcers Should Worry about Delta's Move

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on April 20

Even when times were good and the U.S. economy was humming along at full employment, American companies got some flack for outsourcing jobs to India. Now, with the unemployment rate...

Hong Kong Needs World Class Tree Management

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 19

While listening to the local news this morning in Hong Kong I was delighted to hear that someone in the government is finally taking the issue of tree management seriously....

China's Economy and Optimism

Posted by: Dexter Roberts on April 18

A rare bit of optimism when it comes to the world economy emanated today from China’s tropical south. The occasion: the annual Boao Forum for Asia which opened Friday on...

More Trouble ahead for Thailand

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 17

It has been an incredibly tense seven days for Thailand. First protesters forced the cancellation of an 18-country summit meeting in the resort of Pattaya on the weekend, where several...

Ho Hum: China Economy Grows 6.1%

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 16

It’s all about managed expectations, I suppose. China announced its first quarter GDP growth figures today of 6.1% and most analysts just shrugged. Consensus figures were 6.2%, with a fairly...

Sony: Touch-Screen Walkman X Is Not A Mini-Computer

Posted by: Kenji Hall on April 14

One of the first questions for Sony officials whenever the electronics and entertainment company pulls the wraps off a new Walkman is: How does it differ from Apple's iPod?...

Acer vs Lenovo: Battle Over?

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on April 13

Not too long ago, the hottest battle in the PC industry was between Lenovo and Acer: the biggest computer company in China up against the biggest computer company in Taiwan...

Japan's Economic Stimulus: How Long Can It Help?

Posted by: Kenji Hall on April 10

Back in the late 1990s, Japan doled out billions of dollars for public works to revive its flagging economy. But the pork-barrel spending was never popular with economists. Many criticized...

Toyota's new management lineup takes shape

Posted by: Ian Rowley on April 10

With the start of Akio Toyoda's presidency a little over two months away, Toyota today announced its new management lineup. It includes the return of Yoshimi Inaba, who is expected...

Currency Scandal at CITIC Topples One of China's Richest Men

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 08

One of China's mightiest has fallen. Billionaire Larry Yung, one of China’s richest men, and original poster boy of “Red Capitalism” has quit as chairman of Citic Pacific in the...

GM China Achieves Record Monthly Sales

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 08

Here's a bit of good news for beleaguered General Motors: According to a press release sent out on April 7, GM and its local affiliates in China sold 137,004 vehicles...

China Acts Swiftly in New Baby Formula Scare

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 07

China has shown it can act very quickly to protect the public from tainted foods when it wants to---and when there are no vested domestic interests at stake. According to...

North Korean Rocket Launch Spurs Diplomatic Frenzy

Posted by: Kenji Hall on April 05

North Korea’s launch of a rocket on April 5 defied several United Nations Security Council resolutions and puts pressure on the international community to crack down on what the U.S....

Hyundai Scores Big in U.S. Auto Market

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on April 02

It is increasingly looking like the start of a trend that could make Hyundai Motor a star player in a recession. The South Korean company just reported a 0.5% gain...

Taking China's Labor Union Seriously

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on April 01

The China Labour Bulletin (based in Hong Kong, hence the British spelling) has come out with a report on the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the Chinese government's official union...