Disaster Response — Habitat for Humanity Int'l

I got the request to join through Facebook. Disaster Response — Habitat for Humanity Int'l: "Disaster Response: China Earthquake. Thank you for taking action to help rebuild homes following the devastating earthquake the shook central China.

Habitat for Humanity has an existing presence in the region and is well placed to begin reconstruction efforts following the initial relief stage. A local team is headed to the area now to carry out an assessment of the damage and long-term needs. Once the situation is safe and build permits are available, Habitat for Humanity will begin rebuilding homes in partnership with local authorities and other organizations.

Your Habitat gift today will help families whose homes were lost get back into safe, decent and affordable housing."

globeandmail.com: Google's China chief predicts boom

Helge: Are we witnessing a move of Web innovations and applications from west to east? Are we prepared for the change. The numbers are in favor of the Asian development? If volume is a central issue, Europe, US and Japan together can't compete. Is there a power shift in world economics? Should we change our mindset and go East? Did Nokia do the right thing in the beginning of the 90's?

globeandmail.com: Google's China chief predicts boom: "BEIJING — If U.S. Internet companies are maturing, China's are still revelling in the kind of party atmosphere their U.S. rivals enjoyed during the late 1990s, with copious capital and enough engineering talent to keep growing for a while.

Executives including Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google Greater China, warned participants in an industry conference in Beijing this week against a get-rich-quick mentality. But the executives said that between strong investor interest and an education system churning out information technology graduates by the thousand, the groundwork is solid for years of continued steady growth in China.

'For many Chinese young people and young students, they have a very strong desire for innovation, for being successful, for starting their own businesses,' said Lee. About 300,000 students receive high-tech degrees in China annually, said Zhang Ya-Qin, chief executive of Microsoft in China and its research development group. But he said Chinese graduates need more curiosity and more ideas.

Pony Ma, whose QQ system dominates the Chinese market for instant messaging, said China's Internet and mobile information industries are just getting off the ground, leaving plenty of room for growth in the more traditional Web fields. 'Generally speaking, it has been developing..."

Guangdong as investment environment

What makes China such a big deal for Finland and for me? At this moment is more important for Finland as a nation than to me. We're the geogrpahically closest EU memeber country to China. The trade between Finland and China is flourishing. We are the biggest European exporter to China. Could you believe that? And Finnish companies have invested 5 billion Euros into China. There are some visible investments in Finland as well and new things to come. Chinese toursits are playing an ever increasing role. And for myself and KK-Net, we have been studying Chinese opportunities for two years. The next steps will be taken soon.

Guangdong has established long-term and stable trade relationships with over 200 countries and regions, more than 100 of which have come to invest. The investment environment is constantly being optimized. Guangdong has splendid natural scenes, abudant resources, mild climate and beutiful environment. Its flourishing economy, stable society, mature business and trade system make it a tremendeously potential market.

Guangdong provides a improved infrastructure, a highly developed communication network, and a well organized transport network. The administration is cultivating an honest, thrustworthy, safe and civilized investment environment, which is at same time low-cost and high-efficieny. There are excellent services available for investors and merchants that protect the legitimate rights of foreign businessmen / women to guarantee their better opportunities of development.

SMEs Collaboration EU - Asia

On Wednesday, November 8, 2006, I participated in a seminar “Hong Kong – Guangdong Your partners for success in China – 8 November 2006 Helsinki.” The Scandic Hotel ball room was full of people. Couldn’t count them all, but I guess several hundred participants and maybe one hundred Chinese and Hong Kong business development officials, entrepreneurs and businessmen / women.

Rapid economic development in China has created major opportunities in two areas: a fast expanding market for goods and services, and a sophisticated production base for manufacturers and retailers. Successful companies realise that China is not one market, but a series of regional markets. Currently, most foreign companies concentrate to the Pearl River Delta region (PRD) on the southern tip of the Chinese mainland, closely connected to Hong Kong.

Why focus on the Greater Pearl River Delta?

This region offers the combined advantages of Hong Kong, with its international services and ease of business, and the PRD, which offers quality low-cost manufacturing and a growing consumer market. The PRD is also home to the Chinese mainland’s wealthiest consumers and highest spenders. Per Capita GDP and retail sales in the Greater Pearl River Delta are significantly higher than the Chinese mainland’s other regions, including the Yangtze River Delta region around Shanghai, and the Bohai region around Beijing.

What has this to do with Web 2.0?

The Asian businesses can be regarded as a threat or opportunity from an European point of view. We’ve been building bridges and contact networks to China, India, Bangladesh, Korea and Japan during the past years. It just struck me that the markets and opportunities for collaborative projects are so huge that it will take European wide efforts to be competitive in comparison with US companies playing a very active role there. The Asian market has been a playground for very large corporations. Finland is strongly represented through Nokia and its R&D and manufacturing partnership companies. But I will concentrate on what EU based SMEs could dot to enhance business relationships with the Asian SMEs.

New Business Models for SMEs

• Collaborative efforts to create knowledge based offerings
• Collective Networking Mashups with Asian SMEs
• European SMEs are often more international than smaller SMEs in US
• This applies most probably to the Web 2.0 environment as well (our national home markets are smaller than for the US SMEs and we have to start exporting in an earlier stage)
• We’re better equipped to handle multi-lingual operations and to understand cross-cultural differences
• We’ve a definitive lead in the Mobile Phone manufacturing and application areas in Europe compared to US but have to do some catch-up with DoCoMo in Japan, Hongong, South-Korea.

What do you think?
Best Regards
Helge Keitel