International Business

Booming Business In Shanghai Keeps Shanghai Translation Companies Busy

2011-09-07T01:20:00.000-07:00

As one of the world's leading centres of finance and trade, the city of Shanghai in China is a natural magnet for various multinational corporations. A mere fishing and textiles town a few centuries ago, Shanghai has become a truly global city, thanks to the relentless improvement efforts of its government in the past few decades.

Decisions made in Shanghai have significant implications across China's own sphere of economic influence. Of course, it immensely adds to your significance if you happen to be the most populous city in a country that is home to about a billion people, right? And Shanghai translation services offered here by well-established language translation agencies are known for their rigorous dedication to top-notch quality and competency.

China itself is on a continued economic upswing, so naturally, all its major cities offer some measure of success to any savvy business entity. Most multinational corporations maintain headquarters in Shanghai, and for good reasons. You establish a powerful presence in the city, and all the rest of the region will seem manageable.

It is therefore common to find big names with gleaming offices here, such as Japanese, German, French, Italian and American corporations. And as usual, whenever you have multinational corporations trying to do business, you will also see them working with some Shanghai translation services company.

Imagine the sheer volume of materials these Shanghai translation companies work on every single day, year after year. Consider Japanese giant Hitachi, for example: each one of its hundreds or products is accompanied by a product manual, user's guide, advertising and marketing collaterals, internal communication to a local Chinese staff. Perhaps, the work includes regular updates on the Hitachi website that is already localized to "speak" to the Chinese.

The sheer volume of translation orders is enormous. And we are speaking of only a single company. In Shanghai, there are hundreds, even thousands of such business entities, all trying to carve their own niche under the sun.

As a centre of culture and literature, Shanghai is also home to the largest Shanghai translation companies. It is in this city where you will find the country's biggest translation companies that double as publishing houses, often working on localizing international titles from world-renowned authors, such as Ernest Hemingway, JK Rowling, Herman Hesse, William Faulkner, and countless others.

In fact, there is one Shanghai translation company that even churns out hundreds of titles a year, majority of which are international works (novels, textbooks, poetry books, and movies) translated into Chinese or any other of the Chinese language's varieties. Consequently, the massive operations of such translation companies in Shanghai greatly keep the entire population of the country well-updated on the latest from around the world.

As an aside, there is also some sort of "dark side" to Shanghai translation operations: sometimes one will find, for example, a rather "different" version of a book like Harry Potter. And by "different" we mean, the story, the plot, even the characters are "changed" to suit the local sensibilities. One can even find some martial arts scene in there.

Reasons Behind the Cheap Products Manufactured in China

2011-09-01T01:19:00.000-07:00

In recent times, China has emerged as a major global supplier of several products and services. Chinese wholesale products have been supplied by the wholesale suppliers in the global market for over two decades. However, during the recent few years, Chinese products are flooding the world markets. Now Chinese products are distributed all over the world including the US, UK, Europe and other continents as well. The main reason behind the immense popularity of Chinese products is their cheap rates. China has adopted a simple strategy of producing all kinds of products on a bulk level and keeping the manufacturing cost to a minimum.

Chinese products are quite cheap as compared to the products manufactured in other countries. The major reasons for cheap products and low manufacturing costs are analyzed briefly below.

Low labor wages

The low cost labor in the Chinese employment market is one of the main reasons for China wholesale products to remain cheaper than those made elsewhere. The government has also been keeping labours at petty wages to boost mass production and to export to the Western countries at low costs. The average salary of workers in Shenzhen region, where companies like Foxconn Technology that supplies iPads and iPhones to Apple Inc. operate, is around $280 a month. The wage for doing the exact same work in the US or any other western country would be at least 10 times that. However, this has been slowly changing since 2008, when the new labour contract helped the workers become aware of their rights to higher wages. Estimates show that the labour costs have been increasing at about 15% per annum since 2008. This would make it impossible for the production of items at low costs in the coming years. But till then, China would dominate the whole world.

Low quality product parts

Another ticklish issue in China, being the cheapest manufacturing country, is the sub-standard quality of products and spare parts produced here. Most of the Chinese companies are small cottage industries and use low quality raw materials, especially for electric and electronic products. Every cottage industry in China specializes in niches like producing capacitors, resistors, transistors and diodes. Other cottage industries focus on body shells or other accessories. When each and every part is of low quality, therefore the manufacturing cost is automatically reduced.

This factor automatically impacts the quality of the products. For example, a Chinese electronic product might last a year or two and then it would become a scrap for the user, since it could not be repaired. On the other hand, a similar German or Japanese product would usually last a minimum of 4 - 6 years without needing any repairs. But this does not mean that china only produce low quality products, it also has been producing high quality products for world renowned electronic manufacturing firms such as Nokia and Panasonic.

Cheap transportation mode

Chinese manufacturers and wholesale suppliers adopt cheapest possible shipping route and transportation. Most of the China wholesale products are delivered by ships, which is the cheapest transportation mode. When costs are lower, the people who source those products also do not bother about delivery made in more than 30 days. This is another reason why Chinese products remain cheap.

Duties of a Company Director

2011-08-19T01:18:00.000-07:00

The New Zealand Companies Act 1993 defines three duties which the Director of a New Zealand Company must fulfill when acting on behalf of the Company: the Duty of Good Faith, the Duty to Act for Proper Purpose, and the Duty of Care.

Duty to Act for a Proper Purpose
The director of a New Zealand Company can only exercise their powers only for their intended purpose.

Before a director chooses to use their powers they should determine the reason for which the power were originally granted to them. The director should then seek to ascertain the limit within which the conferred powers were intended to be used. They must then identify and recognize their own reasons for using their powers at that time.

If the Director's actions are questioned, a subjective test will be applied to see if they fulfilled the Duty to Act for a Proper Purpose.

Examples that constitute an improper use of power could include the establishment of unreasonably generous "golden parachutes" for company executives, and employee share purchase schemes intended for price maintenance rather than employee enrichment.

Duty of Care
The Companies Act 1993 imposes a general duty of care on all directors, based on the underlying concept of director diligence. Any person serving as the Director of a New Zealand company is obligated to devote adequate attention, observance and activity to the care of the company.

To judge whether the Director appropriately applied a Duty of Care to the company, a court will carry out an objective test, whereby it will be determined how much attention was required from the director and whether the level was fulfilled.

Duty of Good Faith

When the director of a New Zealand company exercises his powers or makes judgments on behalf of the organization, the decisions must be in the best interest of the entity, and not to serve their own preferences or those of a particular group of shareholders.

Good Faith is treated as a subjective test when questioned or if legal action is pursued. The court examining the complaint will judge whether the Director had reasonable grounds to believe that his actions were in the best interest of the company. If it is found that the director's belief was without grounds or that it was based on patently unreasonable assumptions, the court might find that the actions were not in good faith.

Penalties
If it is ever found that the Duties were breached, the director can be found personally liable for the losses incurred by the New Zealand company. In some limited circumstances even the shareholders of the company will be able to bring legal action against the offending director.

Bridge the Language Gap With Your Overseas Clients and Customers

2011-08-14T01:17:00.000-07:00

The current age of the internet and cellular connections means that we communicate faster and more efficiently across the world. It also means that the concept of local markets have been replaced with the concept of global markets, where products and services are offered virtually to people in all countries across the world through clicking of a single button. This shrinking of the world into a global village also means that people speaking different languages are now thrown together to conduct business.

In order to be able to effectively offer services to customers speaking different languages, it becomes essential for organizations to reach out to their customers in their own languages. Speaking the language of the customers also goes a long way in establishing a personal connect with the customer.

Carrying out a business communication is way different from conducting a casual conversation or even a personal one. A tourist can get along in a strange land by just speaking a few words of the language. A personal communication such as between friends or families speaking different languages can also be effected through different mediums. Business communications, however, are a different cup of tea. Here both the stake holders need to understand each other perfectly.

In case of communication between two business houses partnering on a venture, there will be so many documents, such as contracts and memorandums of understanding that need to be drafted for the partnership to be legally acceptable to all the stakeholders involved. In case of a company offering its services and products directly to end customers, the various materials like the advertisements, instructions, packages and user manuals will have to be translated into the relevant language of the region. For instance, English to German Translation may be required when dealing with German Companies.

It maybe argued that there is no need to go for a professional language translation agency as there are many language translation softwares that are available on the internet. The difference between getting the documents translated through softwares and through humans is that the software will only translate mechanically and not intelligently. A software will know the equivalents for each word in the language that is being translated into, but may not be able to intelligently form the words into meaningful sentences. Likewise, if the same word has two different meanings and hence two different equivalent words in the new language, the software will not be able to decipher accordingly. Hence, it is always a good idea to go for human translation as the translator will be able to intelligently evaluate the requirements of the documents and translate accordingly.

A Looming Crisis in China

2011-08-09T01:16:00.000-07:00

In a poorly reported story, this week the Chinese government intervened to stop a serious drop in the share prices of China's largest banks. China's sovereign wealth fund further increased the government's stake in the four largest Chinese banks as an answer to international investors who are selling off their holdings in those banks. Before the investment, Beijing held majority ownership in all of these banks already.

By putting more money into shoring up these banks, the government in Beijing has effectively performed a second bank bailout albeit a mini-bailout in comparison. The first bailout was in 2008 during the height of the global economic crisis to the tune of US$586 billion. The recent bailout only cost China US$32 million, but the sum isn't my real concern.

For several decades, China has survived as a schizophrenic hybrid economic system where capitalism lives alongside rigid state control. This has led to the staggering growth in the Chinese economy over the past two decades -- but to be fair, China started at the bottom and only had one way to go. But for China, growth is now mandatory. Decades of currency devaluation and cheap labor kept Chinese exports very attractive but that will soon unravel.

China is still a controlled economy, regardless of the trappings of capitalism. The government still calls all the shots and that means corruption is the name of the game. In China you don't get a bank loan because you have the best business plan and a track record of success, you get the loan because your mother's cousin's second husband's college roommate is a high level mandarin in some arcane government bureaucracy and knows who to bribe to guarantee the loan. Because there are no laws on transparency, there is no way to know the economic health of those institutions.

The underlying problem with the Chinese economy is that they are not in a position to handle a real decline in GDP. Whereas the United States has weathered plenty of recessions and always manages to come out of them after plenty of pain and political blame-throwing, the Chinese economy is largely built on fiction. With China's enormous reliance on exports, the global economy is a very large factor in China's continued economic health.

But the global recovery keeps getting stalled by the European debt crisis du jour and the threat of a double-dip recession in the United States. The combined factors have slowed Chinese growth more than expected. And once that growth disappears, the real state of China's economy will rear it's ugly head because the growth won't be there to hide the losses.

Essentially, this is the same scenario that started Japan's Lost Decade except on a much, much larger scale. All Bejing managed to accomplish with this micro-bailout is to move the money around in a circle -- hide the losses in one place by transferring them somewhere else. It's the Byzantine financial equivalent of stealing from Peter to pay Paul except in this scenario they are stealing from Beijing to pay Beijing.

Calling Time on Corruption

2011-08-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

With the cost to Africa of fraudulent practices estimated at 25 per cent of its gross domestic product, serious steps are now being taken to â¨stop the rot. Has Africa got a grip on â¨corrupt practices? The short answer is no, but there is evidence that the continent is working on it.

Transparency International, the global civil society organisation that seeks to lead the fight against corruption, estimates the cost to Africa (including bribery in procurement and tender fraud) is about 25 per cent of its gross domestic product. It is thought to increase the cost of goods by as much as 20 per cent.

People in all areas of business, non-governmental organisations and even within governments are now campaigning heavily to reduce the many instances of gross dishonesty that are exhibited in some trade relationships. Corruption within procurement is rife, that much is clear. It is observed in bid-rigging, collusion and conflicts of interest. The issue is not only on the side of the taker, but also the giver: as they say, it takes two to tango.

Forms of fraud

Bid-rigging takes many forms. The most common practice is where bidders collude by one agreeing not to submit a bid or bidding too high on a tender so a conspirator can win the contract. The losing bidder is then included in the deal as a sub-contractor. These rigged documents are also called 'B' tenders. Bid rotation, where bidders decide to take it in turns to win tenders, has the effect of carving up the market or territory so each gets a fair share of the business. These cartel members will agree on price fixing, market share, allocation of customers or territories or a combination of these to reduce competition and increase profits.

The hiring of unqualified family members into positions of influence (nepotism) and awarding government contracts to friends or relatives bypassing the tender regulations (cronyism) are also common activities. All these types of influence peddling are costing national economies millions and effectively stealing money that should be used to build hospitals or schools and relieve poverty.

In South Africa, Willie Hofmeyr, the head of an anti-corruption agency called the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) , said his department was investigating more than 900 cases of questionable contracts and conflicts of interest, valued at more than R5.26 billion ($635 million). The SIU is the only state agency solely dedicated to fighting corruption. Its chief challenge, he explained, was limited staffing and resources, which affects its ability to influence this growing problem.

Addressing the issue

The Corruption Perceptions Index, published annually by Transparency International, measures the perceived level of public-sector corruption in 183 countries and territories around the world. Many large African countries do not fare well on this measure. Figures out this month show South Africa is placed 64th and Botswana 32nd, which may go some way to explain why De Beers is relocating its operations to Gaborone. Many other southern African countries did not perform well.

In September, South Africa's president Jacob Zuma announced a commission of inquiry into the multibillion rand Strategic Defence Procurement Package. This is the largest corruption scandal in post-apartheid South Africa. Although it is unclear precisely what is alleged, the inquiry will focus on the behaviour of purchasers in numerous contracts for military goods and services - including warships, fighter planes and navigation systems, among other items - that are worth more than â¨R30 billion (US$4 billion) in total. The deals â¨were awarded in 1999 to a multitude of suppliers from a variety of countries.

The month before this inquiry was announced, finance minister Pravin Gordhan told members of the board of the Institute of Internal Auditors not to be afraid to ask "tough questions" of both public and private sector organisations to root out poor procurement. Speaking at the 14th annual National Internal Audit Conference, he said what they were attempting to tackle was a "cancer of corruption".

"As government, we want to intensify our efforts against corruption, particularly in procurement processes. The fraud and corruption that occurs in the public procurement of goods and services is directly linked to the private sector. In other â¨words, we must come down hard on the corrupted and the corrupters."

The Southern African Development Community has published a comprehensive set of protocols covering all acts of corruption (see links), as well as preventative measures and remedies. It has, however, no real power to enforce them. Elsewhere, the governments of both Zambia and Botswana â¨are making positive noises about reducing corrupt practices and fraud in their countries.

International anti-corruption bodies such as Global Financial Integrity, the UN Convention Against Corruption and the World Bank are mobilising supporters and becoming increasingly vocal.

Transparency International has developed the 'Integrity Pact', a tool aimed at preventing corruption in public contracting. It consists of a process that includes an agreement between a government department and all bidders for a public contract. It contains rights and obligations to the effect that neither side will: pay, offer, demand or accept bribes; collude with competitors to obtain the contract; or engage in such abuses while carrying out the deal.

South Africa's numerous anti-corruption agencies and laws indicate a strong political will and commitment towards combating corruption, including through the use of hotlines and by encouraging whistle-blowing. And an interesting initiative is underway by the Institute of Security Studies. It is building a database of politicians' assets and interests called 'Who owns what?'. It's still a work in progress, however, and as the SIU notes, 6,000 senior government officials failed to declare their business interests this year.

In one part of India, though, a nation with a very poor score on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index - worse than some countries in southern Africa - one man is seeking to change things. In the state of Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar is singlehandedly leading a charge against corruption and fraud. And Time magazine reports that he is drawing national attention to his achievements to date. He believes justice need not be sacrificed to achieve growth and his chief successes have been to promote transparency in local government and enforce laws aimed at reducing fraud and malpractice.

You too can be part of the solution by getting involved and showing integrity in the face of pressure. Earlier this year, at the CIPS Pan African Conference, CEO David Noble said unethical behaviour is the one area stopping Africa becoming a powerhouse. He noted that the profession has the opportunity to be a "beacon of light"' that represents ethics and good practice. Become part of that beacon and do not compromise your principles.

ALADI - Promoting the Latin American Common Market

2011-07-18T01:14:00.000-07:00

Where trade agreements such as NAFTA and CARICOM seek to strengthen free trade ties between countries of a shared region - NAFTA for North America and CARICOM for the Caribbean - so the ALADI agreement seeks to meet this goal for much of South America. With its roots in the Treaty of Montevideo in 1980, the nation members of ALADI (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración, or Latin American Integration Association) work together to foster the success of the Latin American common market while forging positive relationships with similar unions throughout the world.

As the largest economic association on the continent, ALADI is comprised of twelve primary nation members:

    * Argentina - Largely agricultural in terms of global trade, Argentina exports soy products and grains to their major trade partners, including ALADI nations Brazil and Chile.

    * Bolivia - Much of Bolivia's export product comes from the mining industry. Here one will find one of the largest lithium deposits in the world, as well as natural gas reserves.

    * Brazil - One of the richer nations in this free trade zone, Brazil is known for their production of machinery and transportation equipment. Agriculture, however, remains vital to the economy through their production of coffee and soy.

    * Chile - Copper mining is an important industry here; much of the world became familiar with Chile by way of the courageous rescue of 33 miners trapped in a mine collapse in 2010.

    * Colombia - Colombia is one of the world's top producers of nickel, coffee, and natural fuels. Of the ALADI nations, Colombia exports the majority of goods to Venezuela.

    * Cuba - While not a South American nation, Cuba was accepted into the agreement in 1999 by virtue of their association with Latin America.

    * Ecuador - A country of diverse economic stature, Ecuador relies upon mainly agricultural exports like bananas and shrimp for trade with the United States.

    * Mexico - Mexico benefits greatly in trade through this treaty and NAFTA. Silver is a primary export, along with food and livestock, particularly brands popular in the US.

    * Paraguay - The majority of Paraguay's export trade is done within the continent, with soybeans and cotton among their more popular cash crops.

    * Peru - Precious metals are sought-after commodities from main trade partners China, Canada, and the US. Copper, zinc, and gold mines keep a good percentage of the labor force at work.

    * Uruguay - Nearly forty percent of the country's export product is beef. Dairy also accounts for a significant amount of export income.

    * Venezuela - Unlike her more agricultural neighbors, Venezuela generates revenues mainly through exporting natural gases and chemicals.

The trade agreement established between the ALADI nations is designed to promote exchange of goods and services across open borders, with preferential treatment given to the less developed member nations as a means of compensating for what they lack to compete with the larger economies on a global scale. Countries within the agreement are obliged to grant each other reductions in tariffs as they might with non-members, while ALADI also works to strength these relations with non-member Latin American countries and beyond. With ALADI's additional participation in bi-lateral trade agreements - mainly with North America and Asia - the less developed nations of South America have the opportunity to expand their reach. Eventually, one may find ALADI absorbed by similar organizations like MERCOSUR (the Common Southern Market) and the Adean Community of Nations, both of which are designed to establish a common Union of South American Nations, or UNASUR, to resemble the EU model. Whatever the future holds for ALADI, its place in the South American economy has left an indelible mark.

Is Same-Sex Marriage the Netherlands Best Export Product?

2011-07-04T01:12:00.000-07:00

National identity is not necessarily formed by what one is, but more so by what one is not. "We" are tolerant towards homosexuals, "we" are not homophobic. The confrontations between Islamic immigrants and infuriated anti-Muslim voters has fired many heated discussions. In formulating arguments as to why Islam is to looked down upon, homosexuality and female emancipation are often mentioned as highly relevant arguments. This turns tolerance towards homosexuality into a modern day justification of contempt towards those who do not adhere to these values. Furthermore, the recent influx of Eastern-European immigrants strengthens the Dutch in their view of what they are not: homophobic.

Not only are gay-rights part of the Dutch identity, this also part of Dutch policy. The Dutch embassy in Poland subsidizes activities in Poland that promote gay-rights. The Amsterdam municipality subsidizes the association Secret Garden, who promote the emancipation of homosexual Muslims. Secret Garden is seated in a prominent monument of the city, which gives all the tour guides that pass it the chance to tell visitors about how progressive the Netherlands are. Homosexuality definitely is used as a Dutch "export product".

But are the Dutch really as tolerant as they say they are? The largest part of the cases of homophobic violence are conducted by native Dutch men. A clause in the law on equal treatment (algemene wet gelijke behandeling) still legally allows employers to fire homosexual employees due to the single-fact (enkele-feitconstructie) of being gay, as long as this single-fact is accompanied by one other fact. Homosexual youngsters in the Netherlands still have trouble coming out of the closet and have higher suicide rates. Also, I don't think it is a coincidence that not a single professional soccer player has had the guts to come out of the closet yet. And last but not least, a song that is played in certain Dutch bars is called "if you don't jump now, you are a homosexual" (als je nou niet springt, ben je een homofiel), which automatically instigates jumping throughout the entire bar.

Moreover, calling a man gay still is the ultimate insult for the Dutch heterosexual. In light of this, couldn't it be called somewhat hypocritical to look down on different cultures because they are not as tolerant towards homosexuals as the Dutch claim to be? The fight has definitely not been fought. There is much more to be done. Vera Bergkamp, keep up the good work. We still need to fight for gay rights and gay acceptance to be able to be truly proud.