October '98 News and Perspectives about Business Opportunities in Asia

November 21, 1999

On Oct 4, 1957, a beep signal shocked everyone in USA, from the president, the Congress, Pentagon, scientists and down to people in streets. USSR ‘s Sputnik I was orbit-born! How did the Russians succeed ahead of the Americans? Well, when USSR insisted, before the surrender of Germany, that their troops should be the first to enter Berlin. Westerners thought that the Russian motive was either vanity or a desire for revenge against Hitler’s intrusion into Moscow. On the said date, they knew they were wrong.

The first thing Russians did, after their entry into Berlin, was to search and round up experts of V-2 (German rocket ) and ship them to the USSR where they squeezed out every bit of their knowledge. Thus, USSR was the first in launching a satellite into orbit. Fortunately, the V-2 team leader Wernher von Braun and about 100 members of his team came to USA. Because of the Sputnik shock, US authorities hurriedly and heavily financed van Braun’s project. As a result, Explorer I was also in orbit by Jan 31,1958.

There was a joke, amidst the USA general relief of catching up the Russians, that went something like this: the Sputnik signals go beep,beep; the Explorer signals go “something else” ( I couldn’t find out what that sound is. Could any of our dear web site visitors help me with the answer?), however, when the two satellites meet in orbit, they exchanged the greetings: “WIE GEHT’S?”

It is evident that talent, regardless of nationality, can be coaxed, or forced to help advance a host country’s projects, military or otherwise. How does this affect your business strategy?

(to be continued)

November 8, 1999

Thus, the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sactified it, because in it He rested from all His work, which God had created and made. GENESIS 2

Among all of the creations and blessings to humans, the most interesting and the important to modern men and women is the seventh day, the day of rest. As a result, Christians were born with the right to rest on the seventh day of the week.

Mankind made such wondrous material progress that they started thinking about how to have more rest. They created holidays. Subsequently, clever persons created the second day of rest in a week - Saturday. If we, in the States, were to count with our fingers, we may not be able to enumerate exactly how many days of rest we have in a year. But when we count them up in mind, it is simple: [52(weeks) x 2] + 10 holidays + annual leave (another creation of wise people) = 128 to 149 days. Of course, there is also sick leave, which is not included here. It looks like about one third of the year is taken up as rest days or holidays.

In a way, it is heartening to see people milling around in malls. parks, cinemas, restaurants. It is a tremendous boost to the general economy; if not, call it “better quality of life”.

The poor Chinese used to have only 4-7 days holidays in a year, viz : Chinese New Year (2-6 days), dragon festival (one day off), and the moon cake festival (one-day holiday). When the communists came to power, one of their high-sounding slogans was to exhort everyone to give up holidays for greater production.

With economic progress, PRC has followed, since 1995, the capitalistic 5-days a week work schedule. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of PRC, there were 5-7 days set aside for the celebration. Why wasthere such a generous gesture to their workers? The authorities were trying to promote HOLIDAY ECONOMY AND LEISURE INDUSTRY. In a word, the communist authorities would like their wealthier people to be able to spend more freely as a way to boost their economy. Is it practical or effective to stimulate economic growth with this kind of measure? If yes, Nero, noted for his extravagance, could have been a great king of the Roman empire. The purpose of more rest is to increase the productivity after rest. Otherwise, it would be a great disaster for developing countries to mandate more and more holidays.

Nevertheless, the LEISURE INDUSTRY is an opportunity for all investors. In this regard, we have a number of interesting projects that may cash in when the PRC holiday economy begins to mature.

November 1, 1999

In the 1950’s, I had the honor of assisting at a ceremony to mark the opening of an INDUSTRIAL ZONE between Keelung and Taipei. The Liutu Industrial Estate was just about hundred acres in area. I still clearly recall that one industry, also an average- sized one, was to manufacture wine racks. Its income was US$10,000, not a day, not a month, but one year! This mini (in the eyes of today) industry was there because of the faciities provided by authorities. (power, water, and close to port)

Later, the Western world started to learn about the EXPORT PROCESSING ZONE, Kaohsiung, which not only had additional facilities such as financing, package loans, and other instruments for investors but also had dormitories for workers.

Then, came the Hsinchu Science INDUSTRIAL PARK where industries do not have to worry about pollution created by the industries themselves plus rented houses for factory management and schools for investors’s children.

As time went by, Taiwan shifted from labor-intensive industries to capital -intensive industries. Of course, the authorities offered more services according to the need or demand of investors or management. These services or facilities were not free but offered great convenience to the industries. Therefore, it was a win-win arrangement.

The advent of KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY has changed the complexion of previous industries. This column reported on Aug 23, 1999 about the DYNAMIC NEW TECH CENTER in Taiwan. The latest reports carry heartening figures for the EARTHQUAKE-PHOBIC Taiwan people, such as the annual manufactured value, at the first stage, will be NT$100 billion (30 billion US$). What a huge progression when compared to the 1950’s!

Taiwan has not only been succeessful with her own industries, but has also helped build up the Subic Bay industrial estate in the Philippines . Another private company built, just two years ago, an industrial park in Vietnam, from A to Z. Already, it has announced a profit for running the park. There are other successful examples in Latin America and Africa.

Servicing industries, by taking care of the industrial needs of a region, has shown to be a good path to take for either developing countries or for individual investors (either as investments in local industries or building industrial parks).

Interested in knowing more? We have detailed information for our readers..

Talent, Where are You? (Part 1)

HOLIDAY ECONOMY

FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, THINK OF SERVING INDUSTRY FIRST