Unfortunately most people approach their careers as unprepared as this fictitious car sales experience. They do not know their product well. In a rapidly changing, competitive and complex market, you cannot add value without insight to who you are. Most people rarely know what differentiates them from the millions of other people in the job market. Our companies know how they create value because they take their products and services seriously. Do you take yourself as seriously?

The biggest difficulty in accomplishing this task is that people do not know themselves very well. Why is self-insight so difficult? Most of us by nature are not lacking in self-indulgent tendencies. We struggle to find the energy to be introspective. When introductions or interviews arrive, we depend on our job titles, company names or degrees. However, we struggle to provide more – for several very good reasons.

The primary reason is that we often have too little data. For the early part of our lives we are gathering data on what we do well – through our experiences. As a result, we may expect too much early on in our careers. Small amounts of data create very tenuous conclusions – a well known reality in business.

To illustrate this, consider two options for deciding how you will package a new brand of coffee you hope will have broad appeal across consumer groups. In one scenario, you are able to get reactions from thousands of individuals who represent relevant age groups, gender, and geographic areas. In the second scenario, you are able to gain feedback from a local fourteen-year-old young man who is riding his bicycle in the park. Which is the more desirable scenario? Clearly the first scenario is best. You would not make your packaging decision on too little or too limited information – especially from such a young man.

In a rapidly changing, competitive and complex market, you cannot add value without insight to who you are.

However, most of us experience social pressure to make final career decisions when we have very little data. Starting with college, many students find themselves making career decisions based on part- time work experience at a local fast food restaurant or given their interest or grades on a limited amount of coursework. Parents often become frustrated when their teenage son or daughter cannot decide on a career after only one or two years of college.

The reality for most of us is that the first 10 years of our careers end up being an exercise in gathering data on what we do well and not so well. At some point, typically in our

30s-40s, we have substantial amounts of personal data. We begin to draw conclusions about who we are and ask ourselves a lot of questions about our purpose, strengths, weaknesses, values, and interests. Those events may be considered “mid-life crises”. However, they are more likely the points where we finally have enough data to see patterns in our behaviour, trends in successes as well as failures, and a clear understanding of what type of work is most satisfying to us.

The second challenge to our knowing our product is that we are gathering data on a moving target. You are a different person than you were yesterday. Every job, every assignment, every boss, every move, and every project brings with it a change in how you see, operate and react to work. Your interests, for example, are strongly tied to job satisfaction but change throughout your career…just when you think you have found something that will satisfy you; you find you have changed…again.

We may overcome the above challenges by making it a priority to routinely consider how our self-insight grows over the course of our careers. However, responsibly knowing your product (your personal career assets) is easier said than done. We lack a common language or model that helps us understand our market value without undue simplicity or complexity. We need to know our career assets intimately. Where does one start?

To help you begin to consider the points made here, I’ll leave you with a challenge: You have two minutes to state what differentiates you from your peers. It must be something that cannot be easily duplicated and truly creates unique value to your company. Make me remember you – the product you should take most seriously.

Foreign commentators raved about the launch. Italy’s La Republica newspaper said “the successful launch will make China a powerful competitor in the aerospace field”. Shortly after the mission, US President George W. Bush it was “an interesting development rather than a threat”, and added that he believes China’s technological gains from space exploration will be of benefit to humanity as a whole. India’s Hindustan Times said the success would boost Chinese patriotism, and added (maybe a little optimistically) that it would “increase the possibility of future aerospace tourism in China and landing on the moon by Chinese astronauts”.

Space technology to boost economy?

Of course, this was more than just one successful space flight. China believes space technology development is one of the key driving forces behind social and economic progress. China’s space programme will have a significant role in improving the IT, aerospace material, manufacturing technology, electronic equipment and system integration industries. Of 1,100 new materials developed recently, 80% came from aerospace technology, and more than 1,800 aerospace technology achievements have been applied to sectors such as satellite

communication, navigation, weather forecast, disaster prevention and education.

But it is not all good news from science and technology. China’s competitiveness in this area has been sliding for years, and the State Natural Science Award stayed vacant for six years. The aerospace market is not yet open to proper competitive bidding. But the Shenzhou Manned Space Programme should provide a much-needed boost.

China believes space technology development is one of the key driving forces behind social and economic progress.

The “China Aerospace” white book, released by the State Council in November 2000, announced short-term and long-term targets for manned aerospace projects. The short-term target was to achieve manned space flight and to build a preliminary support system for manned space engineering research and testing. This has now been done with the launch of Shenzhou-5. The Chinese government so far as spent RMB 18 billion (US$ 2.2 billion) on its 11-year manned space program. The long-term target, for the next 20 years, is to establish a manned space flight system and carry out manned space scientific research and tec nology experiments.

Future plans

More ambitious plans are already being made. When China launches its next

manned spaceship, Shenzhou-6, in two years time, it will probably carry two astronauts and stay in space for five to seven days, according to Wang Yongzhi, its chief designer.

In the meantime, many more unmanned craft will be launched. China is expected to launch around 10 satellites a year during the 2006-2010 period, compared with an annual average of five launches between 2001 and 2005, said Zhang Qingwei, deputy chief commander of the Manned Space Programme.

By significantly improving the quality of satellites and reliability of their launch vehicles over the past 30 years, Chinese scientists have been able to shorten the time interval between launches. In the past, when a satellite and a rocket were transported to a launch centre, it used to take scientists up to two months to test and erect the assembled parts on the launching pad to be checked again. Now, scientists can dispense with ground checks and test a carrier rocket and its payload on the launching pad, explains Zhang. “This has reduced the testing time to 20 to 30 days, meaning that we can conduct a launch mission every 20-something days,’’ he said.

The turnaround time between two launches is one of the fastest in the world, Zhang claims. This could give the Chinese an edge in vying for commercial customers. And the increased efficiency of launch centres will allow China to send more satellites into orbit over a given time – at a lower cost – to cater to national economic development, Zhang said.

Another related step forward has been China’s development of a solid-fuel satellite launcher. On September 16, China tested an indigenously designed, four-stage, solid-fuel rocket, the Kaituozhe-1 (KT-1). Only the US and Russia have similar capabilities. International observers noted the “under performance” of the fourth stage, resulting in the launch’s overall failure, but despite this, the test marked a significant step since the initial flight test in September 2002, during which the second stage malfunctioned. The KT-1 will allow China rapidly to deploy and replace small telecommunications, imaging and positioning satellites. The demand for carrier rockets and satellites, and the latter alone is expected to create a market worth RMB100 billion in China by 2005.

Zhang added that the country would also develop rendezvous and docking technology, aiming at launching a space laboratory and eventually a manned space station. This would enable China to carry out large-scale scientific experiments and applications in space, he added. Zhang

emphasised the space plans are necessary for China to exploit space resources for peaceful purposes.

A new space market ?

Most of the aerospace companies in China are listed. There are nine aerospace stocks on the Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchanges, belonging to two monopoly aerospace conglomerates – China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). CASC controls Aerospace Electromechanics, Rocket Inc., China Satellite and Aerospace Power. CASIC owns Aerospace Technology, Aerospace Chenguang, Aerospace Changfeng, Aerospace Communications and Aerospace Information. Both CASC and CASIC were derived from China Aerospace Industry Co., Ltd. in 1999, which

boasts RMB9 billion registered capital and RMB36 billion of total assets. Two new shares, Aerospace Power and Aerospace Information, made an IPO in 2003. The number of aerospace shares amounts to 2.289 billion, 903 million of which are circulating shares worth RMB 9.316 billion. Aerospace companies generated RMB471 million profits in the first half of the year.

But only two of the nine listed firms are aerospace companies in a real sense, namely China Satellite and Rocket Inc. Aerospace Technology is expected to enter the business soon, as its affiliate company Beijing Launch Engineering System Technology plans to undertake a rocket launching assignment at a cost of RMB 48.50 million.

Clearly, China’s race to the stars is a race to the market, too.

How do the online game companies, distribution companies and the Internet cafes work together? And how to they share profits from online gaming? Why are those players so crazy about it? BizShanghai has been talking to them face to face.

Lots and lots of games

In 2002, there were 110 brands of online game, up from only 20 since 2000. And online game companies have been expanded to nearly 100 from just a handful. Many companies without any relationship to online gaming have entered this area, attracted by high profits. One is NetEase, who merged with the first Chinese online game development company, Tian Xia. The game “Da Hua Xi You” made its owner Ding Lei the richest person in China, according to Forbes. KingSoft is busy promoting “Jian Xia Qing Yuan”now. Although there are many games being put onto the market, “Shi Qi Shi Dai” is the only Chinese one in the top 10 – all the others are South Korean. Why? One reason is technical – online games need not only a client server but also a game server. The server programme includes background software like GameOs and GameScript. The difficulty is how to join the server client and game server correctly with net technology, and control

the game’s progress by net communication agreement. Issues include load balance, net communication, off database and system security. Many Chinese companies lack experience in this area.

To run an online gaming company, the start-up investment is less than one million RMB. How much money can you earn?

Another question is the game plan and design, where there is a big gap between Chinese and Korean companies. Shen Zhen Jin Zi Ta is one of the earliest game development companies in China. In 2002 they focused on game development and 60% of their technicians worked in this area, but they have put their energy in being “game agents” for foreign companies. This is a simple and less risky model. Without proper control by government and a proper market, illegal servers are rampant, significantly affecting the growth of the industry.

Few Chinese players have not heard of “MIR”, a Korean game that is one of the success stories in the industry. Annual subscriptions are over six million, and 70% of all players in Korea play this game. Others want to repeat this success, and so they are looking for high quality Korean game development companies as partners. NetEase is the agent for “Jing Ling”, and the 9 city has been the agent of “(Mu)Qi Ji” and “WOW”.

How do you make money?

To run an online gaming company, the start-up investment is less than one million RMB. How much money can you earn? For example, say the player needs to pay for one kind of game card, with an average cost of 0.5 RMB per hour. If he plays for 24 hours, he would pay RMB 12, a total monthly cost of RMB 360. Let’s call this player the “ideal player”. So with only 3000 “ideal players”, the company will recover its initial investment. Deducting the cost of salary, server rent, advertising and the agency fee, net income could be 0.3 million RMB. And in fact the number of players is higher than 3000, so the actual income is higher.

Yu Jian, manager of HuiYuan net cafe, says, “game card sales aren’t the main income for net cafes – the most important is game content”. In his net cafe there are only five or six game cards being sold. Too many brands makes it difficult for players to choose. Previously, promotion in the net cafes was free, but now they have to pay a fee to publish their posters. So the net bars have entered the profit chain, not just earning money from players. The online companies have found the net cafes are the best way to communicate directly to players, who are people providing cash-flow in this chain. Online game development will also promote the net cafes. But the games also pose a challenge to the cafes. For example, the very popular game “Haven2” needs a high hardware specification. With computers needing 1GB CPUs, 128M display cards and 512MB RAM, this is equal to opening a new net cafe. But if this game is attractive, then players will spend more money, so Yu Jian says, “we will update our machines”.

Another net cafe, Green Power, chose to partner with China Telecom. It focuses on the high level market. You might think there would be fewer players, but logging on you will find all the popular games. At the desk you can buy game cards. And game posters are everywhere. So whether for economical or luxury net cafes, the games are always the main attraction. But how to attract players? Yu Jian says, “the game price strategy must fit the ability of the players. Many are quite young without too much money”.

Playing for money

‘Counterstrike’ is one of the most popular games. How do you join a team? Years ago, a few friends just joined together. But now with this game’s global influence and many more players, you have to take an exam to join a team. Eric, a team player, says, “before getting onto a team you have to take a theory exam, to draw the trajectories of a whole magazine of 30 “bullets”. And the right angle to throw the grenades!” After that you take another exam on the machine itself.

One well-known Shanghai team is Team RA. Their captain,Wu Zhongyu, quit his university studies in his first year. Luckily for him, his parents support him to be a professional player! He has the best equipment – a mouse pad costing over 300 RMB and earpieces that cost 2000 RMB. The teams have daily training to plan their action, decide when to fire and how much “ammunition” to use. The professional players in Shanghai are the highest earners in China – they even have agents, if they want to change teams they need pay an exchange fee! Many companies and net cafes sponsor them to provide competition fees and equipments. Some of them get a salary from either the online gaming company or a net café – the average is 1500 RMB. This is not much, but they appreciate it so they can enjoy the game. But ‘Counterstrike’, owned by international company WCG, does not pay a salary.

Others like “Heaven” and “MIR”, which need more energy, time and money, also have a lot of professional fans. Some of them took part in the game’s public test, with three or more people playing for 24 hours. They sell their game IDs or equipment to earn money. One crazy guy paid 6000 RMB for a piece of equipment, earlier flew from Shanghai to Wuhan to pay 8000 RMB for a top “weapon”. This is Chinese online gaming fun!

In 2003, there are seven big game competitions just in Shanghai, including

FIFA2002, Star and Butterfly, and CCPL. Like ‘Counterstrike’, the competitions attracted more the 200 teams from all the country. And players from more than 45 countries, including China, joined an international competition run by WCG in South Korea.

Without proper regulation, however, things are not growing as much as people expect. Now the gaming companies need to give more information to the government about their products. Shanghai has set up an online gaming association, and government will invest 30 million RMB to establish regulations.

But game developers, distributors, net café owners can all be called “player” in this money grabbing game. Competition is fierce, and we forecast that online gaming will remain be a hot spot in 2004.

Michelle Sit is one of the owners and General Manager of Sichuanese restaurant ‘Pin Chuan’. She was born in Shanghai but spent many years in Hong Kong. Previously working in IT, she opened the ever-popular Pin Chuan last year. Over 70% of its customers are foreigners and well-travelled Chinese. She comments, “our customers know what good service is and we try to train our waiters to reach those standards, but it’s very difficult – they come from farmers’ families and have little education and have no experience of going to good restaurants”. As for the menu, she adds, “I also adapt the Sichuanese food. Sichuan is a poor province so their meat is boney and is chopped into very small pieces. The foreigners like bigger pieces of meat with

less bones so that’s what I give them.”

Down at the ‘Dongbei Ren’, queues begin early and stretch down the street. They must be doing something right. Manager Jianyi Wang, who tells how Jiang Yanchun set up the chain in 1993 because she missed her hometown food, says, “the warm service and food at Dongbei Ren are virtually perfect.” They stick to the traditional ways – “we refuse to adapt our dishes. This suits Dongbei people who want to indulge in nostalgia and young people who want something new”, says Jianyi. The queues get good service, too – “when the restaurant is busy people have to wait outside for a table – our staff go out and feed them melon seeds and tea and sometimes even sing them Dongbei folk songs.”

Li Zhong Heng, the 75-year-old owner of ‘Shanghai Uncle’, was born in Shanghai but has lived all over the world. He gained a PhD in physics and spent most of his life working in the high-tech industry. He says his love of food comes with being Shanghainese. He sets high standards for his clientele – “the customers don’t choose me, I choose the customers”. He adds, “obviously I can’t stand on the door and pick who I want. Instead I keep the prices high so I only attract customers with taste.

The reason they come back is our food.” He trains the chefs personally, saying, “the only thing I insist they have is good taste. I teach them everything else myself.”

‘Ye Shanghai’ seems to take a slightly more modern approach. Paul Hsu is Managing Director of Elite Concepts, which also owns six bars and restaurants in Hong Kong. They plan to expand in Shanghai before taking Ye Shanghai global. “Typically a restaurant in China has been considered food and nothing else”, Paul says. “When local people visit a local restaurant they judge it by its dishes and how much they cost, even if it’s on a noisy main road”. He believes modern establishments have to take a wider view – “we are catering to the international crowd and we want to give them a complete Shanghainese dining experience: food, décor, ambience and fine wines. It’s what people expect from an international city.”

So, it seems, success for Shanghai’s restaurants comes in many flavours – some follow the consumer, others stick to what has always worked. And while the city continues to increase in mouths and money, it appears there’s room for every tactic.

Sitting in his office in the 31st floor of Changfeng Centre Building, Yan’an West Road, Mr.Shen spoke tirelessly to us about the establishment, expansion and future development of the Merrylin Group. His first sentence is, “please don’t only write about me, I’m just the part of the group. Without my colleagues support I can’t go so far. Maybe simply focusing on the Merrylin restaurants and Motel will be a good theme!” But almost everyone knows Merrylin in Shanghai. The slogan “Eating at Merrylin, enjoying the ‘Merry’ time”, created by Shen Feiyu when Merrylin was born, is still showing on Shanghai TV. The brand is now famous, but few people know the founder’s name – there is no title in his business card.

We respect every interviewee, but we should briefly introduce this “art” boss. Born in Shanghai, he was ranked in the Forbes list of the top 300 richest people in China in 2002. In his youth, he wanted to devote himself to the arts. After he retired from the army, Shen Feiyu took two courses that affected his future, including a JV Manager course in 1987. He changed his mind and went into the restaurant business, becoming a giant of the Shanghai hospitality industry. He cannot deny the hand of fortune as he recalls every step. “At the beginning it was not following my career design, but everything has been what it would be”. But opportunity only comes to people with ability. We are interested in how he “drew” in his enterprise.

Merrylin – the first stroke

With his overseas background, Shen Feiyu was commissioned as the vice general manager of the first JV hotel in Shanghai, the Friendship Hotel. And working for the Meishilin restaurants in 1995 made him understand the huge market here-in

one Meishilin restaurant income could reach RMB 8 million monthly. So he quit his job and began his own enterprise.

The first Merrylin branch opened on Dong Ping Lu in 1996. Merrylin means “good” and is easy to remember. The restaurant decoration benefited from Shen’s art training. He integrated Western culture into this local restaurant, the traditional food blending with solid lighting and statutes to create his unique style. His strong advertising slogan, “Merrylin, Manlingge”, which in Shanghai dialect means “really good”, has become local children’s slang. It is even well known amongst foreigners. With its successful brand strategy Merrylin leapt into the top-rank in a short time, avoiding the fierce competition in the entry- level market. Shen Feiyu shows his special sense of business. “Running a business is like purchasing stock, and converse thinking is essential. If you are at the heel of others, you will be tied up in the stocks and watch others earning money”.

Attracting customers was the first step, but only by keeping those customers can the enterprise really develop. “We focus on three qualities – food, service and environment”, says Shen, “so every customer dining at Merrylin will enjoy hospitality and delicious food in a comfortable environment”. Service is the most important of the three, so Merrylin has established a strict training system, including standard phrases used “We focus on three qualities – food, service and environment” by waiting staff. The system works – after seven years, there are now 11 Merrylin branches. They have now opened a branch in Beijing, Yuetan branch occupying 30,000 square feet of space. Shen Feiyu thinks the current macro-economic environment, which is supportive of private enterprise, is much better than when he was starting up.

Wield the “pen” at The Bund

Shen Feiyu does not restrict his “drawing” to just the restaurants. He has also invested a lot in related businesses – like a successful artist who pays more attention to the quality of his drawing tools. So he has his own decorating and arts design companies. There is even an art room in his headquarters – he showed us two imitation Roman statues in his office. “We produce all of them ourselves, copied from the Louvre Museum”. All those artworks not only decorate every Merrylin restaurant in a unique style, but also reduce the investment. All of this ensures that customers get better food at a fair price. And because of the combination of his core and supporting businesses, the supporting businesses can explore the market too. This is a “win-win” situation for the group as a whole.

With expansion of the restaurant chain, Shen Feiyu then entered the hotel market. He realized there would be saturation in the Shanghai restaurant market, because the entrance barrier is too low. Prices would fall and the company would not be profitable. In 2000, Merrylin invested RMB 50 million to hold 50% property rights in the Changhang building, previously owned by the Shanghai Changjiang Shipping Corporation, which had been left unused for six years. Shen Feiyu created a new cooperation model. Merrylin decorated half of the building, and they ran this for three years rent-free. All the profit during these years was shared with their partners. All investments were repaid in three years. This was another “win-win” model between Merrylin and outside partners.

The same success came with others. At the GM Merrylin hotel, each side holds a 50% share. At the Yongda Merrylin Hotel, Merrylin holds 40%, Yongda holds 30% and GM holds the rest. When an artist draws they need one kind of vigour, and running a business also need the same vigour. Merrylin clearly has that “vigour”.

A New Highlight – the “Motel”

But Shen Feiyu was not finished – he had other ideas for the Shanghai hotel market. World hotels are of two styles – luxury and economy. In the West, the ratio is 3:7, in

other words economy hotels dominate. But the opposite is true in Shanghai. Economy hotels are rare. “I have planned for three years and investigated Western countries that have a advanced hotel market. Finally, I found the niche – motels”. As Shen Feiyu points out, “private car ownership is growing quickly. And white collar workers have more travel time for their holidays. But right now only a few hotels can supply the service what they want”.

“I found the niche – motels”

What’s the difference between motels and other common hotels? Shen Feiyu says, “motels are focused on perfect decoration and lower prices, and concentrate on the customers”. In May 2003, Merrylin opened the “Motel 168” Wuzhong branch, on the “Automobile Street”. This is the right place for a motel! Motel 168 was set up on an abandoned factory, and rebuilt into a family setting. Room facilities include cable TV with 50 channels, wireless internet surfing, VDO and independent air conditioners, and a children’s bed. There are 50 parking place for customers.

Merrylin has successfully imported a new hotel style into China. The CEO of a South Korea multinational has rented a room in

the Motel 168 for one year. Shen Feiyu now has confidence in the concept and is increasing his investment, with three more branches in Shanghai – Motel Anyuan, Motel Tianlin and Motel Jinqiao. More will surely follow.

But he won’t simply focus on the local market. “We have a plan to open the first branch in Australia, to make Motel an international brand”. The international strategy has been there since the start – that is why the hotel was called “Motel” instead of “Merrylin Star”, to make it easy to promote globally.

Talking about foreign competition, Shen Feiyu said, “we choose ‘Motai’ as the brand and ‘Motel’ as logo to set the first barrier against competition, and our experience in restaurants and hotels increases our competitiveness”. What can Motel learn from the West? “There are several multinational companies who want to cooperate with us. We favour those who were strong backgrounds. With their investment we can occupy this market more quickly”. We can feel Shen’s eager mind at work.

What is Merrylin’s Final Stroke?

Taking with Shen Feiyu always generates new ideas. What is the future strategy of Merrylin Group? He said it is on the way, but he can’t “let the cat out of the bag”. But looking at the structure of Merrylin, it’s not difficult to see that Shen Feiyu is focusing on the tourism industry. Merrylin restaurants or the Motel chain are just single artworks of this art exhibition. He looks at the profits that the whole “exhibition” can produce, not just a single artwork. So some day, when you come China, don’t be surprised that a single Group supplies everything you experience. That day, you will understand what Shen Feiyu wants.

Shen Feiyu loves art. He said, “only when I had one million yuan did I start feel be rich. Right now I’m a billionaire, but money to me is simply numbers. I just pay more attention to this business”. So far we have only seen parts of his “art”, we don’t know when he will stop his “drawing”, maybe never. Let us wait for the next “stroke”.

Fabrice Wattez is one of the successful international models. In 2003, he won the championship cup in the Shanghai International Male Models Match. Right now he has joined a local TV Channel. Maybe you as a reader have learned some techniques on how to run a successful business in Shanghai. Fabrice can show you how to be successful in the colorful industry of male modeling!

It has been said by people as common thinking, “Models are all the same, depending on how good looking they are,” Then what’s a supermodel requirement? This is a comprehensive requirement. Fabrice stated, “You can’t imagine it from the outside; for example, how to keep focused, and positive when you have a career that asks you to be 100% available for a job when you know that your company will not call you everyday.” “But as a model in the beginning, the requirements are simple: size, appearance, and allure…”

As a super model, you must pass through a tough period. Fabrice concerned, ”When you start a career like this, nobody will be able to tell youifyouwillbe,ornotbeagood model simply because it depends on so many things”.. So if you are a new model, “it is the talent agency’s job to promote you as well as they can and to convince the client that you

can do well. If you are really young, they should be able to do it but not necessarily if you are older..” So for the future, for help and to get good opportunities in this business, Fabrice points out “It is imperative that the model work with a good, professional agency. No doubt a difficult choice full of doubt that follows him all his career.”

Fabrice also explains, “To have a good career, the model must travel quite often in order to be current with the flow of fashion, the international style and adapt himself to other country’s expectations and way of working. Working with other country’s people, he can receive new perspectives about his job, his expressions on photos, and his feeling on the stage..” He is constantly busy and must accept his job as priority not necessarily knowing on Monday morning what he will do in the afternoon. Many times during a casting, the competition will be so fierce that the model that gets confirmed for the job will not be told until the last moment. Fabrice has some stories to explain this. A commercial he did when he was casting in Cape Town, his number was 161! So he mentions to be prepared for every opportunity at every moment is most important. Another story that he remembered was that he was packing his bag for the Canary Islands one night, and the next morning, repacking again.

with completely different clothes and items (different weather) because he had lost the contract in the Canary Islands and received another one in Germany. This is the male model’s life behind the scenes.

Fabrice is glad to share his work experience in China as he states, “There is a really big difference between China and other western countries. In the west, the client usually wants sexier male models, but here people just want the male model to perform as a successful business man that wears a suit and tie..

The supermodel must also have a good portfolio as it is like his business card. In his book, he will have good photos from professional photographers, with the latest type of light, style, make up, and clothes. The portfolio can prove the experience of the model as it shows him on different assignments, and it’s a mirror of his work. Without it, the client wouldn’t consider him as a professional model or request him to represent their company or product.” He points out that being familiar with local culture will help you promote yourself and make it easier to mix in with local society. He also suggested that Chinese models should improve their inner self to help them get a good idea of what the client is looking for in a male Chinese model.

“…. In the west, the client usually wants sexier male models, but here people just want the male model to perform as a successful business man…”

Some good opinions came from Fabrice. He mentioned the model must work on himself, keep fit, busy and positive. If you do not maintain this type of attitude, you might as well just change careers.. The model must work on his portfolio, fill it with updated photo shoots at all times.. Fabrice points out his most important idea which is to “keep clear in your mind, just realize what you do, how you do it and for what you want to be a model. Because it is not a purpose, not an end. It is and must remain a way to do something else … up to you to follow after”.

“Yip is responsible for the overall operation of Ascott International Management in China. Prior to his current post, Yip was the Area General Manager of the Ascott International Management in Shanghai. Before his posting in China, Yip was the General Manager of Liang Court (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Business Development Manager of Liang Court Hospitality (S) Pte Ltd and Wuthelam Holdings Pte Ltd. Yip has a rich experience in the real estate development/management and hospitality business. In addition to his operational responsibility, Yip is also involved in the expansion plan of The Ascott Group in China. He has substantial working experience in Chi- na and he understands the Chinese culture well. Yip holds a Masters of Business Administration from Stanford University (U.S.A.) and a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (First Class Honors) from National University of Singapore.

“Heartware” is a fresh word to most people, but since four years ago, when Yip lead Ascott to enter China, promoting “heartware” has been his one of key management strategies.

To explain it, Yip said, “Comparing with hardware and software, ‘heart- ware’ is the higher level of services, meaning service from the heart.” The origin of the term “heartware”, came from the corporate merger that created the present-day form of Ascott International Management. Ten years ago, four companies merged together to become the current Ascott International Management. Because those companies had their different corporate cultures, the new concept of “heartware” was introduced as a way to teach a new, unified corporate culture.

Talking about this story, in which he was dispatched by his company to China, Yip can’t help to recalling it with emotion. He said, “It is the biggest risk I have taken to date; before that I just worked in the investment department of Ascott, and hadn’t [even] managed a hotel. He was offered the post in China and, after thinking it over, he took the job, because, as Yip put it, “I believe Chinese market is bright, so my family migrated to Shanghai.”

“Heartware” followed Yip to China when he came to Shanghai. Yip thought, “Recruitment and training are the keys to enhancing ‘heartware ’.” “Employees are the core, because according this concept, power should be transferred to the lower level. So without good employees, the power transferred to their hands will not be used correctly.” For the same goal, training can keep “heartware” up to standard. Yip admits that the potential benefits of his strategy came with risks that surfaced during the time that he pushed the “heartware” concepts in his team. “Sometimes we had to take a loss due to some employee misusing their powers.” However the end result was good: “After the powers were transferred to the lower level, we reduced the number of levels in the organization, which gave our guests faster and more accurate feedback… It made our service more direct and efficient.” Additionally, employees felt empowered to create positive changes from within at the same time. It lead to a win-win result that company and employees promoted together.

Yip told a typical “heartware” story: Once while one of his employees was cleaning a hotel room, he found some valuables which had been forgotten by a guest. This guest had been a frequent one to the hotel and had just checked out a short time before and was being driven to the airport. According to the established procedure, the employee would need to report the finding to the foreman, then the foreman reports to the room manager, and room manager decides the solution.

This process seems reasonable overall, but, in this case, following procedure exactly would have missed the golden time to solve the problem. So, this employee employed the concepts of “heartware” and drove to the airport instead of reporting to his foreman, and, arriving at the airport before the plane departed, he found the guest and returned guest’s valuables.

“Heartware’s” affect on Ascott’s service is evidenced by the fact that Ascott has stood out from 2000 competitors to be named the top serviced residence company in China in 2003. Yip is proud of this achievement as one significant success of Ascott due to the heartware approach. “We have debuted eight serviced residences, and this number will be changed soon.” Yip is confident of continued success.

”Heartware” has been promoted by Yip for the four years he’s been in China so far. Yip uses two of his pastimes, reading and playing golf, to further his “heartware” knowledge. He thinks golf is a good game and a good way to make friends. He has at times organized a match for his guests, and put Ascott brand and service into it, extending the heartware strategy.

Yip has been studying in Qinghua University recently, and just graduated from the Fudan University “CEO Management Programme.” He is the only expat in this class. Yip said. “I need recharge often to keep up the increasing needs of our service residences. For the same reason, he has been studying Shanghainese.

Every year, Yip improves his hotel and himself and, using concepts of “heartware” and a combination of Western management knowledge and Eastern cultural knowledge, he improves and blends himself into this city. We have learned that Yip has updated “heartware” to version 4.0. What’s new in this newest version? Go to Ascott Apartment and check it out.

Prime Minister Badawi, emphasized that Malaysia cannot afford to ignore and miss out the economic developments in China. However, he cautions all Malaysian Businessmen against jumping on the China bandwagon simply for the sake of wanting to “be in China”. Businessmen have to understand the intricacies if the different regions here where each region has a different economic profile, core industry and financial infrastructure.

In order to be successful, you must invest your presence in China, make serious effort to equip yourselves with proper market knowledge and not expect take short cuts in order to con- clude deals. “There is no easy pot of gold here”, he said.

Malaysia’s strategy to face China as “the world’s factory” is both to compliment and compete. PM Badawi said China’s rapid economic growth has resulted in rising demand for energy resources, particularly oil and gas. China overtook Japan last year to become the world’s second largest energy consumer after US. Demand for oil in China is expected to increase by at least 1 Million barrels per year over the next 2 to 3 years.

He believes that given Malaysia’s wealth of natural resources, Malaysia can compliment and offer significant value to China as a strategic partner. On the other hand, in some other fields like information technology or biotech- nology, Malaysia still has competitive advantages over China. The hardware and software infrastructure provided in multimedia super corridor and the bio valley initiative is good platforms for companies from many countries to pursue research and development projects.

During the 2-days visit to Shanghai, the Prime Minister brought along a group of representatives from 27 companies to have direct discussions with 75 other companies based in Shanghai.

This is the second official visit by the Malaysian Prime Minister to China, since September of last year. The business luncheon and the forum was sponsored by Petronas Malaysia and co-organized by the Consulate General of Malaysia, Trade and Investment Department. The business forum marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia.

“CEG is an educational service provider,” Simon, General Manager of CEG (China Education Group) told “BizShanghai.” Simon graduated from Fudan University, and earned an MBA degree at the University of North Carolina. Currently, he is responsible for marketing CEG’s services throughout the major cities in China. CEG was created from the website, www.netbig.com, one of China’s famous internet portals, but after the bursting of the internet business bubble, Netbig changed its focus to online foreign MBA education and acted as a promoter for cooperation between foreign and local educational institutions.

“CEG is running this business very well now,” Simon stated. Over the past few years CEG’s profits have made up for the 20 million RMB losses incurred during “burning money” times, and CEG now makes a slight profit. The online MBA programs have recruited 300 registered students this year, and the Yale Executives development programs in Hong Kong have conducted two successful terms.

In Greater China, There are or will soon be several cooperative, internationally-recognized training projects, including projects partnering with Yale, Stanford, Harvard and University of Iowa, This service has helped numerous universities to enter the China education market successfully. Their target customers are highlevel professional managers.

Due to CEG’s great performance so far, the original venture capital firm has decided to inject another round of funding into CEG in the amount of 20 million RMB. “We won’t operate schools, because that is not our professional advantage; the team membbers of CEG are all overseas returnees, so our advantages are: Members that are well-educated and familiar with foreign educational systems, the ability to communicate fluently in a foreign language, and many contacts within the Chinese education industry,” Simon admitted.

The main job of CEG is to help foreign educational institutions make a seamless entry into the local market. And the main profit point is the agency commission. CEG earns revenue from strategic planning, finding local partners, PR, promoting and recruiting students. In addition, CEG is exploring online training as well; Netbig is the largest online MBA training center in China. All the registered students on that site study one of several foreign MBA programs through the internet, and in return, they are able to earn diplomas from foreign schools.

“But you can’t expect that online studying will yield a final result that is as good as traditional training in school,” Simon pointed out, “it is impossible.” Why? “The cost is different and the students’ qualifications are different too.”

Simon commented on his business by saying, “You should look at providing these services as a continuing process, instead of just providing a diploma.” Simon also explained, that with several years experience in this field, Netbig has set up a supporting system that includes an exam to test a student’s ability and the ability to hold periodic lectures online. Simon suggested that the best educational method is having “several students join together, and discuss the lesson with each other; the educational value will be better.”

“There were some opportunities we missed in the beginning. We had the Netbig website, which was synony- mous with online education in China. If we had invested more in it early on, we could have been listed among the top three of China’s internet portals. But we missed that chance, instead slipping in ranking “to be the sixth or seventh, then losing it alto- gether.” Another opportunity missed was in the early stage of CEG’s existence. “We undertook a project to essentially import a school; all the teachers were from overseas, but the culture misunderstandings among the foreign partners lead to failure, despite having several thousand students interested in this program.”

“There is such a huge education market in China, even 10 Netbig type sites can’t meet the total demand,” Simon stated. “There are one million companies in China, and 10% of those companies are large-scale, and if every one those companies has two managers that need to take MBA courses, there are two hundred thousand potential students in China every year, yet China’s MBA programs produce fewer than ten thousand MBAs per year, while U.S. MBA programs turn out ninety thousand MBAs per year.”
“But this is not to say that foreign education can work very well in China,” Simon admitted.

One issue is the attitude of the Chinese government toward such programs. “The difference in ideologies is one of the biggest problems… once we open the door; we can’t ensure that all incoming foreign schools are good enough, or that they won’t create instability in the society.” Administratively, there are problems as well: “The procedure of setting up a program is burdensome. First, you have to evaluate the requirements of the China JV regulations, and then when you want to advertise publicly, you must get a license from the Diploma Office of the State Council, as opposed to in Hong Kong, where just one registration with a government office is required. From the standpoint of the foreign educational institutions, their issue is often independence. “Top-tier foreign universities won’t sacrifice their reputation to get a partnership to enter the Chinese market, and hope to set up their own branches independently.” “On the other hand, institutions such as Tsinghua University and Peking University, look down on second-tier foreign schools, and won’t cooperate with them.” So CEG helps the foreign and local schools find the right partners. This is the niche service CEG provides.

“But the trend for the success of this service is improving,” Simon said. “There are several independent projects being negotiated and the door for more educational ventures will open wider and wider. He believes that, ultimately, the market China’s education industry is like an untasted dish. If foreign schools want to get a bite of it, they need to trade their forks and knives for chopsticks
will judge the quality of university-level, educational ventures, and government involvement will shift from supervision to providing services to this industry.”

For the future, CEG wants to cooperate with top Chinese universities to expand its online training capabilities. Simon is full of ambition: “We will purchase the online division of a top-tier university, repackage, then market the programs throughout Greater China.., And eventually, we hope to take CEG public.” Simon’s weapon to meet this goal is to join CEG’s current online capabilities with venture capital and the reputation of local top-tier universities.

China’s education industry is like an untasted dish. If foreign schools want to get a bite of it, they need to trade their forks and knives for chop-sticks. Who can teach you to use them? Simon said, “CEG can give you a hand!”

Article 3. When establishing a foreign invested advertisement enterprise, the applicant shall, in addition to observing this set of measures, abide by the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Chinese-foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Chinese-foreign Contractual Joint Ventures, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Foreign Capital Enterprises, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Advertisement, Regulations on Advertisement, Standards of Qualifications of Advertisement Operators and Publishers and of Use of Languages in the Verification of Scope of Business of Advertisement, and related laws, regulations, and rules.

Article 4. Project proposal and feasibility studies of foreign invested advertisement enterprises shall be examined and verified by the State General Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and provincial level administrations of industry and commerce authorized by the SAIC. Contracts and articles of association of the foreign invested enterprises will be examined and endorsed by the Ministry of Commerce and provincial level administrations authorized by the Ministry of Commerce.

Article 5. A foreign invested advertisement enterprise conforming to the conditions set may operate design, make, publish, serve as an agent for various advertisement businesses of both domestic and foreign clients, subject to approval.

The detailed scope of business shall be verified by the SAIC and provincial level administrations of industry and commerce authorized by it in line with the Standards of Qualifications of Advertisement Operators and Publishers and of Use of Languages in the Verification of Scope of Business of Advertisement.

Article 6. When establishing Chinese-foreign advertisement joint ventures, the following procedures shall be followed:

1. The Chinese principal party shall submit documents listed in article 12 of this set of measures to the local administration of industry and commerce, having the right to verify and register foreign invested enterprises, which shall give its opinion of preliminary examination and report to the provincial level administration of industry and commerce authorized by the SAIC for examination and confirmation or to the SAIC for examination and confirmation through administrations of industry and commerce of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the State Council or cities listed separately under the State Council.

SAIC and provincial administrations of industry and commerce authorized by it shall make a decision of whether or not to approve the application within 20 days, calculated from the day of receiving the completed set of documents.

2. After the SAIC or provincial administration of industry and commerce authorized by it issues a Letter of Opinion of Examination and Confirmation of Project of Foreign Invested Advertisement Enterprises, the Chinese principal party shall submit documents listed in article 13 of this set of measures to the provincial level commerce authority at the place where the joint venture is to be set up. The Certificate of Approval of Foreign Invested Enterprises shall be granted to the applicant whose application has been examined and approved by the provincial level commerce authority. Those being rejected will be provided with written explanations.

3. The Chinese principal party shall go to the SAIC or local administration of industry and commerce, having the right to verify and registered for foreign invested enterprises, to handle the formalities related to enterprise registration in accordance with the related provisions governing enterprises registration on the strength of the Letter of Opinion of Examination and Confirmation of Project of Foreign Invested Advertisement Enterprises issued by the SAIC and provincial administrations of industry and commerce authorized by it, the Certificate of Approval of Foreign Invested Enterprises issued by the provincial level commerce authority and other documents specified in laws and regulations.

Article 7. When establishing a foreign capital advertisement enterprise, the following procedures shall be followed: 1. Foreign investor shall submit documents listed in article 14 to the SAIC;

The SAIC shall make a decision of whether or not to approve the application within 20 days upon receiving the complete set of documents. 2. After the SAIC has issued the Letter of Opinion of Examination and Confirmation of the Project of Foreign Invested Advertisement Enterprises, the foreign investor shall submit documents listed in article 15 to the provincial level commerce authority at the place where the enterprise is to be established, which shall give its opinion of preliminary examination within 20 days and report to the Ministry of Commerce for examination and approval.

The Ministry of Commerce shall make a decision of whether or not to approve the application within 20 days upon receiving the complete set of documents and grant a Certificate of Approval of Foreign Invested Enterprises to those passing the examination.

3. The foreign investor shall go to the SAIC to handle the formalities related to enterprise registration in accordance with the related provisions governing enterprises registration on the strength of the Letter of Opinion of Examination and Confirmation of Project of Foreign Invested Advertisement Enterprises issued by the SAIC, Certificate of Approval of Foreign Invested Enterprises issued by Ministry of Commerce and other documents specified in laws and regulations.

Article 8. A foreign invested advertisement enterprise applying to set up branches shall follow the following procedures: 1. The foreign invested advertisement enterprise submits to the provincial level commerce authority and administration of industry and commerce at the place where it is located documents listed in article 16;

2. The local provincial level commerce authority shall, upon soliciting opinions from the administration of industry and commerce at the same level, decide whether or not to approve the application. If approval is granted, the commerce authority shall send a copy of the approval document at the same time to the provincial level commerce authority and administration of industry and commerce at the place where the branches are to be set up. Those being rejected will be provided with written reasons.

3. The foreign invested enterprise shall go to the administration of industry and commerce, having the right to verify and registered for foreign invested enterprises, at the place where the branches are to be set up to handle the formalities related to enterprise registration on the strength of the approval documents for branches establishment and other documents requested by laws and regulations.

Article 9. When establishing a Chinese-foreign advertisement joint venture, the following terms and conditions shall be met in addition to conforming to the terms and conditions specified in related laws and regulations:

1. Parties to the joint venture shall be enterprises engaged in advertisement business; 2. Parties to the joint venture shall have been established and operated for more than two years;

3. Having advertisement operational performance.

Article 10. When establishing a foreign capital advertisement enterprise, the following terms and conditions shall be met in addition to conforming to the terms and conditions specified in related laws and regulations:

1. Investor shall be an enterprise with advertisement being its main business; 2. Investor shall have been established and operated for more than three years;

Article 11. A foreign invested advertisement enterprise applying to set up branches shall meet the following basic terms and conditions: 1. Having paid up all registered capital; 2. Having annual advertisement turnover of no less than RMB 20 million.

Article 12. When applying to establish a Chinese-foreign advertisement joint venture, the Chinese principal party shall submit the following documents, in line with the procedures outlined in article 6, to the SAIC or provincial administrations of industry and commerce authorized by it:

1. Letter of application for establishment of a Chinese-foreign advertisement joint venture; 2.letter of notice of advanced verification of name of enterprise; 3. Resolution of shareholders meeting (board meeting) of the parties to the venture;

4. Project proposal of the Chinese-foreign advertisement joint venture and feasibility studies jointly compiled by parties to the joint venture; 5. Credit proof of parties to the joint venture; 6. Proof of registration of parties to the joint venture

7. Advertisement management system; 8. Opinion of preliminary examination given by the local administration of industry and commerce.

Article 13. When applying to establish a Chinese-foreign advertisement joint venture, the following documents shall be submitted to the provincial level commerce authority in line with the procedures set forth in article 6:

1. Letter of Opinion of Examination and Confirmation of Project of Foreign Invested Advertisement Enterprises issued by the SAIC and provincial administrations of industry and commerce authorized by it;

2. Contract and articles of association for the establishment of a foreign invested advertisement enterprise;

3. Feasibility study of the project; 4. Certificate of registration of parties to the joint venture; 5. Credit proof of parties to the joint venture; 6. Letter of notice of advanced verification of enterprise name; 7. Name list of board members for the joint venture and letter of appointments of board members of parties to the joint venture; 8. Opinion of preliminary examination given by local commerce authority.

Article 14. When applying to establish a foreign capital advertisement enterprise, the following documents shall be submitted to the SAIC in line with the procedures set forth in article 7:

1. Letter of application for the establishment of a foreign capital advertisement enterprise; 2. Resolution of shareholders meeting (board meeting) of investor; 3. Project proposal and feasibility study of the project compiled by the investor;

4. Certificate of registration of the investor; 5. Credit proof of the investor; 6. Letter of notice of advanced verification of enterprise name;

Article 15. When applying to establish a foreign capital advertisement enterprise, the following documents shall be submitted to the Ministry of Commerce in line with the procedures set forth in article 7:

1. Letter of application for the establishment of a foreign capital advertisement enterprise; 2. Letter of Opinion of Examination and Confirmation of Project of Foreign Invested Advertisement Enterprises issued by the SAIC;

3. Project proposal and feasibility study of the project compiled by the investor; 4. Certificate of registration of the investor; 5. Credit proof of the investor;

6. Articles of association for the establishment of a foreign capital advertisement enterprise.

Article 16. When applying to establish branches, a foreign invested advertisement enterprise shall submit the following documents in line with the procedures of article 8 to the provincial level commerce authority and administration of industry and commerce at the same level:

1. Letter of application for setup of branches of a foreign invested advertisement enterprise; 2. Resolution of board of directors; 3. Annual audit report of advertisement business;

4. Business license of the enterprise; 5. Certificate of business site; 6. Assets evaluation report of the enterprise.

Article 17. A foreign invested advertisement enterprise already established shall start the procedure anew and handle the modification of registration of enterprise in line with the procedures of articles 6 and 7 under any of the following circumstances:

1. Changing parties to the joint venture or transferring share right; 2. Modifying scope of advertisement business; 3. Changing registered capital.

Article 18. When establishing an advertisement enterprise, the foreign investor may entrust intermediate agencies with corresponding qualifications to handle the formalities of application on its behalf.

Article 19. Documents requested in this set of measures shall be written in Chinese.

Article 20. Investment in the advertisement industry by means of purchasing domestic advertisement enterprises shall be handled in line with the related provisions on foreign investors purchasing domestic enterprises and this set of measures.

Article 21. This set of measures shall be referred to in the case of investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Regions investing to establish advertisement enterprises in Mainland China.

Article 22. Foreign invested enterprises applying to include advertisements into their operations shall be handled in line with the provisions of this set of measures.

Article 23. Foreign investors are allowed to hold the majority share in Chinese-foreign advertisement joint ventures, but not exceeding 70% at the highest, starting from the day of entry into force of this set of measures. Foreign capital advertisement enterprises will be allowed to be set up starting from December 10, 2005.

Article 24. The SAIC and the Ministry of Commerce shall have the interpretation right of this set of measures.

Article 25.This set of measures shall enter into force as of the day of promulgation. A Number of Regulations on Foreign Investment in Advertisement Enterprises (No. 304 of 1994 Gongshangguangzi) issued by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation shall be abolished at the same time. In the case of conflict between other documents and this set of measures, the latter shall prevail.

From this policy, we can see the foreign invested advertisement enterprises must obey the related Laws, as the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Chinese foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Chinese foreign Contractual Joint Ventures and so on. Since CEPA provided the benefits to the Hong Kong and Macao, the follow articles are especially favorites to those parts. Hong Kong and Macao are allowed to set up solely invested advertisement companies in Mainland China; Service providers from Hong Kong and Macao shall conform to the definitions of service providers and related provisions as specified in the Arrangement for Closer Economic and Trade Ties between Mainland China and Hong Kong and the Arrangement for Closer Economic and Trade Ties between Mainland China and Macao; Service providers from Hong Kong and Macao shall be corporate juridical persons conducting advertisement business; This set of measures shall apply to other provisions on the investment in the advertisement industry in Mainland China by service providers from Hong Kong and Macao. So the Hong Kong advertises companies will lead to the new competition in the earlier future.