Breaking Waves
- I posted Tuesday about how difficult the Chinese market can be (Just Don’t Go There), so I read with interest an interview the next day with Winnie Lui, CEO of Hong Kong’s Patty Company, a maker and retailer of shoes that has been successful in China. You can see it on the Hong Kong Trade Development Board’s site. Patty uses its own shops to sell in China and opened more than 200 of them between 1982 and 1997, when the Asian financial crisis led to closing all but 30 of the shops. Patty has had to re-develop its sales network and now has more than 100 shops. Ms. Lui’s advice to new consumer goods companies trying to sell in China is to focus on the large existing department stores, paying for good space or opening up their own counters within the larger store. Her reasoning: Chinese consumers trust department stores more than small shops for finding good quality products, so selling through department stores is sort of a seal of approval.
- One of my articles that questions how Hawaii does its tourism marketing was picked up by WorldTourismDirectory.com. Unfortunately, they didn’t pick up the nice tables that give the real picture.
- The annual World Competitiveness Scoreboard is out. The United States, which held the title for years, has been dropped to #3 by Singapore and Hong Kong. At least we’re still on the podium, given the anti-business atmosphere among populist politicians. Consider poor Venezuela, easily at the bottom of the rankings – again. See the complete scoreboard here.
- The Obama Administration still can’t get its act together on free trade agreements. Canada and Panama just concluded an FTA, while our FTA with Panama languishes. The race is now on to see which FTA is ratified and implemented most expeditiously. I’m betting on the Canada-Panama agreement. Sigh.
- By the way, the European Union has re-opened free trade talks with Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Where is the United States, one wonders?
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I will be traveling the next week or so, attending a wedding on the U.S. East Coast, staying with family and friends. It’s always nice to see them, but it does mean that Internet connections are not always convenient and the time for blogging will be unpredictable. I’ll try to post as usual, but there may be lapses. Please bear with me.
