2000 IT forum on the way
A HIGH-profile gathering of IT users and industry leaders will be held in Shanghai in the middle of the year.
Before you settle down to business here...
ARRIVING in Shanghai can be a little disorienting, even for a tourist.
Somerset confident in housing market
SINGAPOREAN property developers are still showing strong interest in the local market though the city has many empty houses.
Rumous quashed, IDD access to stay
SHANGHAI's chief telecommunications operators have denied rumours they are set to ban all IDD business for new mobile phone users in the local market.
Emery offers you quick delivery
LOOKING for somebody for a jumbo delivery to the US? Contact Emery Worldwide, which recently expanded its guaranteed "Gold Priority Express" service for shipments from Shanghai to 48 states in the United States, plus Puerto Rico, Canada, and major points in Mexico.
Government to survey commercial framework
HOW many commercial enterprises are there in Shanghai? What is the city's commercial structure?
Seek future card users
IN the 21st century, cash payment will be replaced by bank card payment, a senior Visa Inter-national executive said last week.
Website bids to be good medical guide
JUST one click, you might be interviewing with a psychologist in Shanghai, or a traditional Chinese doctor in Guangzhou.
Higher prices, larger capacity for cargo
SERVICES bound for the United States are expected to have more cargo this year thanks to the economic recovery in Asia.
GDP target 9%
THE city government is striving for a 9 per cent increase in GDP growth in 2000. The city achieved a 10.2 per cent increase in GDP growth in 1999, halting the decline in the GDP growth rate for the first year since 1992, said Li Liangyuan, director of Shanghai Planning Committee. The services industry achieved an over 20 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) increase over 1998. At the end of 1999, exports to Asia, the former major export destination for Shanghai, recovered, with those to Japan increasing by 16.8 per cent and those to ASEAN countries increasing by 36.5 per cent. Contracted foreign investment in Shanghai as a whole decreased by 29.8 per cent to $4.1 billion, while investment in fixed assets began to recover in 1999.
‘Waixiao' houses cheaper
THE price gap between properties available for sale to local people and those accessible to foreigners is closing fast.
New Apple products on market
APPLE Computer International Co, one of the earliest and largest computer manufacturers in the world, announced the launch of two of its new series of PC products.
Robin Smith: from movie child to top business woman
ROBIN Smith grew up as a Hollywood movie child. "My family worked in production, which meant we moved from location to location. So my latest high school was always the best," she confided in Shanghai recently. "In fact my sister is still in the industry, working for Steven Spielberg." Perhaps it was her background in the movie industry, with its human interest stories, and disaster movies, that influenced her thinking as Smith developed her company, IPS Employee Assistance's workplace counselling services, and specifically the Post Traumatic Incident Programme. Through the programme, IPS staff enabled workers to recover from Australia's deadly bushfires in 1994 and disasters in the workplace, such as transport accidents and mine explosions. In fact, she was off to Bangkok after Shanghai to counsel following an airline accident there. Personal traumas are also counselled. "Managers in big organizations, whether private or government, have had too much invested in them to be thrown on the scrap heap," Smith said. Wholly foreign-owned enterprises and joint venture companies in China, and often leading local companies, all face the cross-cultural differences that can loom large in the globalization of business, and will be accentuated here if China enters the WTO. She feels a foreign company's cultural aims, where possible, should conform to local cultures. Training programmes can help smooth the distinctions between the two for company staff. She points out that while the facilities of video-conferencing, e-mail and the Internet help in global business, personal contact and local knowledge are still very important. "You need to feel comfortable when dealing across the world." Leaving California, she worked for Hawaii's largest health insurer before going to Australia in 1982 to work for a large Sydney hospital group. Smith is now managing director of IPS Employee Assistance which she founded in 1983 in conjunction with the New South Wales Government. It was privatized in 1993 and now has 250 multi-disciplinary staff based in Sydney. The company is a market-leader in its field and has a multi-million dollar turnover with good profitability. It is recognized as one of the Top 30 Businesses Owned by Women, and Smith was awarded the International Business Award by the Global Women's Business Network, which she received in Washington last October. She is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Institute of Management. She received two fellowships from the United States Public Health Service when completing two masters' degrees in public health in Hawaii. Smith, the mother of three children, combines her career and motherhood with studies for a PhD in medicine at the University of New South Wales. Shanghai is one of the company's first steps in its international expansion and the company has a list of blue-chip clients here and in Beijing. When asked, why Shanghai? Smith replies: "It's the tremendous growth potential in the region and energy here."
Copyright 2000 by Shanghai Star. All rights reserved.