China wants part of the pie in the sky

The fact that large jumbo jets are almost exclusively designed and built by Airbus and Boeing is not a matter of simple chance. It’s a business that requires massive resources and experience. Not even Japan dares enter that arena -it prefers components or small aircraft. China however has now decided to enter the commercial jet business and to build planes with more than 100 seats. (continued)

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Are vertical greenhouses finally coming thanks to China?

Source: Knafo Klimor Architects

Vertical greenhouses we hear but vertical greenhouses we do not see. Maybe the urgent needs of China and a study by Knafo Klimor Architects of Israel is the perfect combination for the widespread use of a great concept.

The UN calculates that by 2010 about 50% of China’s population will reside in cities and the trend will continue with the remaining 700+ millions in rural areas attracted by the jobs and incomes of the big centers. If things continue at current rates, China might be in for further environmental degradation.

Is consumer spending on electronics going to slow down?

Now that US economic forecasts do not look so rosy, consumer response related to electronic products has become a constant worry. Manufacturers are churning out new models as if there is no tomorrow and if we are to believe the uplifting CES atmosphere all is going smooth. So who is right, the optimists that believe that the current US predictions will have no effect, or the pessimists that see a serious cut in spending?

One first remark is that to determine what’s happening we must consider the fact that most electronics and IT companies are already international operations, the US represents a portion and not all of their sales. Read the dealer/distributor page of any medium or small company and you will be surprised. There is contacts all over the world, often in all continents. This means that the US economic cycle is not necessarily the whole picture. The high exchange rate of the euro against the dollar for the moment shields the EU from high oil prices and is favourable for American imports! Asian markets are doing pretty well.

In tech there is more beyond China and India

In the technology, telecommunications and internet sectors no doubt China and India see the emergence of numerous middle classes that no sane international business can overlook. While their huge populations understandably attract most headlines, there is a group of countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Russia & Turkey) that follow closely but more quietly as they do not appear in the news so often. They are much smaller than China and India but have large enough populations to justify large investment projects and high expectations. Saturated markets in Europe, North America and Japan already start to bring significant investment and news elsewhere.

Vodafone has reasons to be optimistic as the latest results a few days ago point to both India and Turkey as great markets with 40% growth rates that balance the low 2% of Europe. And this with a Vodafone entrance to the Turkish market that is very recent. Japan’s DoCoMo plans an international expansion to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and New Zealand. Russian telecoms and IT sectors are set to grow next year by 20% a number unthinkable a decade earlier, and Brazil is jumping on the 3G bandwagon.