Drone Tariffs, Section 301 Probe Nears Decision, and White House Targets Transshipment
Last week, the White House announced a 100% Section 232 tariff on large drones and critical components, citing their dual-use applications. The duties are set to take effect on September 3.
Multinational companies’ HR issues larger than ever
The battle for talent is where the larger war for market supremacy will be won. Many talented individuals in China are questioning whether Western-based MNCs are still the employer of choice. Chinese companies are offering competitive compensation packages, attractive career paths, and the opportunity to work at the center of the company, not the periphery.
Domestic Chinese companies are often held back by their lack of HR savvy. By identifying HR challenges, local firms and multinationals can put themselves firmly on the road to success.
The Changing Landscape of China’s Manufacturing Sector
The relentless momentum of investors turning their sights toward China has softened as slowing growth and stock market volatility cause alarm among observers. In 2015, foreign direct investment (FDI) into China’s manufacturing sector came in at $39.54 billion, a slight drop from 2014. While some of these fears are grounded in reality, others are overblown. This is particularly true in relation to the manufacturing sector — China’s principal driver of growth during its boom years — which made the country known as “the factory of the world.”
Up in Smoke: Why China has Banned Foreign Investment in Tobacco
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently announced regulations barring foreign investment in the country’s enormous tobacco industry, blocking foreign-invested enterprises and individual businesses from participating in tobacco wholesale, retail, and alternative forms of trading. These new restrictions come on the heels of various government efforts to reduce China’s rampant tobacco use, with middling results to date.
Learning the “world’s hardest language” is all about your mindset and how you use your memory. And the good news is that there’s a fast, easy way to store Chinese vocabulary in your memory and recall it on command. All it requires a bit of setup. If you’d like to be able to look at a word or phrase, play a simple game a few times a week, and use what you’ve learned, then you’ll love these memory techniques.
Industry 4.0 will disrupt existing markets and usher in change
The fourth industrial revolution is the move toward advanced industrial devices, systems and services that will deliver less costly, more efficient use of assets and increase business value. These outcomes are achieved by analyzing data to improve decision making about the use of resources. Industry 4.0 solutions will typically link the physical and cyber world through cyber-physical systems (CPS). Examples of CPS-driven solutions are self-learning robots, predictive maintenance, self-reconfiguring machines, and smart environment recognition.