Shared Service Centers in CEE – How to find the right country?Big companies and corporations often bundle standardized administrative activities, such as accounting, in shared service centers (SSC). This is because shared service centers have many advantages, e.g. processes can be simplified or specialists can be assigned where their potential is fully utilized. The increasing demand for cost savings and the growing efficiency of the local workforce also support ongoing investments and the opening of SSCs in CEE. But how do you find the right country for your shared service center in CEE? We present some countries in this Executive …
Key Success Factor of Influencer Marketing in China – Influencer Matrix
Key Success Factor of Influencer Marketing in China – Influencer MatrixIn China, social media spans a range of features and purposes, such as micro-blogging site Weibo, video-sharing social network Douying, community-based e-commerce platform Little Red Book, question-and-answer site Zhihu etc. Each social media platform has their unique influencers landscape and definition of influencers type.Influencers could be classified into different ranking according to follower counts: mega macro influencers (> a million followers), macro influencers (500K-1 million followers), mid-tier influencers (50K-500K followers), micro influencers (10K-50K followers), nano influencer (1K-10K followers) and Key Opinion Consumers (<1k influencers). Influencer could also be classified into …
Green Hydrogen- India’s emerging economy
Green Hydrogen- India’s emerging economy Initiatives for laying the foundation and groundwork for scaling-up low carbon hydrogen across the economy in India. Hydrogen demand could increase 5-fold by 2050 in India with use in industry being the major driver. By 2030, costs of hydrogen from renewables will fall more than 50% and will start to compete with hydrogen produced from fossil fuels.“The thing that is going to help India with a quantum leap in terms of climate is the field of green hydrogen” – Prime Minister Narendra Modi Green hydrogen, considered as one of the cleanest forms of energy in …
Surging Photovoltaics (PV) demand in Europe & Opportunities for European and Chinese Players
Surging photovoltaics (PV) demand in Europe & Opportunities for European and Chinese PlayersDespite Europe already at the forefront of deploying renewable energy globally, this year European countries, and the rest of the world, are facing the energy crisis. Consequently, Europe has hit record high numbers in generating electricity from the renewables, specifically solar power has shown to be crucial in helping Europe reduce its reliance on gas imports from Russia.According to think tank Ember, between May and August 2022 electricity generation data showed a record high solar power share of 12.2% in the European electricity mix – equal to about …
Green Hydrogen Technology Roadmap Europe – China as Competitor or Partner?
Green Hydrogen Technology Roadmap Europe – China as Competitor or Partner?In its efforts to promote energy transition in Europe and decarbonize the energy system, the Hydrogen Accelerator of the REPowerEU Plan highlighted the updated Green Hydrogen ambition. Upscaling of electrolysis capacities remain therefore as priority and with regards to PEM, European players still hold technology advantages. Which role does China play: Competitor or Partner?Europe formulated ambitious plans to boost green hydrogen This year, in its efforts to promote energy transition in Europe and decarbonize the energy system, the Hydrogen Accelerator of the REPowerEU Plan highlighted the updated Green Hydrogen (GH) …
US Semiconductor Ban on China & Implications for International Companies in China
US Semiconductor Ban on China & Implications for International Companies in ChinaAlongside the Chips and Science Act and a sweeping set of export controls, the US further undermines China’s ability to import, manufacture, and export the semiconductors that run the world. Finely calibrated and applied on most leading-edge chips, consequences are dramatic. International companies operating and banking on China are urged to re-balance and match their China strategy to prepare for de-risking but to stay in the game.US’s further moves to contain China’s semiconductor industry In early October 2022, the US issued nine new rules, detailing export controls on advanced …
2022 Single’s Day in China – Record set with New Players Joining the Frenzy
2022 Single’s Day in China – Record set with New Players Joining the FrenzyThis years’ China Single’s Day, also known as Double Eleven saw a stunning gross merchandising value beyond 1 trillion RMB for the first time. Besides the traditional e-commerce platforms Tmall, JD and Pinduoduo, the frenzy is joined by a variety of new retail platforms. Brands now have access to a much larger pool of consumers across different platforms but are required to refine their promotion strategies. Total GMV from all e-com platforms surpassed 1 trillion According to Syntun, an independent big data monitoring company, the total GMV …
De-risking China – Corporate Foresight and Risk Mitigation
De-risking China – Corporate Foresight and Risk MitigationIn times of ever-increasing geopolitical tensions China’s communist party held its 20th national congress, from the 16th to the 22nd of October, hinting at an even stronger push for self-sufficiency and preparing its population for challenges ahead in cooperating with the west.Soaring energy prices and a sky-high inflation made the headlines in Europe and beyond this year. The Russian invasion in the Ukraine being one main driver, putting into question an over-dependency on Russian oil and gas. This development as well put into spotlight the increasing mutual dependency of Europe, and especially Germany, …
RCEP Boosts Cross-Border E-Commerce
RCEP Boosts Cross-Border E-Commerce Since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into effect, cooperation between RCEP regions has continued to deepen. On July 27, 2022, at the 2022 Consumption Innovation Forum of China International Consumer Products Expo, the RCEP Cross-Border E-commerce Purchase (B2C) Index report was released.The new RCEP B2C Index (RCEP Cross-Border E-commerce Purchase B2C Index), focuses on overseas small and medium-sized enterprises, presenting the development trend of digital trade in the RCEP regions. The trend of the new index shows that the that cross-border e-commerce in the RCEP region is booming. The average annual growth rate from 2019 …
XIAOHONGSHU BRAND MARKETING
XIAOHONGSHU BRAND MARKETING Xiaohongshu, or “Little Red Book”/“Red” is a Chinese social-commerce platform founded in 2013. Red started off serving as an online tour guide for Chinese shoppers abroad for consumers to review products and to share their shopping experiences. Currently as a lifestyle sharing platform, Red is considered as one of the prominent channels for brands to reach the wide Chinese consumers.Young and urban users with significant purchasing power The monthly active user (MAU) of Red reached 200 million in November 2021, doubling the MAU of 100 million in January 2020; 50% of the users live in tier 1/2 …
Platform Business Models – Are Investments Justified?
Platform Business Models – Are Investments Justified?Can traditional process-based firms do asset light business? Is there a possibility to get into platform model of business as a replacement or an augmentation to existing source of revenue without increasing the operating cost too much? More than 60% of the Fortune 500 companies employ platform-based business models for their operations (most of them are consumer focused software system based B2C organizations) and the trend has quickly shifted to B2B companies in the recent past who wish to be closer to their final consumers. The issue is of commercialization of the innovation model …
Food Condiments in China: Three Opportunities
Food Condiments in China: Three OpportunitiesDuring China’s COVID-19 lockdowns (when restaurants did not operate and home cooking became the only choice), the demand for condiments experienced a surge in attention. But generally, as daily necessities, the consumption of condiment by both businesses and consumers is unlikely to be affected by economic fluctuations and will remain strong. It is estimated that China’s condiment market will reach 513 billion yuan in 2022 and 788 billion yuan in 2025 (CAGR of 9%). Given the vast size of the country, the market for condiments is huge, but also more fragmented compared with developed countries. …