The Global MICE Industry is Growing

The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry is an important segment of the tourism industry, and is a growing sector with great potential. The MICE industry comprises of the upper-stream (such as MICE activity organizers), midstream (such as accommodation, facilities and services suppliers) and downstream (such as adverting agencies, logistics services providers and travel agencies) industries. Therefore, the MICE industry involves a wide range of sectors such as tourism, hotels, transportation, catering, real estate and retail. A successful MICE industry is believed to have significant positive impact on a country’s economy. Apart from bringing significant economic benefits, such as national income and job opportunities, it also benefits a destination by providing opportunities for knowledge sharing, country brand development and network building. 

Mongolia is one of the major coking coal producers

By the end of 2011 total global proved recoverable coal reserves stood at 982,744 million tons. Europe (30.8%) and North America (27.5%) held the major recoverable coal reserves. At the country level, USA, Russia, China, Australia and India held the largest coal reserves and,in aggregate, held around 72.4% of the world’s total recoverable reserves. Mongolia has also proven to possess vast resources of coal. According to the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia, coal deposits can be found throughout the country.

The Supermarket Sector Experienced Rapid Growth in the Past Decade

Since the early 1990s, when the supermarket sector started to open to private and foreign investors, the Chinese supermarket sector has been expanding massively. In 1992 there were around 2,500 supermarkets in China, and following economic growth and urbanization, the number of supermarket increased fourfold by 2002. The growth trend continued and the number reached 38,554 by 2011. The compound annual growth rate from 2002 to 2011 was 15.82%. As a matter of course, sales volume has also increased significantly from RMB131.8 billion in 2002 to RMB339.8 billion in 2011. Today, the Chinese supermarket sector is quite mature and competitive. 

India Suffers from Water Security Problem

With the second largest population in the world and a growing economy, India is a big water consumer. However, as a result of limited water availability and poor infrastructure, India faces a number of challenges. The Water Security Index, created by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), gives India an overall score of 1.6 which is low compared to other Asian countries. Among the five components of the index India gets the lowest scores for household water security, urban water security, and environmental water security. This indicates that India suffers from serious water problems including: (1) poor ability to satisfy household water and sanitation needs, and poor ability to meet hygiene requirements for public health in all communities; (2) insufficient urban water-related services, such as water supply, wastewater treatment, and drainage; and (3) river basins that are in poor health. 

Major Applications of Fuel Cells

The evolution of the concept of the fuel cell can be traced back as far as 1801. However, the practical usage of fuel cells only began in the mid 20th century and significant commercialization of fuel cell has only occurred in the past decade.  Nevertheless, fuel cells are expected to play a more important role as power sources in the future due to its desirable characteristics. First of all, unlike conventional power sources, hydrogen fuel cells are emission free as they produce electricity by electrochemical reaction instead of combustion. Secondly, compared to other renewable sources, such as solar energy and wind energy, fuel cells are more reliable as they are not dependent on energy sources which might be periodically short of supply. Theoretically, a fuel cell can run indefinitely as long as it is supplied with source of hydrogen and oxygen.

Composition of Enterprise Name

Following the development of the market economy in China, enterprise name rights have become an important type of intangible asset for companies, and play an important role in the long-term development of companies. Moreover, companies now attach more importance to the publicity and promotion of their names. As a consequence, enterprise name disputes have become more frequent. This article aims to introduce enterprise name rights in China and some associated legal issues. An enterprise name right is the right, available to a lawfully established enterprise, to lawfully use its name. The administrative area, name, trade, and form of the organization are four composites of an enterprise name. 

• Administrative area: refers to place where the enterprise is located, for example: Beijing or Shanghai
• Name: refers to the “name” an enterprise uses to distinguish itself from other individuals or entities, such as Jiaduobao or Panasonic
• Trade: refers to the enterprise’s business field, such as construction or pharmaceuticals 
• Form of organization: refers to whether an enterprise is a limited company, joint stock limited company, or some other form of organization

The “Food Security” Concept Evolved since 1970

The term “food security” evolved in the mid-1970s at the time of a global food crisis. Primarily, it focused on food supply problems such as the assurance of availability of food and maintenance of stability of price of basic foodstuffs. As time progressed, the definition of food security has also been reviewed and redefined to fit with the changing circumstances. In 1996, new elements, such as safety and nutrition have been incorporated into the definition emphasizing their importance for maintaining a healthy population. Therefore, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), food security consists of three main components:

• Food availability: sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.
• Food access: having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.
• Food use: appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation.

Current Status of the Chinese Coal Industry

The Chinese coal industry is facing a challenge arising from the long term control of the electricity price. This is due to coal being the major resource used in power generation in China. In order to provide a stable electricity price to consumers, the PRC government has closely monitored the volatility of the coal market price. In Dec 2012, China's state council announced it would reduce the stringent monitoring of the coal and electricity dual-pricing system. The major coal producers and government have agreed to take the Bohai-rim Steam-Coal Price Index as the reference for the coal price for power generators. This places a limitation on the development of coal enterprises in China. Maintaining a healthy environment for the coal enterprises to survive has become a controversial and important issue for the industry participants and Government to explore. The coal industry is a traditional industry in China and has played an essential role in economic development and a key role in the supply chain of China. However, this industry has already entered its mature stage and it is difficult to make a great change in the current stage. The Government plays an important role in the development of the coal industry because the industry needs strategic support and guidance from the Government.

The disclosure requirements for listing in Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) have increased with the recent request of making public all material information related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

IPRs have always been a source of long standing competitive advantage and often companies have been reluctant at providing such information. However, with the updated Listing Rule 703, Singapore is imitating a similar guideline issued by the Hong Kong counterpart a few months earlier.

The new rule aims at creating a safer environment for investors – the stock market house ensures. As modern companies base their success and growth increasingly on IP and other forms of intangible assets, SGX wish to replicates this situation in the documents available to investors. By knowing how much of the business depends on IPRs and how risky these assets are, investors can get a clearer idea on where to put their money.

About the Author:

It would have been impossible over the past six months to have read a newspaper without reading about the taxation challenges faced by some of the world’s largest multinational companies (“MNCs”) and iconic brands, including Apple, Google and Starbucks. This has resulted in, amongst other things, tax audits worldwide for Google, an appearance before a Senate Hearing by Apple’s CEO to defend the company’s tax arrangements, and a public boycott of Starbucks stores in the UK leading to a “voluntary” tax payment by the company to the UK Revenue.

Patent rights are one type of intellectual property right. The current Patent Law in China protects three types of work including inventions, utility models and designs. The technical aspect of a product is the  primary  protected content of inventions and utility models, whereas patents of design concern new designs of shape, pattern or a combination of the two. The authority overseeing patent issues, including patent application, is the State Intellectual Property Office of P.R.C. (SIPO). The examination and approval of a patent is based on a first-to-file principle. Starting from the filing date, a patented invention  can enjoy a 20 year protection term whilst the term for a utility model and design patent is limited to 10 years.

The general process of applying for a patent right in China is illustrated below; details of each patent type will be discussed in later sections.

Step I: Check if the patent has been registered or not before making an application.

Step II: Documents preparation:

· Inventions &Utility models – Prepare two copies of all the following documents:

Introduction

Effective management of investor relations is a crucial advantage for any company and ensures the alignment of shareholder interests.

How can these relationships be managed efficiently and harmony of interests maintained? What tools need to be used? The secrets are revealed in the following interview with Mr. LYNGE BLAK, renowned expert in Investor Relations.

CENSERE: Why do you see communicating IR-value as an art?

LYNGE BLAK:

Private Equity Regulation SNAPSHOT in HONG KONG, China and Singapore

From 2005 to 2011, the Greater China region, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, was the hottest Asia-Pacific place for international private equity investment choices. In 2007, the total value of private equity investments in the Greater China region was US$21 billion. Although the investment value was reduced as a result of the global financial crisis from 2008 to 2010, the value has rebounded to US$28 billion in 2011 - even higher than the level recorded in 2007.

Transfer pricing refers to the way that multinationals price all transactions (goods, services, royalties, interest etc.) between related entities.  Transfer pricing is a primary concern for tax authorities that want a fair share of tax revenue and for multinationals that want a true measure of their profit driving activities. Such transactions need to be priced on an “arm’s length” basis and multinational taxpayers are faced with significant compliance obligations and penalties to ensure compliance with this principle.

Since 60-80% of the value of an MNC is considered to lie in its intangible assets, it is no surprise that the OECD and tax authorities globally are now particularly focused on this aspect of transfer pricing.  The potential risks can include disallowance of tax deductions for license fee/royalty payments paid to related parties, arguments for significant exit taxes where intangibles are moved between group entities and claims for increased profitability in local distributors due to the presence of local marketing intangibles.

Levelised cost of energy (“LCOE”) provides greater accuracy when appraising energy projects than current methods. LCOE is expressed in cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), and takes into account not only the capital cost of building a project, but also the operating and maintenance expenses incurred (such as the length of a power purchase agreement).  As it doesn’t include the profit a plant owner desires, LCOE is often not adapted by buy or sell side stakeholders now that analysis often reflects projects with bearish returns. 

The banks and project financiers who apply LCOE to their models typically hire consulting firms to generate LCOE analyses in order to help them make investment decisions.  Some large developers such as Siemens and General Electric, they have internal teams performing the service internally.  LCOE analysis is not only valuable for developers and bankers; it is also useful for policy makers, with particular regards to industries reliant on government incentives, like solar energy.

With Australia leading the way in developing unconventional gas reserves in Queensland and across Australia, other regional players are trying to follow in Australia’s footsteps.

Coal Bed Methane in Australia

Australian exploration companies have focused on developingCoal Bed Methane (“CBM”) reserves and have been credited for being the most mature industry players in the field of unconventional gas (“UG”)within the region. With three sanctioned Liquefied Natural Gas (“LNG”) export projects utilising reserves in Queensland, the next 5 years will see investment of over $50bUSD, these developmentswill supply more than 25m metric tons of LNG annually to increasingly energy starved Asian buyers.

The rapid pace of PE business developing in China has seen the regulatory regime struggling to keep up.With no coherentlaw or regulation governing PE in Mainland China at a national level, the government has taken initiative by appointing the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) to take a leading role in forming a new regulatory environment for Private Equity and Venture Capital in China.

The recent outcry for regulation is due to Limited Partners(“LP”)[investors] becoming caught up in funds mimicking Ponzi-schemes, promising extravagant returns and attracting investors by flooding them with early high dividends that abruptly end as soon as the fund is closed for investments. Thisisa worst case scenario, but it illustrates the fundamental problems the Chinese Private Equity industry is facing; a lack of transparency and oversight. Also, the basic economics of the Chinese investment climate proves to be another problem; with too much capital to be invested, unsophisticated LP’s are often lured into these deals as PE’s renownedfor delivering extraordinary returns to its investors internationally.

HKEx endorses wider Intellectual Property disclosure.

Can a wider disclosure of IP bring benefits to a launching business? The HK Exchange believes so. The recent guidance note from HKex in relation to Main Board Listing Rule Appendix 1 - Part a Paragraph 28(4) - and GEM Listing Rule Appendix 1 - Part a Paragraph 28(4) – encourages listing companies to disclose how IP impacts their business and its profitability.

What’s the reason behind this initiative? Generally, wise investors know that IP portfolios do not automatically translate into profits. Only companies that effectively manage and grow IP are the ones capable of generating superior returns.

Censere takes a look at changing environment for FDI in infrastructure.

The development of infrastructure in the Asia ex-China region has undeniably lagged behind the strong economic growth in the region.

The projected growth for the coming decade has put infrastructure investments on the radar of foreign investors who eye it as a “Trillion Dollar Holy Grail”.  However, the question remains whether foreigners can participate and capitalize on the “brick-building” of Asia.

The Asian Development Bank estimates that USD$8 trillion will be invested in the region from 2011-2020 and that approximately 10% of these projects will involve FDI; with the remainder coming from public finances or local banks.

Energy demand is projected to double in Asia-Pacific by 2030.  Accordingly, there is an urgent need for new and innovative ways to generate power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Solar energy has long been singled out as one of the strongest contenders amongst renewable energy sources.

Several technologies are currently being tested, but two forms have been commercialised for converting sunlight directly into electricity and now dominate the market: