Incubators hatch plots for healthy future

It's not quite Catch-22, but for most startups, you can't make much money until you spend a lot first. Then come all the other catches of setting up and running a business.

Middle class key to consumption

China's emerging middle class is growing up, preparing to make its presence felt in terms of the nation's economic growth.

Listing reflects China's financial heft

ICBC holds a 20 percent stake in Standard Bank of South Africa, the main advisor for most of the mergers and acquisitions deals in Africa.

Assembling a strategy for the future

Peter Agnefjall says he never makes blind forecasts. "In Ikea, we think about and look to the long term."

11+11 is a winning formula

A day in celebration of unattached people has essentially become an annual cue for massive online discounting in China.

Watchmakers not marking time

Despite economic slowdown, luxury timepieces continue to serve Swiss manufacturers well in China

Chinese market 'more sophisticated than given credit'

As the luxury watch company Jaeger-LeCoultre marks its 180th anniversary, it says it wants to use the occasion to consolidate its position in China's high-end market.

The little big man of Europe

Chinese business takes a shine to the small but centrally important belgium that punches above its weight in the continent

Quotable

"The delisting system is one of the most important and fundamental regulations in China's capital market."

IN BRIEF (Page 18)

Great expectations in the lowlands

Belgium is in the top five countries in Europe for attracting foreign investment, with 169 projects launched last year, 10.5 percent more than the previous year.

The art of staying connected in business

Despite its high global breadth of exports, China still remains 74th in terms of global connectedness, says Frank Appel, chairman of the board of management and chief executive officer at Deutsche Post DHL, who was visiting Beijing after attending the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meetings.