Up, up and Huawei

After the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei opened an exhibition center near Amsterdam recently, Eberhard van der Laan, the city's mayor, sang the companies praises to business leaders in a speech.

Expats head to greener pastures

As foreign companies search for new markets in China's tier-two and tier-three cities, more expat senior managers are being asked to leave the bright lights of Beijing and Shanghai to work in places they are not fully familiar with.

Top jobs getting difficult to fill

China will experience a severe managerial shortage in the world in the second half of 2013, continuing a five-year trend, according to a survey of executive search consultants.

In go-ahead Guiyang, it all figures

These days it is the kind of growth target that most countries, including China, would think of as impossibly ambitious - 14 percent. But that is what Guizhou province, in Southwest China, is projecting for its GDP growth this year, the highest in the country. Lest anyone think the aim is outlandish, the province can happily report that its GDP grew 12.5 percent in the first half of the year, 4.9 percentage points higher than the national average for the period.

Topography and poverty no match for willpower

Big domestic companies, banks and multinationals are rarely tempted to take a plunge into China's southwestern hinterland because of a lack of modern infrastructure, human resources and services.

Quotable

"The gap between Chinese products' technical parameters and international standards still exists. Blind investment in production capability without proper forecasting mechanisms only leads to overcapacity."

IN BRIEF (Page 18)

As Africa ascends, lift business booms

Shenyang Brilliant Elevator Co Ltd is looking to Africa to gain more growth as it strives to catch up with better-established rivals in the continent.

Chinese firms face trust deficit

There is a wide gap between the trust China's multinational companies enjoy at home and the way they are perceived abroad, a survey has found.

Cure sought for medical sector's ills

Sun Xiaoyan used to be a frequent visitor to hospitals, but not as a patient.

Out with monovision, in with multi-branding

Peter Caplowe weaved his way through the crowds thronging Nanluoguxiang in Beijing, neatly stepping around stylish young couples browsing the ancient alleyway turned shopping hotspot.

Big wheels keep turning

Foreign automakers are anticipating that the silver lining provided by sports utility and multipurpose vehicles in China during August will continue for the rest of the year also.