Managing The Dragon

Electric Vehicle (EV) makers the world over face a classic “chicken and egg” problem. Concerned with the range of EVs and the availability of charging stations, consumers are reluctant to forsake their cars powered by internal combustion engines in favor of those powered by batteries. Yet, building a charging infrastructure is expensive, and investors are […]

Demand for all types of vehicle transportation in China has been surprisingly strong so far in 2016.

During the first half of 2016, China’s outbound merger and acquisition volume of $135.3 billion surpassed the full year total for any year previously. Through June, Chinese companies accounted for 23 percent of all cross-border deals globally. It’s been a few years in the making, but 2016 is shaping up as the year in which […]

Note to MTD Followers: In the course of its daily activities, JFP Holdings, Ltd. gains first-hand insights into various aspects of China’s economy. Until now, these findings have been reserved for internal use only. However, in order to promote a greater understanding of China and its economy, JFP Holdings has decided to make its proprietary […]

For an industry that traces its origins to the late 1800s, the global automobile industry is facing fundamental, far-sweeping changes the likes of which it has never seen before. Ever since 1908, when Henry Ford decided to power his new Model T with a gasoline internal combustion engine, the basic technological architecture of the passenger […]

2015 was a watershed year for China autos, marking an end to 15 years of fast growth that saw vehicle sales increase tenfold, but also bringing to the fore some interesting new opportunities in New Energy Vehicles (“NEVs”), the aftermarket and connectivity. A total of 24.6 million cars, trucks and buses were sold for the […]

The Year of the Monkey got off to a rocky start in China, demonstrating once again just how much events in China now impact the rest of the world. In 2016’s first day of trading, shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (“SSE”) plunged 7 percent, triggering circuit breakers that cut short the day’s trading session. […]

To begin with, my prediction that: “The year of the goat may go down as the year of the capital markets in China” was certainly on target. Extreme volatility in the country’s stock market during the year rocked Chinese investors and rattled financial markets throughout the world. Meanwhile, a little-known stock exchange based in Beijing […]

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of any economy, whether it is fully developed like those in the United States or Germany, or one that is still emerging like China’s. According to Yijiang Wang, Professor of Economics and Human Resource Management at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing, SMEs account […]

As reported in news media around the world, air pollution in Beijing reached hazardous levels earlier this week. According to one report: “Schools in the Chinese capital kept students indoors and parents brought their kids to hospitals with breathing ailments Tuesday as Beijing grappled with extremely severe air pollution for the fifth straight day … […]