Asia Magazine #6

A bulletin by Chalmers students in Asia

asiabulletin no6

2005 11

/ predicting typhoons / / miracle mobile market / asia on display / dengue fever /

/ impressions from urban asia

asiaContents People want big displays.

And flat.

Editorial

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asiaOffice Major Events at the Office

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New Representatives

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First Anniversary for NCTU Europe

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page 16

asiaReports

11 In only five years Taiwan became no. 1

Made in Taiwan, ...sorry, by Taiwan

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Impressions from Urban Asia

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Predicting Typhoons 10

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Asia on Display 11 Visiting Swedish Corporations in Shanghai 12 To Ban or Not to Ban... 15 Western Sweden Strengthens the Relationship with China 16 Miracle Mobile Market 17 Singaporean Leadership 18 All play and no work makes Jack a dull boy 20 China’s Competivness - an Illusion? 22

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Dengue Fever 23 Sky scrape enlightenment 24

WHAT IS CHALMERS ASIA? Chalmers Asia was opened in March 2003 and is the result of a bilateral exchange agreement between National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and Chalmers University of Technology. The Chalmers Asia office is strategically located at NCTU, near Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park.

PURPOSE - Increase awareness at Chalmers about the development in East Asia, with focus on Taiwan.

- Support mobility of students and staff between NCTU and

Chalmers - Enhance Chalmers’ visibility in Taiwan and the neighbouring region

THE CHALMERS ASIA BULLETIN The purpose of this publication is to increase the awareness of Asia among the students and the staff of Chalmers. The articles are written by the Chalmers exchange students located in Asia.

Editor in Chief, Editor: Kajsa Beijer-Olsen kajsa.beijer-olsen@asia.chalmers.se Tomas Björklund tomas.bjorklund@asia.chalmers.se CONTACT Chalmers Asia National Chiao Tung University 1001 Ta-Hsueh Rd. Hsinchu 300 Taiwan, R.O.C.

web phone

fax

www.asia.chalmers.se +886 (0)3 573 73 69 +46 (0)31 780 41 55 +886 (0)3 573 74 69

Letter from the editors Almost three years ago Chalmers decided Gothenburg, Sweden wasn’t big enough. What to do? Well, Asia is, as Head of Office explains below, hot. So what better way to expand than to start an office in Asia. That office is Chalmers Asia and it is located in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and is run by exchange students.

Since the office is quite new, things change from year to year. For this year, the big change is our commitment to let everyone know of what we are doing and what’s happening in Asia. A bulletin has been published since the office’s beginning but up until now it has only had print runs of a few tens.

Starting with this issue, that is about to change. With a new layout we are now printing this issue in 500 copies. And to improve even more, we now not only employ the exchange students in Taiwan as writers but also the students Chalmers has in the rest of Asia. Now you will be able to read articles from such exotic places as Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and of course Taiwan.

Our hope is that you read and enjoy our Asia Bulletin.

If you are a student of Chalmers and discover that you too want come over here and experience everything that Asia has to offer, all the better.

Kajsa Beijer-Olsen Tomas Björklund

Editor in Chief Editor

Letter from the head of office

Asia is Hot!

Not only are we still enjoying the summer heat here in Taiwan - Asia is boiling! Few have been able to avoid the massive amount of reporting about Asia and particular China this year. The development on this side of the world is definitely an economic force to be reckoned with, as China affects everything, from steel & oil pricing to low cost manufacturing. Companies are completely convinced that they have to come here. Although there are varying degrees of preparedness, conviction, and attitudes, everyone shares the same desire…

Chalmers University of Technology is taking part in Asia’s fast growing trend. Recently, an agreement was signed between Chalmers University of Technology, Royal Institute of Technology and Karolinska Institutet for research collaborations with corresponding institutions in Shanghai and Beijing.

This is the third year Chalmers Asia Office is operating at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. The development of Chalmers Asia Office and National Chiao Tung University has been able to keep pace with the ever-changing landscape in Taiwan as well as all of Asia and the rest of the world. Over the past three years we have witnessed many positive changes pushing NCTU towards a position of leadership in education in Taiwan, and pushing the Taiwanese high tech industry to become a major player in the global economy.

PONTUS CLAESSON

Head of Office

asiaOffice

Major Events at the Office

A new school year has started at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan and nine new exchange students from Chalmers in Sweden arrived during the summer. After six weeks of studying Chinese and a few more on the roads discovering Asia, the autumn semester started and with that, work at the Chalmers Asia office.

At the end of the first week in Taiwan, the newly arrived students participated in Global Village, a convention organized

by AIESEC (Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales), to promote Sweden and Chalmers.

On the 13th of October the official opening of the office was held. It was an open house event with free sandwiches and yoghurt drinks. Many Taiwanese students attended the event and hopefully a few of them will be seen wandering the Chalmers campus next autumn.

In October our office was visited by Elias Ek, President of the local company Enspyre. He gave us an interesting insight into entrepreneurship in Taiwan and was enthusiastic to know more about Chalmers Asia.

Chalmers’ Pro-Vice President Lena Gustavsson visited us in late October. She was shown everything that Taipei and Hsinchu had to offer. The visit was a big success, with a lot of reciprocal information sharing.

Throughout the autumn, office staff has also been sent out to cover events in connection with the office’s missions.

As you can read on page 16, Pontus Claesson and Håkan Olsson has visited the Anhui Province in China together with a Swedish business delegation led by Göte Bernhardsson, Governor of Västra Götaland. In the next issue you will also be able to read about Kajsa Beijer-Olsen’s visit to a design convention in Singapore.

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asiaOffice

REPRESENTATIVES THIS SEMESTER

From left: Anders

Erik Z

Carl

Erik A

Karolina

Kajsa

Tomas

Pontus

Jacob

Håkan

PONTUS CLAESSON, Head of Office, is a student at NCTU’s

ANDERS FRICK, representative, is working with Chalmers Asia’s

Institute of Management of Technology. Pontus has a background in Mechanical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology.

corporate relations. Anders is currently writing his master thesis at NCTU’s Institute of Management of Technology and has a M.Sc. from the Linköping University.

HÅKAN OLSSON, Deputy Head of Office, is currently working on CARL HEDIN, representative, is working with creating an alumni

his master thesis about Hybrid Engines at the Mechanical Industry Research Laboratories (MIRL), a laboratory in the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), located in Hsinchu. Håkan has a background in Engineering Physics at Chalmers University of Technology.

database of Asian Chalmers graduates. Carl is a student at NCTU’s Electrical Engineering department and has a background in Engineering Physics at Chalmers University of Technology.

JACOB LINDMARK, representative, is working with Chalmers

Asia’s corporate relations and with the student exchange program between Chalmers and NCTU. Jacob is a student at NCTU’s Institute of Management of Technology and has a background in Engineering Physics at Chalmers University of Technology.

ERIK ALEXANDERSSON, representative, is working with creating

an alumni database of Asian Chalmers graduates. Erik is a student at NCTU’s Computer Science department and has a background in Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology.

KAROLINA NORSTEDT, representative, is working with Chalmers

group and is together with Tomas editor of the Chalmers Asia Bulletin. Kajsa is a student at NCTU’s Institute of Management of Technology and has a background in Industrial Design and Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology.

Asia’s corporate relations and with the student exchange program between Chalmers and NCTU. Karolina is a student at NCTU’s Institute of Management of Technology and has a background in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers University of Technology.

TOMAS BJÖRKLUND, representative, is part of the Information

ERIK ZOTTERMAN, representative, is working with Chalmers

group and is webmaster of the Chalmers Asia web site. Together with Kajsa, Tomas is also editor of the Chalmers Asia Bulletin.

Tomas is a student at NCTU’s Computer Science department and has a background in Engineering Physics at Chalmers University of Technology.

Asia’s corporate relations and with the student exchange program between Chalmers and NCTU. Erik is a student at NCTU’s Institute of Management of Technology and has a background in Mechanical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology.

KAJSA BEIJER-OLSEN, representative, is part of the Information

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asiaOffice

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First Anniversary for NCTU Europe

BY ANDERS FRICK

With Chinese delicacies, special imported green tea and song, NCTU Europe celebrated its one-year-anniversary in September. Many visitors took the chance to visit and congratulate the Taiwanese office at Chalmers in Sweden.

Since two years, Chalmers has an office at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. One year ago, an equivalent office was opened at Chalmers, with students from NCTU being responsible for the operations. The mission for the office is, among others, to increase and facilitate academic exchanges between the two universities. – The exchange between NCTU and Chalmers is very important in many ways, also for increasing the general understanding between east and west, says vicepresident Lena Gustafsson in her birthday speech to the yearling.

Fried buns, green bean soup and exclusive tea were just some of the delicacies which were served, to give an insight to the Chinese food culture. – It tastes really good, I am dreaming myself back to Taiwan while eating this, says Andreas Sigurdsson, who was the Head of Office at Chalmers Asia two years ago.

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asiaReports

MADE IN TAIWAN .......sorry, BY TAIWAN

BY ERIK ZOTTERMAN

News about industries that move their production facilities to low cost countries such as China is something that we have had to get used to in Sweden the last years. There is an ongoing discussion about the future of the Swedish manufacturing industry in the media and in the political arena. How can Sweden compete with a country like China, with its large population and low labour costs?

This question is not only posed in

and other western countries, it’s also being widely discussed in Taiwan.

Recently, the debate about companies moving to China has flourished. The media are suggesting that the era of “Made in Taiwan” is over, reporting about closing factories and workers losing their jobs as production is moving to the mainland.

Sweden

Taiwan was once called the world’s

“manufacturing kingdom” and seemed to be able to produce almost any low end product to a highly competitive price. In the rest of the world, “Made in Taiwan” was an expression roughly used to describe products produced in a foreign country.

As Taiwan’s manufacturing industry developed, production of labour intensive goods started to move out to low cost countries and was replaced by production of more capital and knowledge intensive products, such as computer parts and consumer electronics. Since, the Taiwanese high-tech industry has boomed and moved from original equipment manufacturing (OEM) of floppy discs and other low-end electronics, to designing notebooks for brands such as Dell, HP and Apple, even launching their own highly successful notebook and cell phone brands. Last year, 74 percent of all notebooks sold in the

world were produced by Taiwanese firms.

But a few years ago a massive relocation of the Taiwanese notebook industry to China began. It was completed in October 2005, when the last assembly line shut down and was turned in to a warehouse, leaving many Taiwanese workers unemployed.

Manufacturers said the relocation was inevitable, since hardened competition and plunging notebook prices had forced them to cut their production costs. The average labour wage in Taiwan is about five times that in mainland China and the land costs on the other side of the Taiwan Strait is much lower than that on the island.

Notebook PC manufacturing has been one of the top-10 information technology (IT) and electronics sectors in Taiwan in the past 10 years. With manufacturing moved to the other side of the strait Taiwanese notebook producers are even more successful. Global notebook sales are expected to reach about 58 million units this year, and over 45 million units will be delivered by Taiwanbased companies.

It was this move that triggered the recent discussion about the future of Taiwan’s high-tech industry. If the notebook production can be moved from Taiwan which industry is next? Part of Taiwan’s semiconductor production has already moved to China, but the Taiwanese

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“One of the main reasons that companies move production to China is to get closer to Chinas domestic market.”

Professor Benjamin Yuan

asiaReports

The smiling curve government prohibits the manufacturers to move out their most knowledge insensitive production, in order to safeguard Taiwan’s competitiveness. Manufacturers however, are pushing for less government regulations and the final word has yet to be said in the matter. Taiwan might lose its role as the world’s manufacturer of high-tech goods and consequently needs to take on another.

IN A SPEECH on October 4 2005 the

president of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian hailed Taiwan’s success in developing into a knowledge economy. He called for joint efforts to create high quality Taiwanese brands, saying Taiwan must break into the world market competitively with its own distinguished brand names to sustain its economy. Keeping roots in Taiwan and exploring the global market will be the government’s number one economic agenda Chen Shui-bian said.

THE SUCCESS OF ACER is a good example

of this strategy. Since year 2000 Acer has moved from subcontractor and computer manufacturer to a company solely focusing on computer design, distribution and marketing. Hiring contract manufacturers to ship Acer-branded machines from factories in mainland China directly to distributors, Acer has become the fifth biggest computer brand in the world and is aiming for third place by year 2008.

The founder of Acer, Stan Shih,

illustrated this strategy with “the smiling curve” showing the benefits of moving from OEM to original brand manufacturer (OBD). Instead of focusing on the middle of the curve (manufacturing) Taiwanese companies should focus more on the activities at both ends of the smiling curve (Brand making and R&D) because they provide higher value. The manufacturing part of a product which has very low profit margin can preferably be moved to low cost countries since Taiwan can’t compete with cheap labour cost. As a result of this strategy Acer’s computers might not be made in Taiwan, but they are certainly made by Taiwan.

With that said not everyone agrees that the smiling curve is the absolute problem solver. “Ideally it would be done like the smiling curve suggests but I don’t think it is that simple”, says Professor Benjamin Yuan, founder of the Institute of Technology Management at Taiwan National Chiao Tung University. “Even if it could be done, research and development jobs can’t replace the ones that are lost in production.” Professor Yuan suggests that by improving productivity and focusing on quality production the profit margin from manufacturing can be higher. He continues; “One of the main reasons that companies move production to China is to get closer to Chinas domestic market.

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This is Taiwan’s biggest problem. Our well developed manufacturing know-how is our advantage but we don’t have a market big enough to attract investors.” He also warns that the Chinese market in many cases still is just a potential market and not yet a real one. It changes very rapidly which means that companies that are successful now might fail tomorrow. Professor Yuan says “Moving to China means taking a big risk”, but concludes; “so does ignoring it”.

FACING CHALLENGES similar to the ones we

have in Sweden, Taiwanese industries will have to go trough many changes to be able to keep old jobs or create new ones. And with the experience of transforming from an agricultural economy into the world’s biggest manufacturer of high-tech goods in half a century, Taiwan has the advantage of being used to constant change.

The era of “Made in Taiwan” might be over, but the era of “Made by Taiwan” has just begun.

Kuala Lumpur

IMPRESSIONS FROM URBAN

asia

Shanghai

Hong Kong

BY HÅKAN OLSSON As I grew up in a small village in Sweden, I have always been a lover of the wonders of nature, and as far as I can remember I have never had any affection towards city life; a life comprised of a grey mass of humanity roaming around the streets, and everyone from everywhere heading towards different directions. However, in Asia it has been so different; each city has showed me something I have never seen before. The marvels that have completely overwhelmed my heart I cannot describe; although, with the help of a few photographs I hope my humble words can give a glimpse of what causes my heart to beat faster in the impressions of urban Asia.

TAIPEI

BANGKOK

My journey started in Taiwan, a country with the highest density of factories, cell phones and motor vehicles in the world.

Figures actually show that its 23 million inhabitants own more than 13 million scooters. Therefore I could not find any reason not to become a biker myself, now conveniently travelling wherever I feel like.

In the wide-spread capital Taipei, the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101, is now aiming towards the sky. Reaching 500 meters above ground it is right in the middle of a bustling modern city centre. Noticeable is that the Chinese lucky number “8”, which stands for fortune and prosperity, has been built into the segments of its bamboo-like structure. But, no matter how impressive Taipei 101 is, what I really love about Taiwan are the numerous night markets with plenty of delicious food, as well as the fighting spirit and hospitality of the Taiwanese people.

Then it was Bangkok, which is a far cry from being qualified as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Yet it offers some of the most splendid palaces and temples you can ever imagine.

Apart from the breathtaking views of the these so called Watts, I especially recall the happy faces of the Thai hawkers and the suits I bought from one of the many praiseworthy tailors in the tourist Mecca of Bangkok; Koh San Road.

KUALA LUMPUR After I had explored the awesome jungles of Malaysia, I ended up in KL, a city that has shown a tremendous growth during the past decade and has become cleaner and more modern than any European city. From this point of view Bangkok and KL are poles apart. Still Kuala Lumpur offers a delightful Chinatown with night markets reminding me of those in Taiwan.

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Bangkok

Taipei

Taipei

SINGAPORE

SHANGHAI

From KL down the west coast of Malaysia I now landed in the cleanest city in the world, Singapore. Due to the British colonial era, Singapore has a lot of European influences. Sometimes the city felt a little bit artificial, which was definitely true considering the Sentosa Island, which has been built up as a recreational oasis for the Singaporeans. In the cable car to Sentosa I saw the magnificent skyline of Singapore with its busy harbour, with a capacity of 80,000 ships every year.

In the heart of the 21st century China I will end my story.

It is here every idea of China is turned upside down; it is here my heart is beating faster then ever; it is here in Shanghai, with its nearly 14 million residents, a unique and prosperous merge of western and Chinese fashions, architecture and cultures has evolved.

The British colonial district called the Bund offers a lovely walk with a grand view across the river towards the booming Pudong area, with the TV-tower as the landmark of Shanghai.

The French district with all its charming coffee shops certainly gives a feeling of direct teleportation to France.

At last, with the world’s largest harbour and a double digit growth rate, there is no doubt that, although with Chinese characteristics, capitalism prevails in Shanghai.

HONG KONG With nearly 7 million inhabitants jammed in an area less then 2.5 times the size of Gothenburg, the skyline of Hong Kong was beyond my wildest imagination. Especially as the Hong Kong territory mostly consists of mountains, resulting in urban population densities of about 40,000 persons per sq. km in some districts, which by all means is definitely one of the highest in the world. And I must say that the beauty and soul of Hong Kong is in this skyscraper jungle. In spite of it all, this city has much to offer, examples range from easily accessible sandy beaches to manifold cuisines from every corner of the world.

Now it has been almost one and a half years since I took my first uncertain steps in Asia. Since then, I have had the opportunity to travel around several different cities, all of which have overwhelmed me by their own unique nature. And I am convinced that the creative souls of Urban Asia have broadened my horizons in many ways.

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asiaReports

PREDICTING TYPHOONS –fitting extreme weather into everyday life

In Taiwan cyclonic storms are very

common and when they have wind gusts over 53 km/h they are called typhoons.

This name is specific for tropical cyclones that are created in the northwest Pacific.

In other places they are called hurricanes or just cyclones. In an average year Taiwan is hit by four typhoons and in the year 2001 the island was severely hurt by the typhoons Toraji and Nari, killing 200 and 100 people respectively.

BY JACOB LINDMARK Those who follow the news can almost daily see a storm making landfall and causing casualties and heavy destruction in some part of the world. But aside from being a potential killer, big storms are for some regions a part of everyday life, a part that should not be underestimated but one that people find a way of living together with.

AN IMPORTANT FUNCTION that enables created opportunities for completely new the people of Taiwan to have a normal prediction models. A fundamental problem life even though typhoons are frequent is of typhoon forecasting is the shortage of the forecasting and reporting of incoming measurements to base your predictions on. typhoons. The agency responsible for this Over land there are strategically located is the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) in weather measurement stations in most Taipei. They have a constant watch over parts of the world, but over the great all storms potentially affecting Taiwan. oceans the measurement points are very Chalmers Asia met George Lu, the Section widely separated. The few measurements Chief of the Severe Tropical Storm Section that can be received from the oceans at CWB. He guided us through their come from islands, and from ships carrying facilities, which were measurement In the year 2001 the island equipment. like any other office except for a big The collected was severely hurt by the number of massive measurements typhoons Toraji and Nari, monitors showing are shared killing 200 and 100 people according to weather systems under observation. regulations respectively.

He explained that from the the working hours of the scientists are United Nations World Meteorology heavily depending on the current risks Organisation. Measurements are put into a facing Taiwan. A few years ago he had to virtual grid on which scientists numerically stay in the office for two weeks to keep solve a set of fluid dynamic equations track of an unusually persistent typhoon. which can give a hint about the weather Since a severe storm can travel conditions at a later point in time. vast distances over water, forecasting of severe storms is of global interest APART FROM SHARING measurement data and this has become increasingly well the forecast agencies around the world now recognized by the world community. share their final predictions. In the region Today the foundation of the predictions around Taiwan there are four agencies is information sharing and this has that produce and share predictions: the

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respective agencies of Taiwan, China, Japan and the United States. With these four sources of predictions it is possible, by taking an average, to substantially increase the reliability of the prediction.

This way of taking several predictions into account is called ensembled forecasting and has reduced the average error for a 24 hour forecast of the movement of a typhoon from 170 km 10 years ago to 95 km today.

To further improve the precision of forecasts the need for a vertical profile is recognized as the most important. This means that apart from having information from different points on the surface of the earth it would improve the results greatly to also have information about the conditions at different heights in the atmosphere. This information can be collected in several ways. One of current interest is using pilotless planes. In October 2005 the typhoon Longwang was the first typhoon to be successfully analysed with a pilotless plane. The Central News Agency reports that the plane hovered around the typhoon centre for nearly an hour collecting data about wind speed and temperature at different heights before its engine stalled, causing it to plunge into the sea.

asiaReports

Asia on Display

BY ERIK ALEXANDERSSON Hi-tech display manufacturing is totally dominated by Asia. There are only three big nations when it comes to small/medium displays, Japan who invented and developed the technologies, Korea who took manufacturing a step further and Taiwan attacking with price.

Small display production has been fuelled

mainly by the mobile phone market, which account for about 75 percent of sales. At present the small display market has very few standard designs. This variety in display sizes, shapes and specifications might be the only thing saving the market from complete commoditization. Bear in mind that this is likely to change, as large manufacturers settle on standard designs to benefit from economy of scale and crush smaller companies. The large display market, on the other hand, is very standardized in terms of display size.

Interesting to note is that there is only one company that manufactures both large and small sized LCD panels, namely Sharp. This derives from the fact that it is more cost efficient to make large LCD panels in the latest generations of factories, while the opposite is true for small LCDs. Since Japan was an early player in the market and already had factories when newer generations emerged, they focused on small sized displays while South Korea and Taiwan started producing large size panels.

Even though there has been a remarkable growth in the market, the pressure on prices is high, and margins for the producers are very low . This is mainly the result of two factors. One is the high rate at which new competitors enter the market, and the other is due to the quick adoption and upbringing of new factory generations resulting in periods of overcapacity.

ONE CRITICAL FACTOR FOR SUCCESS in the LCD market is to combat low

factory utilisation during oversupply by diversifying the amount of products offered. Another way to make sure that customers will continue or even raise their existing rate of orders is to be positioned as a high ranked company and thereby make customers interested in maintaining a relationship. Also important to consider is that if the first shipments from newly established factories are in perfect timing with the cycles of overproduction and short supply, considerable gains can be made.

Taiwan’s ability to compete with price as a latecomer in the market is mainly explained by its flexible industrial structure with many small businesses.

This structure is characterised by rapid turnover of firms and with newcomers establishing their place in the market by forcing old-timers out of business.

How this rapidly emerging market will take form in the future is difficult to say, but one thing is for certain: People want big displays. And flat.

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TFT Thin Film Transistor Transistors applied to a surface as a thin film. This is the most common production technique for modern displays, including LCD and OLED.

LCD Liquid Crystal Display Two perpendicularly arranged polarizing filters and liquid crystals in between. By applying a voltage over the crystals the polarization of the light is turned 90 degrees so that it can get through the filters.

CRT Cathode Ray Tube An electron beam is moved back and forth over the back of the screen. Phosphor dots hit by the electrons are excited and thereby illuminated. This is your standard thick television set.

FED Field Emission Display Similar operation as CRT, but with different type of electron emitters. Instead of one gun spraying electrons, FED uses several small electron emitting cathodes.

PDP Plasma Display Panel Gas in plasma state is used to react with phosphor to create light. These phosphor atoms are the same types as used in CRT.

OLED Organic Light Emitting Diode Coloured light is produced by recombination of electrons and holes in a polymer. The colour of the light depends on the type of polymer.

asiaReports

Visiting Swedish Corporations in Shanghai

By Pontus Claesson, Håkan Olsson

During the summer Chalmers Asia Office has made two visits to investigate the working environment for foreigners in China, especially in Shanghai. In addition research has been conducted as to how attractive Swedish students, in particular students from Chalmers, are to Swedish companies in Shanghai. The answers were consistent– Swedish students have a lot to contribute in Shanghai – if they are prepared to stay for a while.

Shanghai is a melting pot of foreign companies. It is no

coincidence that they have their China representation just there.

Shanghai and the Yangtze Delta have a long tradition of trade with other parts of the world, and have represented the concentration of China’s trade for centuries. All the large Swedish companies are represented in Shanghai – ABB, Ericsson, SCA, SKF, Volvo, etc., together with thousands of others.

Academic Institutions in Shanghai The outstanding economical development in Eastern Asia during the 20th century has not merely attracted companies. The region has also experienced an establishment of several academic institutions.

We have been in contact with two of these institutions in Shanghai: Nordic Centre at Fudan University and SMIT Centre at Shanghai University. Nordic Centre is an association, which took form ten years ago, with the purpose to support and act as a link between some Northern European Universities and Fudan University.

The Centre regularly arranges joint Nordic-Chinese conferences, workshops, courses and open lectures on a wide variety of topics.

Nordic Centre in its present constitution has no direct cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology. During the ten years that Nordic Centre has been operating, the academic exchanges between European Universities and Fudan University have essentially been about Sinology, Humanistic and Economic studies, as Fudan University is not a technology oriented university.

The collaboration is still highly interesting for Chalmers University, especially as things happen fast in technology development. The Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan) in Stockholm is the newest member of the Nordic Centre.

SMIT – Sino-Swedish Micro System Integration Technology Centre is a joint research project together with Chalmers University of Technology and Shanghai University. In brief, Shanghai University provides the buildings for the research lab and Chalmers supplies the research equipment. The research team consists of professors and doctorial students from both Sweden and China. The Centre was established to conduct world-class research on micro systems and microelectronics integration by focusing on new technology for future micro systems in industrial

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“Be prepared, and try to gain some experience of Asia

before taking employment in China.”

applications. SMIT Centre gave us a warm welcome and expressed their enthusiasm over a more extensive collaboration with students from Chalmers University. Students who are interested in the area of micro technology for thesis work are very welcome to contact SMIT and Shanghai University.

Manufacturing in China; SKF Shanghai Bearings Co., Ltd. Many companies have hit the Yangtze Delta area to lower their manufacturing costs. Although the cost of manufacturing is currently rising, it is still beneficial to locate factories there. The land around Shanghai city is constantly explored by new industrial parks and new residential areas are popping up around company buildings, customized for a convenient living close to work.

SKF bearing factory is located in the Pudong Development Zone of Shanghai and is a joint venture between SKF (60% ownership) and Shanghai Bearing Group Co. Ltd. (40% ownership).

At present SKF has five joint ventures in China for production and manufacturing, but are planning for further expansion. The foreign manufacturers not only bring factories of their own, but also of their long-term suppliers. Gilles Ofcard, Product Manager at the SKF factory in Pudong Development Zone, believe that this phenomenon creates an additional dimension to manufacturing in

Gilles Ofcard, SKF

China as it guarantees sustainability to foreign investors coming to a fast growing and unstable China. If a trusted supplier in Europe follows your company to China, you tend to hold on to that relationship and both parts can benefit from lowered costs.

The SKF factory manufactures bearings for electronic motors and household appliances. Three of six production lines are in place in the factory’s 9,000 square feet area, and the plant will employ around 200 workers.

Due to the high rate of SKF’s planned expansion in Asia, there is also need for an expanded work force. SKF in Shanghai therefore has a positive attitude towards providing opportunities for master thesis work, although anyone who is interested in this has to come up with ideas themselves. On the question about hiring Swedish new graduates to work in Shanghai, Gilles Ofcard mentioned that there is always a need for knowledgeable people.

The chief problem right now is to keep them for a longer period of time. Many of the people that comes to China and Shanghai leaves after just a couple of months because the environment and living conditions was not as they expected. Be prepared, and try to gain some experience of Asia before taking employment in China, is Gilles Ofcard’s tip to people interested in starting their career in the Middle Kingdom.

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Shanghai Ericsson Simtek Electronics Co., Ltd. Another establishment in Shanghai that feels genuinely Swedish is the Ericsson Corporations. Ericsson represents a large scope of industries, from the dynamic telecom industry to manufacturing of sophisticated electronic devices.We visited the Shanghai Ericsson Simtek Electronics Co., located in the Jiading district of Shanghai, and met with President Åke Fahlén.

As the leading supplier of power solutions, the company focuses on the communication industry for advanced applications such as radio base stations and switches/routers. Moreover, the products are used in solutions for medical, avionics, computing, military, space and industrial market sectors.

Ericsson Simtek has 148 employees in Shanghai. 80 of them are blue-collar workers, and the rest are technicians, engineers and administrative personnel.

The plant’s extremely clean environment, required for the manufacturing process, gives a feeling of a laboratory, or an operating theatre, rather than a traditional factory.

The company is a part of Ericsson Power Modules, with the work is done. Therefore President Fahlén says: “It is here [in additional manufacturing carried out at facilities in Kalmar, Shanghai] things really happen.”

Of course China has its drawbacks as well and the first thing Sweden. Design centers are equally divided between Sweden and Shanghai with support of Plano, USA. In addition, sales activities mentioned is the difficulty in admitting mistakes. Futhermore though cultural differences occasionally cause misunderstandings, are spread all over the world.

Ericsson as a whole is a company dedicated to invest heavily in it has become clear to him that “culture is just a shell with R&D and actively promote open standards similar human beings inside”. He President Fahlén, Ericsson, and systems. Since the foundation in 1876, has observed that we share a lot of says: “it is here things really Ericsson has had an ongoing commitment values and behaviours. With time, happen”. to technological leadership that has as trust is established, employees resulted in one of the industry’s most comprehensive intellectual become increasingly confident, which results in a better working property portfolio containing over 16,000 patents and an additional environment and people who dare to take risks. If you want to be 15,000 patent applications pending approval by various patent a market leader, this is considered a must. authorities. The headquarters are located in Stockholm, Sweden.

On the question regarding benefits and drawbacks of working Shanghai is the heart of China that will keep on beating faster in China, Åke Fahlén easily list a number of benefits. Employees and faster for many years to come. So if you want an extraordinary in general are more committed and aim to go full speed ahead challenge, be prepared for the differences and get ready to open while sticking to decisions. With less prestige and more flexibility, your eyes for what is hidden beneath the surface. Be humble, and a solution can always be found and everybody keeps going until you will achieve respect.

14

asiaReports

To ban or not to ban…

- Is the banning of literature a hinderance for growth and creativity?

BY KAROLINA NORSTEDT

Though it was the most popular book of 1999 in China,

suspended for three months and its 26-year-old author, Wei Hui, “Shanghai Baby” was banned throughout the country since it was was put under tremendous pressure as she was publicly ridiculed determined by Beijing Press and Publication to be pornographic and criticized. The People's Daily attacked Wei Hui's professional and immoral in nature. Consequently, in accordance with the skills by declaring that she is one of "these pretty women simplest of mechanisms this led to a hysteria in the Western writers, who have split from the solid foundation of Chinese world. creative writing and the rich historic and cultural background of “Shanghai Baby” tells the story of Coco, a young urban woman Chinese literature, who know a smattering of Marguerite Duras with a desperate desire to become famous. Struggling to write the and Henry Miller and dare jump onto the stage to do a striptease, novel that will realize her dream, she meets and falls deeply in will eventually feel ashamed of themselves." love with a fragile and almost feminine artist, Tian-Tian. Their love Apart from the legal implications, the Chinese government’s for each other is remarkably strong and their blissful happiness decision to ban “Shanghai Baby” shows an intolerance of cultural would be complete, were it not for the fact that Tian-Tian is heterogeneity that threatens to affect the country’s intellectual impotent. Though constantly plagued by her bad conscience, Coco and creative growth. In China, where one of the current critical issues is to improve the breeding is unapologetic in her desire for both for innovations, it seems emotional and sexual satisfaction. To The banning of “Shanghai Baby” was ground unwise to curb the interactions her rescue comes a tall Westerner, accompanied by the police publicly of contrasting ideas. Countless Mark, who is everything that Tianraiding several book fairs. revolutionary ideas in history Tian is not and with whom she have challenged mental hurdles explores a lustful affair.

The descriptions are consistently immediate and rich in enforced by tradition, custom or moral inhibition. Despite facing details but the depiction of kisses, intercourse and female such opposition initially they have survived, owing to firm believers masturbation are no more explicit than in many European or advocating their value. Before the ban, “Shanghai Baby”, with American novels, and unlikely to be perceived as particularly its controversial contents caused numerous debates among the shocking in the West. A reader not so knowledgeable about Chinese people. Whether these debates would have led to a China might even wonder what the fuss is all about. However, general acceptance or rejection of the novel is unimportant, in a country where everything related to sexuality and even but they would have been a step towards cultural diversity and romance is considered deeply immoral, even as recently as in the possibly to new ideas.

1970s, their reaction is sure to be somewhat different. Thus, it was

primarily on account of the explicit sex that the book was banned.

Without denying that Wei Hui is a talented writer, it is not the

novel itself that makes “Shanghai Baby” so interesting, but rather The banning of “Shanghai Baby” was accompanied by the police the stir it has caused. Read it, not for the extraordinary story but publicly raiding several book fairs in Beijing and confiscating copies for the implicit account of the contradictions present in modern of the novel. The publishing house responsible for the book was China.

15

Western Sweden strengthens the relationship with China

BY HÅKAN OLSSON, PONTUS CLAESSON

In the foreground Consul General Lars Andreasson and Governor Göte Bernhardsson observing a model of the industrial estate of Haier.

In late September the governor of Västra Götaland, Göte

Bernhardsson, led a delegation of businessmen and University representatives to Hefei, which is located in Anhui province, south eastern China. The purpose of the delegation was to strengthen the relationship between the two provinces.

To fulfil his obligation, governor Bernhardsson involved acknowledged businessmen such as Carl Bennet, the main shareholder of Getinge and Erlanders; in addition to representatives from all large-scale enterprises on the West coast of Sweden: ABB, Ericsson, SCA, SKF and AB Volvo among others.

In order to establish a fruitful cooperation on all levels, delegates from The Chamber of Commerce and The ConsulateGeneral were present; as well as The Chalmers University of Technology, as the main scientific research centre on the west coast of Sweden. Chalmers was represented by the executive body of the Chalmers Asia Office, Pontus Claesson and Håkan Olsson.

JAC Automotive Co., Ltd. Haier had several factory buildings, including one aimed for production of television sets. The assembly lines were all filled with hard working labour, earning about 1.500 Swedish kronor a month, including social fees.

On the other hand, the industrial visit to Anhui JAC Automotive Co., Ltd. offered a glance at a more or less fully automatic production. Noticeable was that both factories were as clean as or possibly cleaner than most factories in Sweden.

The industrial visits followed by further briefings of Anhui,

another meeting with political delegates and a twelve-course dinner hosted by the hospital Anhui representatives. The climax of the delegation was approaching when the later political conference was held, resulting in the signing of the partnership agreement between Västra Götaland and Anhui.

After the warm welcome offered by the Anhui delegates

The first day of the convention started with information

concerning the flourishing Anhui. This was held in a convention centre in central Hefei, recently constructed in traditional Dutch surroundings . Hefei is nowadays a prosperous city, experiencing a yearly growth rate of 14 %, compared with 8 % as a whole in China and only a few percentages in Sweden. Since the governor visited Anhui five years ago, Hefei has already achieved a 100 % economic growth.

After the presentation, the members of the delegation were introduced to two successful establishments in Hefei, Haier, a manufacturer of major appliances and electronics, and Anhui

during the first day, it was time to show what Western Sweden could offer Anhui. So therefore, the Swedish representatives introduced the multicultural industries and Universities to an impressed audience.

Finally the interest from the Chinese side to establish a

fruitful co-operation was well pronounced during the following matchmaking. It might however take a few more years before the fruits of the unity are ready for harvest. However, as it is commonly spoken, the one who is not on board when the giant ship set sails, might experience a hard time chasing it.

16

asiaReports

Miracle Mobile Market

BY CARL HEDIN The

Taiwanese

mobile

market

is

unique. Eight years ago it virtually

didn’t exist. The Directorate General of Telecommunications (DGT) enjoyed a complete government monopoly on all telecommunications on the island. By 1997 both an analogue and a digital network were live, but there were less than 1.5 million subscribers out of a population of 22.5 million. Then came privatization. State owned Chunghwa Telecom formed out of DGT, and set out to operate in the newly deregulated mobile market. New telecom companies sprung up like flowers in spring, and the fight for new subscribers became fierce, to say the least. By 2002 Taiwan had raced past all other countries in the world and now had 23.9 million subscribers. That is a 106% market penetration. It rose to as high as 113% in 2003, before it started to decline while the operators shifted their focus from increasing the number of subscribers to increasing their revenue. In less than five years Taiwan went from being the 20th most mobile dense market in the world to becoming number one.

Then what? The incredible growth in the

wireless communication sector was mainly based on just adding more and more people to utilize the service. Of course that will

become difficult once you reach a market penetration higher than 100%. The mobile market in Taiwan has reached maturity.

The hype is gone. In the past few years the pace have been very different from the years of the great expansion. But that doesn’t mean that these years have been less important in the shaping of one of the world’s most interesting mobile markets.

Like elsewhere in the world operators tend to cooperate these days. Several big mergers have occurred and we’re now left with three equally strong operators, not counting the upstart CDMA2000 3G operator Asia-Pacific Broadband Wireless.

While the private operators Far EasTone and Taiwan cellular have been busy with acquisitions and mergers, state owned Chunghwa Telecom has had their own ordeal as the government has sold out most CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access) - 3G standard developed in USA, evolution of 2G CDMA technology UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) - 3G standard developed in Europe/Japan, based on WCDMA (Wideband CDMA) technology, built to replace GSM

17

of it’s stock in the company. Therefore the competition these last years have been almost absent. The future growth of the mobile market is highly depending on the use of data services. Even though the Taiwanese are considered to be high tech, they still mostly use their mobile phones for voice communication. Asia-Pacific Broadband Wireless never managed to really exploit their head start and get the 3G market going.

However, now it seems like something

is stirring, and it could very well be the awakening of the Taiwanese 3G dragon.

Ericsson has since 2002 had a 3G test centre for the operators to utilize and prepare for the introduction of the European UMTS 3G standard in Taiwan. All three big operators have commercialized their 3G services during the third quarter of 2005. In September 2005 Nokia opened their first 3G based Mobile Services Development Centre, a joint program with Taiwan’s Institute for Information Industry for the establishment of localized training centres.

Nokia also announced a partnership with Chunghwa Telecom to launch Taiwan’s first ever Mobisode campaign, the first mobile film festival to be held in the Asia Pacific region. Mobisodes are brief videos specifically designed to be watched on a mobile phone. Nokia’s main purpose of establishing this new type of centre in Taiwan, of all places, is to “share innovative products with the entire Chinese community”. China is the biggest mobile market in the world today, despite the fact that it still has a long way to go before it becomes saturated like Taiwan. Thanks to its big neighbour in the west, the mobile market in Taiwan has once again become one of world’s most important arenas of competition.

asiaReports

SINGAPOREAN LEADERSHIP

BY KARIN DAHLMAN

It is commonly known that decisions in Asia have to be made in consensus, but also that the climate is very hierarchical and the younger and less experienced are supposed to not disagree with their managers. Singapore, while being very influenced by Western societies, still has a very Asian mindset which made me wonder what the young professional Singaporeans think about leadership and decision making.

A COUNTRY WITH MANY NATIONALITIES The idea for this article came to my mind after finishing a quite troublesome assignment with three Singaporeans. I thought we had decided finally upon deadlines and responsibilities for the project, just to find a few days or weeks later that nothing had happened or – more often – someone had decided to do it in another way. Were our communication difficulties merely due to our personalities or did they arise because of cultural misunderstandings? Since I have only been in Singapore for three months I cannot say, but I have heard similar stories from many Europeans here, which makes it probable that even the young Singaporeans really think differently about decision making. For those not familiar with Singapore, I must add complexity; Singapore is a country of three large ethnic groups – the Chinese, the Malays and the Indians. To this comes a big number of short-term staying Chinese, Malays, Indians and other Asian people.

THE INTERVIEWEES In order to base this article on more than my personal thoughts – prejudices? – I have interviewed a couple of academics currently based in Singapore. The number of interviewees is not big enough to give statistically proved results, but they can give us some hints.

I have tried to find respondents with different backgrounds to give a more accurate picture of what people you will encounter when studying or working in Singapore. These are the people I interviewed; WEIWEI, 27 years and female, with a B.Sc. and working as a process

engineer. Chinese-Singaporean.

KRISTON, 32 years and female, with a Bachelor in Business Administration and currently working as an IT specialist. ChineseSingaporean.

HENNY, 28 years and female. Has a M.Sc. degree and works as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application analyst. Born in Indonesia but has lived in Singapore for more than five years.

MARTIN, 23 years and male. Currently studying full-time for his M.Sc. degree and arrived in Singapore half a year ago from Sweden.

HINAYAT, 25 years and male. Studying full-time for a M.Eng. degree.

Originally from Malaysia and has been in Singapore for less than one year.

RAZA, 39 years and male. Has a M.Sc. degree and works as a mechanical engineer. Originally from India, but has been in Singapore for about ten years.

18

To start with, how important do you think that consensus is for a decision in a group consisting of colleagues on the same level?

WEIWEI: Very important. The final decision

should have a clear reasoning behind it and be agreed upon by everyone.

KRISTON: It’s important.

HENNY: Very important.

MARTIN: Yes, very important.

HINAYAT: It’s very important since it helps create a healthy working relationship among the group members which is crucial for a successful company.

RAZA: Though it is important to have consensus on decisions, it may be difficult or

Which attributes do you connect with the word ‘leader’?

WEIWEI: Charismatic, driver, decisive and

effective.

KRISTON: Leading, guiding.

HENNY: Boss, head.

MARTIN: Knowledge, leadership skills, organizational and control skills, risk taking ability, no selfishness.

HINAYAT: A leader needs different attributes in different situations; e.g. good interpersonal skills, being a good listener, analytical skills, hard working, making decisions, taking initiatives and so on.

RAZA: Be a role model and mentor for subordinates.

This is my last question. In what way would you like to be viewed in your (future) position as a manager?

WEIWEI: Fair, capable, dependable.

KRISTON: As being receptive to suggestions

and opinions.

HENNY: As a successful manager who gains respect from sub-ordinates who are happy working under my management.

MARTIN: I want to have all the capabilities I have mentioned earlier.

HINAYAT: That depends on the people I am going to manage!

RAZA: I would like to be viewed as a dependable person, confident in words

...most managers will not tolerate a subordinate being smarter than him...

RAZA

not possible when the group of colleagues are at the same level.

What role does a leader have in your opinion?

WEIWEI: To drive, motivate and provide

guidance to the team.

KRISTON: The leader should be able to control the team during discussion and lead the team in a project.

HENNY: Give direction, guidance, freedom but still control, if needed.

MARTIN: He should organize and motivate, as well as control everyone as a father of a family.

HINAYAT: A leader should be able to organize and conduct a discussion.

RAZA: To guide, motivate and encourage subordinates to perform at a level higher than their position and take responsibility for all their actions. A leader should also identify their strengths & weaknesses and work sincerely for their growth without loosing the core objectives that must be accomplished.

Do you think it is acceptable, or even desirable, to disagree with your manager sometimes? If you do not agree with his/ her opinion, what do you usually do?

WEIWEI: It’s acceptable, but I’ll still do

what my boss says as he’s the boss and I don’t want to be disrespectful to him.

KRISTON: Yes. I will try to state my reasons for disagreeing with his/her opinion.

HENNY: It’s acceptable. I try to convey my opinion in a good and polite way.

MARTIN: I will say my opinion after hearing his words and mentality.

HINAYAT: It is definitely desirable but its acceptability depends on the attitude of the manager.

RAZA: It is desirable and acceptable for the good of the organization. Under conflict, the subordinate should place his points politely and with proving arguments.

Though in reality, most managers will not tolerate a subordinate being smarter than him, and will eventually start working against the subordinate and may even fire him.

19

and decisions, as a mentor and role model for others.

HIERARCHIES AND CHANGING TIMES What I think are the general conclusions from these interviews, are that consensus is truly important but the respondents put more focus on the manager being controlling and maybe not very tolerant towards criticism. When it comes to how the respondents would like to be viewed themselves though, their opinions are not far from how we in the Western countries view the leader’s role today. The Asian countries are in a very turbulent period; the attitude towards leadership might be changing with that too.

Karin Dahlman is on exchange at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

All play and no work makes jack a dull boy

BY FREDRIK JONES

Gaming addiction is becoming an ever increasing problem in Japan as incredible amounts of young men choose playing games in the comfort of their bedrooms rather than going to school or working.

20

asiaReports

During the last couple of years, U.S. and parts of

Europe have come to experience how a growing number of people, especially young men, seclude themselves from society; only to play computer games instead of going to school or getting a job. In Japan however, this behaviour is not something new at all.

Unlike Europe and the U.S, excessive gaming existed on a large scale in Japan long before the so called Massive Multi Player On-line Role Playing Games (MMORPG) became popular and brought large scale gaming addiction to the west.

Although Japan has been the home of most of the early gaming systems, the games have been available much to the same extent in U.S. and most parts of Europe as well .

The major difference between Japan and the west has been the way in which video games have become part of their mainstream culture, and how several thriving subcultures have spawned around either the games themselves, or simply around the actual concept of gaming.

IT HAS GONE SO FAR that Japan struggles with a growing

phenomenon known as “hikikomori”, which describes a state where predominantly young males withdraw themselves from any social activities and spend all of their time in their bedrooms playing games and reading manga. Harmless as it may sound, the Japanese Youth Development Association estimate that somewhere between 600.000 and 1.600.000 Japanese are currently suffering from hikikomori. It has been pointed out by several people that this could potentially be a serious threat to the Japanese economy, which is already struggling to make ends meet with an all time low birthrate on one hand, and an ever increasing life expectancy on the other. Removing such a huge amount of men of working age could seriously damage the Japanese economy.

Recognizing hikikomori as a serious problem, the Japanese government increased the funds spent battling this problem eightfold, from the previous 300 million yen ($2.7 million) to 2.3 billion yen ($20.5 million) annually, but critics still say this is still not nearly enough.

HIKIKOMORI USUALLY STARTS between age 15 and 20,

and sometimes keeps up for long periods of time; one

quarter of the hikimoris where estimated to have had this behaviour for over 10 years.

When searching for the reasons behind hikikomori, it is noticable that no other country has this problem even near the magnitude Japan does, despite having just as many players.

Interviews with people suffering from hikikomori suggests that the answer might lie not in the gaming culture itself, but in the culture of Japans schools. The immense pressure to perform well from very early ages proves to much for a lot of young people, who seek comfort and refuge in games rather than speak to somebody about their problems. Furthermore, it is often considered shameful to have a hikikomorian family member, hence the families rarely seek outside help, but passively wait for the hikikomori to ”grow out it”, which explains how some hikikomori have been able to live their lives like that in their parents homes for years. As hikikomori continues to grow as a phenomenon, support groups have been started to help these people deal with their disorder. It seemed obvious that the wait-and-see approach is not the way to go, so the natural thing to try seemed to bee the heads-on approach.

This does seem to work much better in terms of changing their behaviour, but it has caused some hikikomorians to turn aggressive (although some exhibit this behaviour even before an intervention), and it is uncertain if this approach really treats the person’s illness or just the symptoms. However; as the phenomenon of hikikomori transforms more and more from something private that you don’t discuss in public into a known illness, awareness of how and when to react spreads among parents, making them more likely to intervene in time, which makes the way back to real life less hard for the hikikomori.

Although hikikomori is still far from accepted as an illness in Japan, the common view seems to be changing, hopefully further helping hikikomorians to get the help they need to return to society.

Fredrik Jones is on exchange at Tokyo Institute of Technology.

21

China’s Competivness

BY KAROLINA NORSTEDT

China’s economic rise has been the topic of many discussions among investors and economists lately. In the October issue of “Far Eastern Economic Review”, Michael J Enright brings up the issue of China’s ability to compete in international markets, and whether the Chinese miracle will induce a change in the traditional notion of competitiveness. This article summarizes some of his key points.

China’s economy has been growing

So is China’s competitiveness only an

at a real rate of 9.5% for the last 25 years.

In recent years, its exports have grown at rates in excess of 20% per year. Nothing is indicating that these numbers will decrease anytime soon. However, focusing solely on numbers does not convey the whole picture. China is a poor nation. Its per capita incomes are similar to Egypt, Syria and Paraguay. Despite being the world’s third leading exporter in 2004, its share of world exports is appreciably lower than those of Germany and the U.S., while Japan, Russia, Canada, Ireland and Norway run higher trade surpluses. China’s share of world exports was slightly over 6% in 2004 and will in 2005 be closer to 8%.The World Economic Forum recently ranked China 57th out of 116 nations in business competitiveness – 12 places behind Ghana and 26 places behind India – and 49th in growth competitiveness.

illusion? The answer lies in comparing

apples to apples. China is both competitive and uncompetitive depending on the sector, the region or the basis of measurement.

While it dominates some industries, it is hopelessly weak in others. The export is concentrated in a limited number of laborintensive consumer goods. Having an export share in these industries of in some cases as much as 50% is sure to get the world’s attention.

Another part of the explanation has to do with China’s role in the pan-Asian production system. As the last stage, China is importing capital goods and advanced components from Japan and South Korea; other components from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore; and still other components and subassemblies from other Southeast Asian countries. These are assembled in China and the end-products

22

exported to the U.S. and Western Europe.

As export values are based on the value of the finished goods, rather than the value added, China aggregates the trade surplus of much of East Asia with these countries.

Furthermore, very few Chinese firms are internationally renowned or competitive.

Almost 60% of China’s exports are produced by foreign-invested enterprises.

These firms have in general chosen to locate their R&D, design, component production, marketing, sales, logistics and distribution outside of China. In addition, a large share of China’s export is controlled by major international retailers, or Hong Kongbased trading companies. Foreign invested enterprises, intermediaries and retailers thus invest in the R&D and management needed to produce, transport and sell the goods that China manufactures; and by doing so makes a lot more from it than Chinese firms do.

The limited geographic scope of China’s export economy is another aspect of the issue. Approximately three-quarters of the exports come from around 3% of its land mass. Since exports to a large extent consist of assembled imports, coastal locations reduce transportation costs and turn-around time. The fact that the infrastructure is limited, together with high labor mobility, has resulted in workers moving to the jobs, rather than the jobs to the workers. Not until now have China improved the infrastructure enough to shift manufacturing activity away from coastal regions.

In conclusion, China’s rise challenges the

conventional view on competitiveness. The rise of the Chinese economy implies that the traditional notion of competitiveness need to be changed to include not just what a nation has but also what it can attract.

China’s competitiveness stems from its ability to attract far more complementary resources than any other developing economy. The Chinese phenomenon has furthermore showed that competitiveness has to be determined region by region or industry by industry and not just country by country.

asiaReports

Dengue Fever in South East Asia

BY GUSTAV MINNHAGEN With 3 months left of the year the number of cases of dengue fever in Singapore has already exceeded 11,000. The previous record of dengue cases was 9,459 and was set in 2004.

Neighboring Malaysia has had 28,000 infections this year so far, and the Philippines and Thailand also have problem with the the disease. What is dengue fever and how dangerous is it?

Dengue can be found in Africa, the Americas, South-East Asia

and the Western Pacific. Recently mosquitoes carrying the disease have been found in Europe and North America also, so it is not only a disease available in the “third world” countries. South-East Asia and Western Pacific are the most affected parts in the world though. Dengue is found in urban and suburban areas unlike many other mosquito-borne diseases. Dengue in itself is not necessarily serious, it is the Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) that is of concern. DHF is a potentially lethal disease with at least 2.5 % of deadly outcome, especially children. Without proper treatment fatality rates can exceed 20 %, but with professional treatment the death rate can decrease to less than 1 %. During an epidemic usually 40-50 % of the susceptibles are bitten, but that rate can go up to 80-90 %.

Dengue fever symptoms are either mild fever, with or without rash, to abrupt high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains and rash. DHF symptoms are high fever, haemorrhagic phenomena (internal bleeding), enlargement of the liver and sometimes circulatory failure. DHF often begins with the same symptoms as dengue, together with a facial flush. The fever normally lasts for two to seven days and can be as high as 40-41˚ C. There is no specific treatment for dengue fever. However, experienced physicians and nurses can save lives through clinical

management, e.g. maintaining the circulating body fluid volume.

There are four kinds of dengue. If getting one kind the body develops anti-bodies, but those anti-bodies only protect fully against that kind of dengue virus. The anti-bodies only give partial protection to the other kinds of virus. It has been proved that every infection of dengue increases the risk of receiving DHF. Research is being made to develop vaccine for all four kinds of dengue virus, since a vaccine for one kind only would increase the risk of getting DHF.

TO PREVENT AND CONTROL the spread of dengue and DHF it’s important to combat the virus carrying mosquitoes. Aedes Aegypti breeds in containers, ceramic jars, used car tires, concrete cisterns for water storage and other things that collect rainwater. This mosquito is found in Asia and Africa. Aedes albopictus has spread from Asia to the USA, Latin America, the Caribbean, parts of Europe and Africa through the trade with used tires. The way to prevent and control these mosquitoes is to make sure there are no stagnant water in open (not covered) buckets and other containers in the household and using insecticides. Insecticides can be spread by aeroplane for example, but then it’s hard to reach the small indoor habitats where the mosquitoes are bred.

In Singapore the government is putting up ads everywhere to make people aware of the mosquitoes and the disease. The ads describe how to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. The government also makes sure mosquito breeding grounds are being fumigated with insecticides. Countries in this region seem to be very aware of preventing spreading of diseases, therefore there is no need to worry.

Gustav Minnhagen is on exchange at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

"DHF is a potentially deadly disease with at least 2.5 % of deadly outcome."

23

asiaReports

Sky scrape enlightenment The tallest building in the world is now open for visitors

BY ANDERS FRICK Taiwan has Taipei 101 – the world’s tallest building. It recently opened for visitors, who now can work, shop or just take a look at the delightful view over Taipei city and its surroundings. The building’s architecture is oriental inspired and the floor’s construction is based on number 8; a traditional lucky number in the Chinese culture.

The building has above the ground

101

floors – the same as its name. Visitors who want to go all the way up in the

508

meter tall building has to walk in the, by safety reasons, compressed-air equipped stairs or take the world’s fastest double-decker elevator, which goes upwards with a speed of

1010

meter per minute. Downwards, the speed is a little bit slower.

In the building, there are also a

660

metric tons damper, made of steel and formed as a sphere. It can reduce up to

40

percent of the movements which Taipei 101 can be exposed to during earthquake or typhoon. Taiwan in general is quite vulnerable, and usually more than

150

bigger and smaller earthquakes strikes the island every year.

24

SÖK

CHALMERS ASIENPROGRAM 2006/2007

Ekonomierna i östra Asien har visat en enastående ekonomisk utveckling under 1900-talet. Japan har fått sällskap av Kina bland världens ekonomiska giganter.

Regionen är intressant, dynamisk och utmanade. Allt fler ingenjörer kommer i sitt yrkesliv ha kontakter med Asien.

Därför har Chalmers utvecklat ett Asienprogram som ger studenter möjligheter till studier och erfarenheter från dessa ekonomier.

Asienprogrammet består av följande delar: • Intensivkurs i kinesiska, 6 veckor i juli – augusti 2006.

Kursen är förlagd till Hsinchu, Taiwan.

• Kurs i Ostasiens ekonomi och teknik, som planeras till våren 2006.

• Studerandeutbyte med National Chiao Tung University i Hsinchu, Taiwan.

• Utbyten med andra partneruniversitet i Asien: Japan, Singapore och Hong Kong.

Sista ansökningsdag 1 december

www.asia.chalmers.se

Chalmers University of Technology SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden Phone switchboard +46 (0)31 772 1000 www.chalmers.se