Blog about Virtual Assistant, Outsourcing, KPO, BPO and China

With sales dropping at home, Yum! Brands Inc, owner of the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut brands, is planning to expand its business in the Chinese market, which could make the country its biggest source of profit within a decade.

KFC was the first foreign fast food company to move into China, opening its first outlet in 1987. Since then, Yum has become China’s biggest restaurant chain with $2 billion of annual sales and over 2,500 KFC and Pizza Hut outlets.

But like many foreign firms in China, the US fast food giant has discovered it can’t just rely on a foreign brand name for growth and must instead adapt to local tastes and lifestyles. By offering a menu with dishes similar to the food that tens of thousands of Chinese have every day, Yum boosted its sales by 12% in the first quarter, while those in other international destinations and the US were 5% and 3% respectively.

And now Yum intends to increase its lead and plans to add 425 restaurants in China this year while McDonald’s, its nearest rival in the country, has said it aims to open at least 125 stores in the country in 2008.

Yum CEO David Novak has said he envisages eventually having over 20,000 restaurants in China. “We’re in the first inning of a nine-inning ball game in China,” Novak said recently. He also has predicted China’s contribution could reach 40% by 2017, exceeding 30% for the US by then.

So far, investors are welcoming the China strategy. Operating profit of Yum’s China division surged 30% to $375 million last year, accounting for over a quarter of the firm’s total operating profit of $1.36 billion, which rose 8%.

Nowadays, with its sound economic performance and huge potential market, China has attracted many overseas business people to invest and do business in the country. Then how to achieve the highest possible efficiency in a foreign country? Maybe virtual assistants can be the best choice. BPOVIA Ltd based in China can always be the source for businessmen interested in exploring the Chinese market.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Consumer Market, China Virtual Assistant BPOVIA, China, economy, KFC, market share

China Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Co. Ltd. (CMN) has bought HPTec, Germany’s leading manufacturer of drills and cutters.

China Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Co. Ltd. (CMN) is a subsidiary under the country’s metal and mineral giant China Minmetal Corp. (CMC), one of China’s leading importers and exporters of metals and minerals. As one of the Fortune 500, CMC’s operating revenue was $21.8 billion in 2007, with profits topping 7.1 billion yuan ($1.02 billion).

HPTec is founded in 1977 and has branches in Singapore, the Republic of Korea and China.

CMN said this move is to update its tungsten sector and it will have a 100% control of the Ravensburg-based company, the biggest European producer of printed circuit board (PCB)-use microcutting tools.

The acquisition is part of CMC’s strategy since 2002 to shift its business focus from metal trading to production.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Trade Import Export acquisition, China, CMC, CMN, Germany, HPTec, metal, mineral

Data recently released by Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that China has become Australia’s largest two-way trading partner (imports and exports of both goods and services) in 2007.

Total trade with China in 2007 grew 15% to 58 billion dollars (54.8 billion US dollars). Australia’s exports of goods to China rose 17% to 23.8 billion dollars, while services exports grew 18% to 3.9 billion dollars, given the strong growth in Chinese student enrolments.

Simon Crean, Australian Minister for Trade, said that the trade figures are a milestone in the development of Australia’s trading relationship with China.

“These figures show there is much potential for our trade to grow even further, which is why we are working hard to negotiate a free trade agreement with China,” Crean said in a statement. “We have made good progress in negotiating that agreement over the past month, and I look forward to further progress at our next talks in June.”

As is demonstrated by the trading figures, China has come into closer contact with other countries and regions in the world. For all business people looking for channels to get into the Chinese market, BPOVIA Ltd based in China can always be the source. Here clients can expect not only professional consultation services but also excellent virtual assistant services.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Outsourcing, China Trade Import Export, China Virtual Assistant Australia, BPOVIA, China, FTA, trade, Virtual Assistant

A long-term strategic partnership has been established between China’s B2B e-commerce portal alibaba.com and Infomedia, India’s largest yellow pages and special interest publishing company.

Alibaba’s net profit rose to 967.8 million yuan, more than quadrupling that of last year. Currently, the Hang-zhou based company has nearly 300,000 paid members, possessing about a 70% market share of the online B2B trade in China.

And in India, since the launching of its Indian channel last December, around 20,000 Indian companies have signed up each month for it. The number of Alibaba’s members has already exceeded 400,000.

The partnership of the two sides will see the integration of the power of traditional print publishing with online media and e-commerce to provide India’s small and medium-sized companies with a one-stop solution for global and domestic trade.

“India is a priority market for Alibaba’s global plans and Infomedia will help provide on-ground support including sales, marketing and customer service,” said the Alibaba CEO Wei Zhe.

“We believe the alliance will help Alibaba become a major online trade platform in India by the end of 2008,” Wei said.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Outsourcing, Internet and Hi-Tech Alibaba, China, e-commerce, India, Infomedia, partnership