carpe annum

Well folks, its all over…and the underdog wins. But with Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso out of the race, Floyd Landis wasn’t quite the underdog, but it is nonetheless exciting to see a guy who needs a new hip battle it out for the premier prize in cycling. What’s more, from all accounts, Floyd is a really decent, modest guy; it’s nice to see that the prima donna ego-maniacs don’t rule all sports.

This year, I watched the final stage on the ground and found myself a primo spot on the northeast corner of the course right in front of Le Louvre. Despite the fact that I had to stand and save my spot for three hours it was worth it and the electricity in the crowd/mob was pretty cool.

I’ll also say its been an interesting transition from China to France. Whereas China seems to lack a certain degree of sophistication in favor of pragmatism, France embodies classic sophistication where elegance and style may often overshadow common sense. Not to say one is better than the other, but rather it was a refreshing change after a month in China. Though the sidelines of the course were no doubt packed with people, it was a civil place where people don’t step all over you and respect the fact that the square foot of ground that you are standing on is yours by virtue of your presence and you don’t continuously have to silently battle fifty other people. The same scene in China would’ve certainly been pandemonium with tramplings galore, especially if the caravan is tossing out free goodies…

What has been especially nice is meeting up with the LaRochelle family and entourage. These guys are great and meeting up with them makes me miss the good old days in Rockland, Maine. Thanks again for everything you guys! (pics)

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Seriously, what the F is going with cycling and doping? The T-Mobile team announced that Jan Ullrich, my main man, was dismissied amid allegations of doping (story). While I commend the sport for having the most stringent controls against doping, unlike baseball for example, but it is now to the point where someone has to simply allege that an athlete is on something to send the press crazy and reputations to be destroyed. Just look how hard Lance Armstrong has fought against his accusers in the French media. Though Herr Ullrich has denied the claims and there is no evidence of doping, but only a connection to an infamous Spanish doctor who has been known to provide others with artificial enhancers, why else would he so quitely accept dismissal from the tour and now his team?But seriously, what the F???? I can ‘understand’ why an up and coming aspiring guy with nothing to lose can take the risk of taking hormones or some red-cell rich blood. But why, if true, would my main man Jan Ullrich do so? What a shame that this beast of a rider is going to have has career potentially ruined by this….I just don’t understand…why? why? I can only hope that he will somehow be vindicated and totally cleared of any dubious acts.

Well it looks like the American Floyd Landis is going to win this year’s tour, but just imagine if Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, and Francisco Mancebo had not been accused of doping and thus raced…it would’ve been totally awesome and Ullrich surely would’ve been a favorite and I could wear my T-Mobile jersey with pride….but now I am just asking…”What the F?”

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China is home to twenty of Fortune’s Global 500 companies. Not unlike their global brethren, resource extraction, transportation and banking companies comprise the bulk of China’s large firms. But are these companies world-class? Hardly. Many of these companies are state-owned and make the list not because of any inherent economic efficiencies, but rather they are simply big. With further economic liberalization and the threat of foreign entrants, domestic firms are beginning to realize that they will no longer have easy access to government capital and protected markets. They will have to become internationally competitive and require modern and effective Chinese management systems. Since the late 1990s, many firms are turning to stock exchanges not only for their capital requirements, but also as a means to improve governance, management, and reputation.

However, as in the case of Legend-cum-Lenovo, there are alternative mechanisms to go global, such as an acquisition of and strategic partnership with a major international player. Lenovo completed the purchase of IBM’s personal computing division in 2005. Acquisitions have long been in the toolbelt of companies looking to get bigger, but what makes the Lenovo case unique is that it is the first Chinese company to acquire such a high-profile international business. It may also mark the beginning of a wave of Chinese companies searching for similar advantages in the international M&A arena in their quest to go global. In doing so, the world be watching how Lenovo executes its integration and how it plays the global game. Will Lenovo be China’s Sony; the country’s emblematic example of economic prowess and modernization? Or will it be just another unknown Chinese brand? With the world watching, will the stigma of partial state-ownership be a continual nuisance to China’s new global giants? If so, how will the state respond? The lessons learned from Lenovo’s may be the most important ones China can learn in the next decades.
Download–> Big Red: Can China go Global? A case study of Lenovo

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I know its been quite a while since my last post, but only because I have been filling the days with epic treks, bus rides, flights, and meanderings. I would have to say that the high point of this trip is definately “Tiger Leaping Gorge” which is the gorge carved out by the Yangtze river in southwestern China near the border of Burma. It is simply amazing and the hike along its side took 2 days and even still I only trekked a portion of it. Photos are forth coming as I have yet to find a place to upload relatively quickly. I seriously wish I could have stayed longer in the green mountiains hugged by the clouds and reachable only by foot or hoof.

Alas, I had to catch a bus back to Kunming (8 hours) and then a quick flght (3 hours) to China’s gem city of ‘progress’ –Shanghai. Thanks to my good buddy Saku who conveniently is living in Shanghai for two months on an internship I have a comfortable, if not luxurious place to rest my head, even if it is on the floor. And here, my work in earnest begins as I arrange interviews with experts on agriculture and the organic food movemement here in China. My first stop was at China’s first organic retail market, Ostore. There I had a delicious lunch in their bistro and met with the general manager on the domestic organic consumer scene. As you could imagine, the concept is generally foreign to domestic shoppers and remains way out of your everday Chinese consumer’s price range. About 70% of the store’s patrons are expats and the rest fairly wealthy Shanghainese. Most domestic production is in non-perishables (dried beans, nuts, seeds, tea) and is oriented towards export markets. As such, to meet their demand for produce, they have actually started their own farm to supply fruit and veg. Tomorrow, I’ll go off to survey that farm and the next day head to Nanjing for an interview at the certifier for China’s organic foods, and a German expat who helped bring organic farming to China. Anyways, I have already gotten a hold of a lot of good material and am feeling confident about writing up a good paper.

So Shanghai, I have to say I’m not all that impressed. Sure the city is clean and there are skyscrapers and massive apartment blocks shooting up everywhere. The air is cleaner than Beijing and their are traffic wardens at the intersections to keep some pretense of law and order among the carelessly aggressive drivers. But once you see the endless array of department stores, KFCs, and glass office buildings, it just seems like that is all. No doubt Shanghai planners have succeeded in designing and building a thriving economic metropolis with the foresight and power that will cement Shanghai as China’s shrine to its capitalist modernization. To be fair, I have been here a week and obviously I haven’t seen the “real” Shanghai–only the tourist Shanghai–and I have not really ventured into the backalleys away from the city center. But even still, there must be more to a world-class city than just big buildings, malls and grand boulevards.

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