10/03/2014 Asia Business Report


10/03/2014

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Conference with an attack on UKIP. He said that the Liberal Democrats

:00:00.:00:00.

are the only party in favour of Europe. Now, Asia Business Report.

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As the search and rescue mission for the Malaysia Airlines jet enters its

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third day, we take a closer look at the company behind the missing

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aircraft. And how one man is making money from specialist farming in

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India. Welcome to the programme. As we have been reporting, the search

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for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 people on board has

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entered its third day. Vietnamese navy officials say that they have

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seen some debris that resembles a plane door in the water south of

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Vietnam. All possibilities for the disappearance of the aircraft are

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being considered. Flight MH370 was on its way to Beijing from Kuala

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Lumpur. More than two thirds of the passengers on board were Chinese

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nationals. Many countries are now involved in the search for signs of

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wreckage. Malaysia Airlines is one of Asia's oldest carriers and the

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disappearance of flight MH370 has cast a spotlight on the company. Its

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stock has fallen by as much as 80% today in Kuala Lumpur. Is it

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possible that the plane had been poorly maintained? I don't think so.

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Malaysia Airlines has a good record with regards to flight safety. In

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addition, it has an excellent maintenance crew. It has nothing to

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do with maintenance at all. The possibility is very slim. More than

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ten years ago, there was a possible merger between Malaysia Airlines and

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air Asia for a share swap deal of 20% of each of their shareholdings.

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Why did that not materialise? If there was a Air Asia ownership of

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Malaysia Airlines, could they have improved the financial situation? I

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think that it did not go ahead because it was a private enterprise

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trying to merge with a government enterprise. Would it have helped?

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That is debatable. Air Asia is well run and Malaysia Airlines is turning

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the corner. It's just speculation. With the airline losing money for

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three years now, this could be a fourth-year. What is the likely

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future of Malaysia Airlines. They will have to find a way to

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restructure the airline and turn it around in the right direction.

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Clearly, this case is not going to help much. Boeing is checking

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Dreamliner planes being produced in the US for potential hairline cracks

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in the wings. It comes after Mitsubishi heavy industries warned

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that the change in its manufacturing process may cause cracks. Boeing

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says the issue may impact 40 planes and that there may be some delays in

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the delivery of the new 787 aircraft. There has been a major

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drop in exports in China for the month of February compared to levels

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one year ago. Expectations were for an increase of 7%. The surprising

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fall in exports comes just days after Li Keqiang said the

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government's economic growth target for 2014 would remain at 7.5%. More

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than 1000 workers are on strike at an IBM factory in the south-eastern

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city of Shenzhen. They are demanding more money when their contracts are

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transferred to Lenovo, or a bigger payoff if they choose not to join

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the Chinese company. What does this strike say about labour conditions

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on the mainland? It's a very common example of what we have been seeing

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for the last few years. With the decline and transformation of

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China's manufacturing sector, many factories are being closed down and

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many factories are merging with other factories. Factories are being

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taken over. This has caused a lot of disquiet and discomfort among the

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workforce which does not know about its job security, pay all working

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conditions for the future. This is the only way they can express their

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grievances, going out on strike. Is this a rising trend of strike action

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in multinational companies? We have seen industrial action taking place

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over the past year, particularly in large companies like Nokia, and we

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have Pepsi as well. Multinationals are all part of the mix but we have

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seen an increasing rise in industrial action over the last five

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years not just in the manufacturing sector in China but in services,

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construction, sanitation, teachers. It's a broad-based movement at the

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moment. How do you turn around a company that has a 200 year history

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and more than 157 staff in nearly 80 countries? One man took on that

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mission years ago, joining a struggling company around. We had

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lots of managers but I explained to my leadership team that there is a

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big difference between being a manager and being a leader. A leader

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knows where he or she wants to go as an individual but also with the

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company. If you have not decided for yourself or for the company where

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you are aiming, you cannot lead. How do you qualify what is important and

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what is not important? Without a clear direction for the future, you

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cannot be a leader. This was a new way of thinking. It also means you

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have to spend more time thinking about what should be in the future

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instead of just working your daily issues out. This was a kind of new

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experience and a new endeavour but I feel that they liked it. It gave

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much more freedom. It's more challenging but it's much more

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interesting. Can you give us an example of success where

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restructuring has worked? First of all, it's a new style of directing.

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-- interacting. Our heritage was very hierarchical and that means you

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lose information and you are slow. Many expats enjoy living overseas

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but there is always a partial yearning for home. Maybe it's for

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kimchi, European cheese or American chocolate. A Frenchman living in

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India got so upset about the meat there that he has set up his own

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farm. It is now flourishing and its one of many businesses flourishing

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from the appetites of expats. Breeding animals for food is an

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extreme way to make sure that what ends up on your dinner plate is up

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to the standard you want but that is exactly why this farm was started

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almost 20 years ago, and, located just a few kilometres outside of

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Delhi, it has become one of the top sources of gourmet food for the

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expat community in the Indian capital. This French farm not only

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has hundreds of ducks, poultry and pigs but a huge range of organic

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vegetables. The market has grown and not because there are many

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foreigners and expats. The people understand that they have to pay a

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price to get the real taste of healthy vegetables. Whether it's

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guineafowl or the perfect test before roasting or even fresh duck

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for dinner, it's small businesses like this one catering to the top

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end of the market but it does not come cheap. Chicken in a regular

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market would cost under $2 per kilogram but a free range chicken

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from a farm like this would cost almost four times that much. Some

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grocery stores make this chain in Delhi now specialise in global

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food. Launched as a small gourmet shop, it is now a $150 million

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business with seven stores around the capital alone. But selling

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imported food is not easy. We have many challenges because with the new

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laws, the owners are very scared and they are quite restricted now to

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have a variety of food products. As a result, many of our cheese and

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meat counters are running dry. Demand for exotic produce is no

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longer restricted to just foreigners living in India. Increasing numbers

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of urban Indians also aspired towards the scene and food they

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think is higher quality. So you can expect to see more specialist farms

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like this to get up and running. Asian stock markets are down in

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Monday trading amid disappointing Chinese trade data and uncertainty

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in Ukraine. Thank you for your time. This is BBC News. The headlines:

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Search teams missing for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight archon and

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trading their effort on an area of the South China Sea where -- are

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concentrating their efforts on an area of the South China Sea where

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pieces

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