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Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore. | :00:00. | :00:17. | |
Hot competition, how home`grown phone makers are putting the | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
pressure on the big brands. And a little`known sport, which is | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
big in India and is looking to raise its profile. | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Asia Business Report on | :00:32. | :00:40. | |
BBC World News, I'm Rico Hizon. The rise of the cheap home`grown smart | :00:41. | :00:42. | |
phone manufacturers have seen Samsung knocked off its perch as the | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
number one seller in the world's biggest market, China. That is | :00:47. | :00:48. | |
because Beijing competitor sold more smartphones than anyone else. | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
Samsung has also been given a run for its money in India, where the | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
local phone maker Micro makes is winning customers. `` Micromax. | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
Earlier I spoke to a local seller, and asked what was behind the | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
success of these kind of local phone makers. | :01:09. | :01:10. | |
What is really working for these companies is performance, spec, at a | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
value price. That is where those vendors are playing. They are | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
operating relatively strong`spec devices at a great value price. But | :01:21. | :01:30. | |
they are also able to play in the lower end of the market as well, | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
with some great prices. They are indeed making a big bang in their | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
respective home markets, India and China. But could they be disruptive | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
force outside of their home countries? There is a big potential | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
in that. We are starting to see companies launch in India, which | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
have been sold out. Supply can't meet demand. We are seeing Micromax | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
now move into Russia. So those companies are starting to branch | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
out, broaden their portfolio of companies around the world. But it | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
will be a challenge. Remember we have seen Lenovo acquiring Motorola, | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
so that they can acquire the patents they need to enter markets like the | :02:08. | :02:22. | |
US and Europe. They need those licensing agreements, those patents. | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
So there's headaches, but will this growth be sustainable? I think there | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
is a question over that at the moment. Do they have the right | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
business model? Certainly yesterday, one company had to apologise in | :02:36. | :02:38. | |
India because their supplier isn't meeting demand for their sales. So | :02:39. | :02:48. | |
can they keep up with the demand? And can Micromax build its brand | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
outside of India? Remember that both of these companies have also been | :02:53. | :02:55. | |
boosted by local sentiment, wanting to root for the home brand. | :02:56. | :03:07. | |
In other business news making headlines, Russia's President | :03:08. | :03:09. | |
Vladimir Putin is set to ban or restrict imports of food and | :03:10. | :03:11. | |
agricultural product from the countries that have imposed | :03:12. | :03:21. | |
sanctions on Russia over its actions in the Ukraine. A complete ban on | :03:22. | :03:24. | |
all US produce is expected to be announced. That amounts to about | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
$1.5 billion in imports. A full list of what is being banned will be | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
published later this Thursday. 25,000 people have signed up a | :03:31. | :03:32. | |
class`action lawsuit against Facebook. The man behind the lawsuit | :03:33. | :03:43. | |
is a data privacy campaigner who says the way Facebook monitors its | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
members' activity on and off the site puts the company in breach of | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
European union laws. As part of the claim, it has been alleged that | :03:51. | :03:52. | |
Facebook cooperated with a US surveillance scheme called PRISM. | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
Standard Chartered warns it could face more fines over its | :03:58. | :03:59. | |
money`laundering controls. The news came after a 20% fall in profits. | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
The bank said that regulators in the US have identified you problems. `` | :04:04. | :04:15. | |
new problems with its system. How do you grow a business that has | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
made its mark in a narrow product range and never ventured out of its | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
comfort zone? Well, that is a question facing a Singapore `based | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
company, HTL, which started as a model of the Mac modest cellphone | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
maker in the 1970s. Today it is one of the region's largest producers of | :04:32. | :04:34. | |
leather couches. In the latest instalment in our family business | :04:35. | :04:36. | |
series, our correspondent takes a look at how the next`generation is | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
giving it a new lease of life. In every imaginable colour, size, | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
and shape, HTL makes sofas to meet anyone's needs. Phua Yong Tat | :04:43. | :04:45. | |
started the company, his sofa`making business, in the 1970s with his | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
brothers in a Singapore workshop. Now that small workshop is no | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
longer. Singapore remains the world's headquarters, where | :04:57. | :04:58. | |
decisions on design, manufacture, and marketing make place. But now | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
several plants in China turn out thousands of surfers a year. `` | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
sofas. So how do you improve on something you already do well? It is | :05:13. | :05:15. | |
a question that the next generation of Phuas are grappling with. Enter | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
his daughter, Phua Mei Ming. She is one of many in her family, including | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
her brother, cousins, and even her husband, who work with the company. | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
With so many members of the family involved, conflicts are sometimes | :05:30. | :05:31. | |
inevitable. Sometimes we have a different opinion. But I think we | :05:32. | :05:40. | |
always can resolve, and because at the end of the day, we have the same | :05:41. | :05:42. | |
objective ` the business. Conflicts are only one problem family | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
businesses need to overcome. The other is how to continue to grow in | :05:49. | :05:56. | |
a competitive environment. A perennial problem for most family | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
businesses is bringing in the ideas of the new generation, while still | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
leveraging off what they know. In HTL's case, it is a ready supply of | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
leather for their sofas. So why not take on another potentially | :06:10. | :06:11. | |
lucrative market, targeting what most women want. A leather handbag. | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
The handbags were part of a new move to start a new retail arm for the | :06:18. | :06:24. | |
company. It took months to convince the patriarchs that incorporating | :06:25. | :06:26. | |
move the business forward. To be move the business forward. To be | :06:27. | :06:34. | |
honest, they had been used to talking about big business, big | :06:35. | :06:41. | |
orders, and big turnover. I think from where we come in at, we are | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
more about pushing for new, small ideas today, but it ideas tomorrow. | :06:46. | :06:53. | |
HTL may be a family business excelling at leather sofas now, but | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
under the leadership of the next generation, | :06:57. | :07:07. | |
functions. The sport of kabaddi is played | :07:08. | :07:08. | |
millions in India, and is rarely in the news, and even the best players | :07:09. | :07:24. | |
are relatively unknown. So can a new tournament raise its | :07:25. | :07:25. | |
a viable business? Our correspondent reports from Mumbai. | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
Cricket may be India's sporting obsession, but this is the country's | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
traditional home`grown game. Kabaddi has been played here for centuries, | :07:33. | :07:34. | |
especially in rural India. Whether you are playing in school or one of | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
the thousands of kabaddi clubs up and down the country, most of the | :07:39. | :07:40. | |
games take place outside on dirt, dust, grass, or a hard surface like | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
this one. Now though, we have seen the biggest effort yet to bring the | :07:47. | :07:48. | |
sport to a wider audience in India. But in a very different environment. | :07:49. | :07:56. | |
This is kabaddi in its purest form, high`tempo and plenty of colour. A | :07:57. | :08:04. | |
recipe which creators hope will make it more mainstream. It is not just | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
about the games. There is plenty of razzmatazz as well. Not least, the | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
famous faces from Bollywood who are watching matches, owning teams, and | :08:16. | :08:18. | |
quite happy to get involved in the hype. One, two, three. And if the | :08:19. | :08:27. | |
formula of celebrity, showbiz, and sport, sounds familiar, you would be | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
right. This is the latest game here inspired by the way the Indian | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
Premier League or IPL revitalised cricket. And the league's boss | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
doesn't mind admitting it. They did make us realise in our part of the | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
world that new sport works well, but if you can package it better, works | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
better. We are guilty of doing that. Most sports could use a bit of that. | :08:53. | :09:05. | |
This is designed for TV. This channel is one of its main | :09:06. | :09:07. | |
investors. Not just broadcasting pictures, with the long`term aim of | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
making it mainstream. It might be slow going. In this first season, | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
some teams have struggled even to get sponsors. The big winners of the | :09:14. | :09:22. | |
new league seem to be the players. Salaries have lept from around $500 | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
a month to more than $5000. But can these recruits really propel the | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
game to a new level. Every time a sport has emerged and become | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
popular, one of the reasons is because there is a road player. This | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
is going to be a big challenge, in India we need icons, and currently | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
kabaddi has no icons. `` pro player. Youngsters like these will keep | :09:46. | :09:48. | |
paying again, as well as cricket of course. But kabaddi's chance of | :09:49. | :09:50. | |
finding mainstream popularity still seems in mainstream popularity still | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
seems in the balance. Before we go, a quick look at the | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
markets. Asian stock prices are in negative territory in in mid`morning | :10:03. | :10:13. | |
Thursday trade. `` yen. Japanese stocks are pulling away from | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
six`week lows, as a Russian troop build`up on the border of Ukraine | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
saps risk appetite. Japan down by 22 points. Hang Seng down by 85, and | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
Australia's benchmark index giving back 14. Those are the Asian | :10:23. | :10:30. | |
markets. Thank you for investing your time with us. Goodbye for now. | :10:31. | :10:40. | |
I am Mike Embley in London with the main news stories have is Allah. `` | :10:41. | :10:51. | |
main news stories this hour. Victims of the Khmer Rouge regime will soon | :10:52. | :10:54. | |
find out the verdicts of the former officials that stand accused of war | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
crimes. President Obama has called for | :10:58. | :10:58. |