:00:00. > :00:00.be delayed by six months. The "care database", as it's being called, was
:00:00. > :00:13.due to begin operating in April. Time for Asia Business Report.
:00:14. > :00:25.Auto rescue. China looks set to tie up with a struggling carmaker. Snow
:00:26. > :00:33.in the supply chain. How the weather is effect on businesses across
:00:34. > :00:42.Japan. Welcome to wage a business report. We start with the iconic
:00:43. > :00:48.French car maker, Peugeot, which is about to be rescued by the Chinese.
:00:49. > :00:56.In recent years, their cars have sold poorly, and the company has
:00:57. > :00:59.made massive losses. It is being kept afloat by a massive injection
:01:00. > :01:04.of money from the financing arm. Help looks to be on the way. A
:01:05. > :01:09.Chinese carmaker is set to agree to a tie-up, which is part of a $4
:01:10. > :01:20.billion moneymaking operation. What is in it for the Chinese company?
:01:21. > :01:25.This deal is a potential risk, because we have seen in the past two
:01:26. > :01:34.years, some other Chinese companies have tried to act as a bargain
:01:35. > :01:43.hunter, to acquire the Swedish car maker, Saab. It conceded a lot of
:01:44. > :01:47.money on that deal. I would say that they are trying to seek similar
:01:48. > :01:52.opportunities at the moment, but we can see the risk is huge. We know
:01:53. > :01:58.China's car market is the largest in the world. Why do you think Chinese
:01:59. > :02:12.carmakers have struggled to sell abroad? Simply because of the brand
:02:13. > :02:20.side they are not ready yet. And companies like this one operate more
:02:21. > :02:27.slowly than other private companies. That is in terms of overseas
:02:28. > :02:45.operation and brand development. If you compare their indigenous brand,
:02:46. > :02:49.the gap is very huge on sales. In other news, China's national
:02:50. > :02:56.development and reform commission, part of the country's regulatory
:02:57. > :03:01.body, has confirmed that antimonopoly investigations are
:03:02. > :03:06.going on. The agency is ending in on technology providers. According to
:03:07. > :03:11.analysts, the Chinese government is trying to lower domestic costs, and
:03:12. > :03:22.rule out faster four G networks this year. Earlier this month, a
:03:23. > :03:29.complaint was filed against one of the companies for overpricing their
:03:30. > :03:34.networks. According to industry watchers, the move has sent a strong
:03:35. > :03:40.signal that the people's bank of China is serious about access
:03:41. > :03:45.liquidity, to reduce the risk of informal lending. It has been
:03:46. > :03:49.identified as a major risk to Chinese growth, due to the
:03:50. > :03:56.possibility of major debts turning into default. Malaysia's main
:03:57. > :04:01.airline system has reportedly huge loss. It has rounded off the year
:04:02. > :04:09.with its fourth straight quarterly loss, and the outlook for this year
:04:10. > :04:15.has been negative. Malaysian airlines said that stiff competition
:04:16. > :04:21.makes it difficult for them to increase fares. Coca-Cola is having
:04:22. > :04:24.tough times with sales at home. That was the main reason for a 10% drop
:04:25. > :04:30.in earnings in the final quarter of last year. It came in at $1.7
:04:31. > :04:41.billion. Sales in North America fell by 1%. The makers of Sprite and
:04:42. > :04:46.Vitamin K tapwater also posted lost. Japan is coming out from its second
:04:47. > :04:51.major snowstorm in a week. Shops are having to deal with empty shelves in
:04:52. > :04:53.some parts of the country, and the prices of fresh vegetables have
:04:54. > :04:57.increased radically. The snow has forced a number of car factory
:04:58. > :05:02.closures, although many workers are now back. Japan is better placed
:05:03. > :05:03.than most countries to deal with snow, but what is the overall
:05:04. > :05:14.impact. ? . The supply chain in Japan is quite
:05:15. > :05:22.finely grained. The trucks are smaller, the store locations are
:05:23. > :05:28.typically smaller than they would be in a large area country like the US.
:05:29. > :05:33.If there is a local disruption, that trickles down. On the other hand,
:05:34. > :05:38.Japan is fairly robust, and resilient to disruptions, because it
:05:39. > :05:43.is used to disruptions by whether. Typhoons in the summer, and snow in
:05:44. > :05:47.winter. This year, I have lived here for 22 years, and every winter there
:05:48. > :05:56.were some days of snow in the Tokyo area full of it is quite usual for
:05:57. > :06:00.Japan. We have seen car industry is stalling some of their operations at
:06:01. > :06:04.some factories around the country. Toyota is reportedly back online.
:06:05. > :06:09.How the Japanese businesses generally handle these kinds of
:06:10. > :06:12.disruptions? Some of the factories like Toyota and Nissan, had some
:06:13. > :06:19.factories closed for one or two days, and then I think one or two
:06:20. > :06:27.factory roofs were broken in by the snow. Today, there are some areas
:06:28. > :06:30.which are without supplies, and supplies are brought in by
:06:31. > :06:32.helicopter. This would be remote, will areas. Surely that is all
:06:33. > :06:37.adding to the cost? Businesses are likely to lose money as a result of
:06:38. > :06:45.the snow. Of course it adds to the cost, and reduces, shuts down the
:06:46. > :06:49.factories for some time. But that is happening every year, more or less.
:06:50. > :06:54.This year there is a little bit more snow in the Tokyo area than other
:06:55. > :07:01.years. Don't forget, on the western side of the Alps, it is called snow
:07:02. > :07:05.country, so Japan is used to snow in most areas. There is some
:07:06. > :07:10.speculation that the carmakers we talked about will struggle to meet
:07:11. > :07:14.orders, particularly before April, when we have a sales hike coming in.
:07:15. > :07:19.We have a special situation this year with domestic demand, because
:07:20. > :07:30.there is an artificial buildup of demand before the consumption tax
:07:31. > :07:35.will rise from 5% to eight Z in the new financial year -- 8%. Carmakers
:07:36. > :07:42.try to catch up with that, so there is some special pressure there. In
:07:43. > :07:47.the future, people may be able to do medical checkups from home, using
:07:48. > :07:52.smart phones or home appliances to help manage chronic diseases like
:07:53. > :07:56.diabetes. Can even Asia, where the demand for healthcare is exploding,
:07:57. > :08:00.and that thing you can possibly expensive method of treatment? We
:08:01. > :08:04.spoke to one company tried to make a new kind of breakthrough.
:08:05. > :08:09.It is never a pleasant experience visiting a hospital. There are long
:08:10. > :08:13.lines in the waiting rooms, and mounds of healthcare and insurance
:08:14. > :08:17.forms to be filled out. But, there is a growing need in Asia.
:08:18. > :08:21.Health-care spending in the region passed more than $1 trillion last
:08:22. > :08:27.year, and that is expected to list double in the last five years --
:08:28. > :08:30.next five years. As a result, some companies are now looking to
:08:31. > :08:36.technology to reduce the advent and improve treatment. The leading
:08:37. > :08:43.technologies that influence what we do here is starting with mobile.
:08:44. > :08:47.People now carry very powerful computers in their pockets, with a
:08:48. > :08:55.lot of senses in them. He is also exploring the use of things like
:08:56. > :08:59.Google class. Data storage has become so cheap that it has helped
:09:00. > :09:05.the company store mounds of information, and use machines that
:09:06. > :09:11.create 3-D models of hearts. How much will technology really change
:09:12. > :09:14.things? I believe it will transform healthcare, because there is a big
:09:15. > :09:19.need out there. The need to deal with people in rural areas, in China
:09:20. > :09:23.or India, you have a scale issue that you have to deal with. With
:09:24. > :09:28.true technology I believe we can leapfrog. For example, today in
:09:29. > :09:37.Singapore already, through data we can analyse whether patient is ready
:09:38. > :09:42.to go home. We can do that purely based on data. We are the have a
:09:43. > :09:45.small set now. Imagine we have millions of patients, and suddenly
:09:46. > :09:49.you seen much more. The more we see, the better we can apply at to the
:09:50. > :09:54.treatment. What are some of the biggest obstacles to a meeting this
:09:55. > :10:00.technology and utilising all these details? The business model has to
:10:01. > :10:06.change in terms of, you know, we're not doing everything physically with
:10:07. > :10:10.proximity, we are doing is rightly. Can we just a way of working that?
:10:11. > :10:16.These things take a little longer than the speed of technology.
:10:17. > :10:19.Asia's ability to adapt to new and possibly expensive healthcare
:10:20. > :10:25.technologies remains be seen. But one thing is for sure. Given the
:10:26. > :10:28.region has a rapidly ageing population, there is a rising demand
:10:29. > :10:34.for a new way to handle that hospital visit.
:10:35. > :10:42.That brings us to an end to this edition of Asia Business Report.
:10:43. > :10:52.Our top stories: Fighting is intensifying in the centre of the
:10:53. > :10:56.Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Police use hand grenades and water cannon
:10:57. > :10:59.to try to clear hundreds of thousands of protesters.