:00:00. > :00:00.had been paid. Those are the headlines. Let's go to
:00:00. > :00:16.Singapore with all the latest business news.
:00:17. > :00:22.Lessons from MH17. How aviation chiefs are improving safety for
:00:23. > :00:26.flights over conflict zones. And, We go to Taipei to see a key
:00:27. > :00:32.part of the economy, family business.
:00:33. > :00:44.Welcome to Asia Business. Top aviation industry bosses have
:00:45. > :00:58.wrapped up a key meeting in Montreal about reducing risk of flights over
:00:59. > :01:02.conflict zones. It comes after the death of 298 people in the downing
:01:03. > :01:15.of Flight MH17 two weeks ago over eastern Ukraine.
:01:16. > :01:18.. They said they wanted to seek new international laws relating to those
:01:19. > :01:25.who make and deploy anti` aircraft missiles. There was a lot of talk
:01:26. > :01:29.about the information coming from individual countries about how safe
:01:30. > :01:33.it is to fly over their airspace. Thinking back to Ukraine, the
:01:34. > :01:37.government had said their airspace was safe and of course, as we
:01:38. > :01:44.tragically know, that wasn't the case. I asked the head of IKO
:01:45. > :01:47.whether or not he could compel countries who don't live up to their
:01:48. > :01:58.duties when it comes to reporting on airspace. What power do we have to
:01:59. > :02:07.compel? Not much. But, we depend on the freewheel of the states. To
:02:08. > :02:10.implement the globally agreed provisions of the IKO. At the end of
:02:11. > :02:17.the meeting, should passengers feel safer? Here is the head of the
:02:18. > :02:24.industry 's main trade body, IATA. This is the first time that a
:02:25. > :02:27.peaceful civil aircraft has been shot down by the missile like this.
:02:28. > :02:36.We have to keep this into perspective. This kind of incident
:02:37. > :02:42.is extremely rare. As for any fare increases, I was told that if prices
:02:43. > :02:47.did indeed go up, they would be negligible. The message coming out
:02:48. > :02:52.of here today is that the system is still working and, there are gaps
:02:53. > :02:57.that those here are trying to close. From that report from the shell,
:02:58. > :03:01.there is no denying the airline industry is tough business to be in.
:03:02. > :03:05.As well as the aviation disasters of recent times, players are affected
:03:06. > :03:10.by competition and economic uncertainty. Later today, we will
:03:11. > :03:14.get an indication of how the national carrier in Singapore,
:03:15. > :03:18.Singapore Airlines, is faring in its first quarter results. Our
:03:19. > :03:25.correspondent explains what is at the heart of the problem. What is
:03:26. > :03:31.happening in the airline industry is they don't make enough money.
:03:32. > :03:34.Singapore Airlines generates 14 billion worth of revenue, it doesn't
:03:35. > :03:39.have great margin of safety on what it is able to generate. That isn't
:03:40. > :03:44.enough. It does not give it a margin of safety. When you add on extra
:03:45. > :03:51.things, talking about new flight paths, extra insurance, extra fuel
:03:52. > :03:55.costs, that will damage the company completely. You talk about the
:03:56. > :04:00.flight path over conflict zones. You have heard that in the report. It
:04:01. > :04:05.emerged after MH17 that Singapore Airlines was flying over that part
:04:06. > :04:09.of eastern Ukraine more frequently than Malaysia Airlines. Are all
:04:10. > :04:14.airlines going to have to rethink their flight paths and as a result,
:04:15. > :04:18.it will end up costing more. The cost is only one part of the
:04:19. > :04:23.equation, the second one is whether they can pass it on to customers.
:04:24. > :04:28.Customers will say to themselves, what is more important? A safer
:04:29. > :04:32.flight path or a cheaper airline? This is the balance they have. As
:04:33. > :04:37.far as airlines are concerned, unless they are pushed into using
:04:38. > :04:42.new flight paths, they will say that this is safe enough. That is the
:04:43. > :04:49.difficulty they have. They need to balance the cost. Playing a new
:04:50. > :04:55.route will cost more fuel and money. Can they pass that cost on to
:04:56. > :05:00.customers? I would say passengers will decide. They will ask in future
:05:01. > :05:04.which flight path they will be using. If they use one that
:05:05. > :05:11.uncomfortable with, they will pay a higher price. In other news, data
:05:12. > :05:15.out of Japan shows industrial output fell at its fastest rate since the
:05:16. > :05:20.2011 earthquake that crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The
:05:21. > :05:24.factory slope reduction by 3% in June from May. The latest sign
:05:25. > :05:36.highlights the impact of the recent sales tax rise on consumer demand.
:05:37. > :05:38.US tech giant Microsoft is under scrutiny in China. Chinese
:05:39. > :05:40.authorities raided Microsoft offices. They say that Microsoft
:05:41. > :05:47.breached competition rules with their new system. Our correspondent
:05:48. > :05:52.has more. Things have changed for Microsoft
:05:53. > :05:56.since its heyday in 2006, when the Chinese President flew to the US to
:05:57. > :06:01.have dinner with Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, before then
:06:02. > :06:05.travelling to the White House. That was the bright point for them. Since
:06:06. > :06:12.then, the company has struggled in China. Especially with the battle
:06:13. > :06:16.against piracy. Its prospects of selling legal software in China
:06:17. > :06:22.looks best when it was negotiating with the government to purchase
:06:23. > :06:25.legal software. The announcement of an investigation into the company
:06:26. > :06:28.seems to have dimmed the prospect. The government has already banned
:06:29. > :06:34.the purchase of Windows 8 software by government buyers. Things are not
:06:35. > :06:37.looking good for the company now. Could Microsoft be lumped in with
:06:38. > :06:41.the other foreign corporations right our? We are seeing the Chinese
:06:42. > :06:49.authorities essentially going after many foreign companies `` right now?
:06:50. > :06:51.Absolutely. We have seen Chinese regulators and state`run media
:06:52. > :06:55.turning up the heat on foreign corporations. We have seen
:06:56. > :07:01.pharmaceutical companies, fast food companies and now technology
:07:02. > :07:05.companies that are being scrutinised very carefully by the Chinese
:07:06. > :07:09.government. Of course, the government says they are doing this
:07:10. > :07:13.to protect the interests of local consumers in an effort to reduce
:07:14. > :07:17.pricing. It is detecting local companies, something that happened
:07:18. > :07:24.all over the world. However, at some point, the government will have to
:07:25. > :07:28.take a back step in its efforts to make things more palatable for
:07:29. > :07:33.foreign companies working in China. Now, to Taiwan, where three sisters
:07:34. > :07:38.have taken over the running of a family farm and turned it into a
:07:39. > :07:40.popular weekend getaway. It has been a smooth transition from one
:07:41. > :07:54.generation to the next. Not so for many other families. For the latest
:07:55. > :08:02.series of Family Businesses, our correspondent reports. Preparing a
:08:03. > :08:09.dish of shrimp, this mother and daughter duo make a good team. Out
:08:10. > :08:12.the back, the father is roasting the family's trademark chicken. The
:08:13. > :08:15.youngest daughter is in charge of the front desk and seeing guests to
:08:16. > :08:18.their rooms. The eldest daughter is the head of marketing and conjures
:08:19. > :08:26.up creative beverages in the cafe. TRANSLATION: It just happened. We
:08:27. > :08:32.threw the youngest one behind the front desk when she was just two.
:08:33. > :08:37.Now, at 22, she is in charge. We are happy the young people have taken
:08:38. > :08:41.over managing the farm. They have better ideas about how to run the
:08:42. > :08:46.business than we do. Family businesses make up the bulk of
:08:47. > :08:49.Taiwan's economy. But, while this family has succeeded in handing down
:08:50. > :08:51.the business to the younger generation, many companies in
:08:52. > :08:58.Taiwan, including some of the biggest firms, do not have a
:08:59. > :09:02.succession plan. They are run by the founders, who are getting on in age,
:09:03. > :09:04.but do not have any apparent successors lined up. In fact,
:09:05. > :09:11.analysts estimate that 70% of Taiwan's against companies are
:09:12. > :09:15.family owned. Bad, only 30% have a succession plan. The companies are
:09:16. > :09:18.either too big to be passed down to family members or the offspring are
:09:19. > :09:25.not capable or interested in running them. `` But. Experts say the
:09:26. > :09:28.succession challenges for many Taiwanese companies put a question
:09:29. > :09:33.mark over their future, especially in the mind of shareholders. Most of
:09:34. > :09:36.the first generation entrepreneurs do not want to give up their
:09:37. > :09:40.position. They still want to make major decisions for the company. As
:09:41. > :09:50.a result, the successors do not have a chance. They don't have the chance
:09:51. > :09:57.to handle the entire company. I think there is a major crisis in
:09:58. > :10:02.Taiwan's business. Experts say that elderly founder is not willing to
:10:03. > :10:05.let go in as a reason why Taiwan's economy is staggering. Without
:10:06. > :10:08.letting the young generation play a major role, companies might be slow
:10:09. > :10:19.to change and ultimately, they risk their future competitiveness. But,
:10:20. > :10:22.not the Thai's. It rests very firmly on the next generation.
:10:23. > :10:26.A quick look at the markets. on the next generation.
:10:27. > :10:32.A quick look at the We have seen gains in the region. The Nikkei is
:10:33. > :10:37.continuing its six`month high due to healthy corporate results we saw
:10:38. > :10:42.from Honda and Tokyo electron, despite the bad industrial
:10:43. > :10:45.production as we told you about. That is it for this edition of Asia
:10:46. > :10:56.Business Report. Thank you for watching. Hello. You are watching
:10:57. > :10:58.BBC News. I am Adnan Nawaz with the top stories: Israel's bombardment of
:10:59. > :11:00.Gaza is continuing. The