26/10/2015 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Sally Bundock and

All eyes on China, where leaders are gathered for their four day meeting

to discuss the nation's economic and social plans for the next five

years - but what tricks does China have left up its sleeve?

Live from London, that's our top story on Monday 26th October

A cut in interest rates at the end of last week has given

markets across Asia a boost but how optimistic can we be about

the Communist Party's ideas for the world's second biggest economy?

Also in the programme - Toyota is back at the top.

The Japanese carmaker is the best vehicle seller

of the year so far - it's overtaken Volkswagen as it grapples with the

And a new trading week has just kicked off across Europe - markets

are mixed as investors grapple with the latest earnings news from some

And we'll be getting the inside track from the only female

chief executive at one of the top ten global accountancy firms.

Keep in touch with us on social media -

Today we want to know what would be in your five year plan

How can China kick-start its economy?

China dominates the headlines this week.

China's leaders are to gather for a four day event in Beijing

today for its fifth plenum - whatever is decided there will set

the agenda for China's policies in the coming five years.

Top of the agenda, unsurprisingly it's expected to be the economy.

The government's new annual growth target could be top of the agenda -

with a cut of growth target from 7% to 6.5%, but some are speculating it

The party will also shift the focus away from a dependence

on exports and extensive investment in infrastructure to concentrate

There could also be an increase in social welfare spending

and push for further financial liberalisation, including promoting

the internationalisation of China's currency, the renminbi.

Dr Linda Yueh is a Professor at London Business School joins me

Good to see you. China very much charted a course in 2003 when it

started doing these plans, from a farming nation into one of mass

industrialisation. Now the process has finished, where do they see the

engine for growth in the future? They certainly see it in a new

sector, services. Something that would be familiar to advanced

economies, but for something like China it is a massive structural

change, from being a manufacturing power to having its economy already

predominantly driven by professional services, educational services,

restaurants. That transformation is not the only one they have to

contend with in this 35 year plan. They also have to work out how you

drive growth, when we move away from factories producing things that can

be sold by exports. They have to come up with more innovative ways to

sell exports, including in the services sector. Over the last five

years, they averaged about 7.8% growth. Do you think they will stick

with that will do away with that target? I think the growth target is

likely to be lowered. The 25 year plan, from 2011 until 2015, that

have an average growth rate of about 7.5%. They have pretty much exceeded

that. Looking forward, there is not a great deal of confidence. They

want to sustain that kind of growth rate, but I don't think they could.

It is more realistic to grow at 6.5%, or even lower than that. There

is no question, that growth rate will be the single target that

everybody will be watching for. I have looked at the five-year plans,

and there is going to be at least 30 to 40 qualitative, as well as

quantitative plans. The other one to watch for is what they do in terms

of the share of the economy coming from investment, compared to

consumption. Briefly, credit growth is vastly outstripping economic

growth. Do you think China will come up with a plan in time for its debt

mountain? They tend to say things like they want financial stability.

Yes, that is one of the reasons why they don't want to grow through

investment any more. A couple more targets to watch for, they usually

have a money growth target. That gives you a sense of how much credit

they want to unleash on the economy. Beyond that, I would keep an eye out

for overall rebalancing targets. They were pretty good in the last

one, but I think the next one is going to be a lot harder, especially

in terms of exports. We are going to leave it there, lovely to see you.

Time for a quick look at some other news:

It's not quite signed, sealed or delivered, but the

long-awaited sale of Japan Post and its subsidiaries is getting closer.

Shares in the main holding company for the

state-owned giant have been priced in the top of the expected range.

That raises 693 billion yen - that's about $5.7 billion.

Investors from Japan will be able to buy 80% of the shares,

with the other 20 available to international investors.

And bankers at Royal Bank of Scotland will soon be using Facebook

to communicate with colleagues, swap information and, even,

It's the first bank to adopt Facebook At Work and aims to

connect people across the company more quickly and efficiently to

'S been a busy day. Lots of companies out with earnings, we

can't imagine everything in the show, so please look at the website,

because they talk about stories as they break. This is about Phillips.

better-than-expected quarterly better-than-expected quarterly

profits, off the back of strong orders for US health care

businesses. We this earlier. They think it is all

about chronic they think they are going to be

doing well. I spoke to the chief executive earlier and he was talking

about the fact that one of businesses they are trying to sell

off, they have hit a regulatory hurdle in the US. That was one of

morning. Other stories, we can't imagine them more, more about RBS

and Facebook, quite an interesting new manoeuvre on the part of RBS. I

can't see us using Facebook at work. We would never do that, would we?

Never, Now, as Volkswagen deals with

the diesel emissions rigging scandal, Toyota is pulling ahead

in terms of global vehicle sales. Mariko Oi is in Singapore - Toyota

is taking full advantage of trouble Indeed, if you remember, in the

first six months of this year, Volkswagen overtaxed Toyota in sales

numbers for the first time, which was very exciting for the German car

manufacturer. As you say, as we have been reporting, VW now has this huge

scandal which affects its reputation, as well as sales

figures. In the first nine months of this year, Toyota sold about 7.5

million cars, while Volkswagen sold just over 7.4 million. Now, experts

believe that Toyota will keep the top spot as the world's bestselling

car manufacturer. It lost its top position back in 2011 because of the

huge earthquake and tsunami. It regained it in 2012 and has

maintained its ends. It looks like Toyota will keep the spot for this

year. Thank you very much. Very interesting, in the case of Toyota

and VW. They have both actually said that part of the obsession to be the

number one in the world has meant they have perhaps seen some elements

falling behind. Talking about the big recall crisis at Toyota, you

will remember that well, not many years ago. Looking at markets across

Asia, Hong Kong is flat, that was the close on Friday in the United

States. These markets are still digesting the latest move on the

part of China, when it comes to cutting interest rates in China.

Europe has been going for about 40 minutes. Brand-new trading week. As

you can say, it's all going in the wrong direction. That is despite the

fact we had good news from Peugeot. It says it is much stronger in the

third quarter. WPP, we will talk about that later. Also, I spoke

about Phillips, I spoke to the boss, their sales are strongly as well.

And now Nada Tawfiq can tell us what will making the headlines

in the business world in the United States today.

Earnings season is still in full swing with a number of major

companies reporting, such as Apple, Twitter and Alibaba. Up first is

Xerox, which expects the first quarterly loss since 2010. An

increasingly digital marketplace has affected the company, widely known

for paper copiers and printers. It is now shifting its focus to its

government health care business. But that has not come without issues.

Interrupted projects in California and Montana will hurt the company

this quarter. Also on Monday, figures on new home sales are

released, which helps determine consumer confidence and translate

into economic momentum in other industries. On Tuesday, policymakers

will begin a two Dave meeting. No rate hike is expected, but, as ever,

anything can happen. -- two day meeting.

Joining us is Jane Foley, Senior Currency Strategist, Rabobank.

We have a big week ahead. We have the Fed rate decision on Wednesday,

the bank of Japan on Friday. Do you think we are likely to see a bit

more stimulus when it comes to Japan? Probably not. The market has

been suspecting for some time that they need to go. Japan has an

inflation target which is 2%. Inflation is nowhere near. A lot of

analysts have been saying they are going to have to go, but that is not

the noises we have been hearing from the bank of Japan. They have been a

lot more upbeat than many economists. That suggests that it

won't. Many economists say that we needed, so it will be an interesting

meeting. We have to talk about the Fed. We do indeed. That meeting is

exciting, not necessarily because the market expects a move, they

don't, but we want to see if there are clues. Is there the possibility

of an interest-rate hike in December? If we go back about a

year, the start of the year, the market thought the Fed would hike

interest rates in June. We are now nearly in November and many people

in the market, the majority of people in the market, think they

will not be able to go until next year. Ben Bonallack was being

interviewed over the weekend on an American news channel and was

talking about how difficult it is for Janet and her team to get the

timing right. Many people say it is a poisoned chalice, never an easy

thing to do. Some of the corporate results, the stories we are reading,

some culprits are having a tough time. If we do see more stimulus

from Japan, from the eurozone, it means the dollar will probably

strengthen. We will see you later. She is not off the hook yet. She has

to do more in five minutes. We will be hearing from one of the top ten

global accountancy firms. Our guest is the only woman at her position in

the industry. The world's biggest ad agency,

WPP published their trading A strong three months from its

North America business helped it But there was a warning that many

of their clients are still focusing on cutting costs rather than

growing their businesses. You've been speaking to the chief

executive Martin Sorrell - what does He has a great knack of talking for

a long time so you can't ask any more questions. Did you manage to

get some end? I was prepared and headed him off at the pats. I think

he knows I'm not going to put up with that. Normally, when he talks

about his results, he gives a very clear, unequivocal picture about

what is happening in the global economy. He will say Asia is doing

this, Europe is doing that, the Americans are doing this. The

picture he painted today was a much, much more nuanced one. You have been

talking about some other factors that play into that. One of them, of

course, is the transition that is happening in China, away from the

investment and manufacturing, towards consumer led economies, less

of a focus on exports. The effect that has is that we have seen the

falling commodities prices has been very sudden and very dramatic,

particularly over the past year. I said to him, surely if we turn more

Chinese people into big consumers, that is going to be helpful for

advertising. He said, that is true. But that is not something that

happens overnight. We have to wait a little bit for that. What you have

been talking about, he said this could be a blueprint for the

company. We will be looking at that closely. Another thing, because it

is very much an international company, movements in the foreign

exchange markets. That has been very prevalent because of what central

banks have been saying. You have been reporting about what China has

said about dropping interest rates. The sixth time this year. It is a

very rapid change that is going on. He has said the central bank is

going to keep its foot on the easing pedal. That affect the currency

markets. As you have rightly pointed out, the company is very focused on

cost cutting. There is some information about bingo centres up

for sale. Our top story -

Chinese leaders begin a four day meeting to set out an economic

blueprint for the next five years. After massive industrialisation,

the big question now is whether it will manage to ease

the transition for the country to And now let's get the inside track

from the only female boss of any of Jean Stephens is

Global Chief Executive of RSM International and an advocate

of diversity in the workplace. RSM is a multi-national network

of accounting firms which together form the 7th largest

professional accountancy services Members employ over 32,000

people across the world. It includes some really big names -

including McGladrey in the US, Baker Tilly here in the UK

and Ruihua in China. Jean Stephens,

Global Chief Executive of Welcome to the programme. You were

in more than 100 countries across the world. That must be a nightmare.

You must spend a lot of time on planes. I sometimes live on a plane.

I spend about 75% of my time travelling. Meeting with members,

talking and sharing strategies. That was part of your ambition, wasn't

it? You wanted to work for a global company as opposed US company. Yes,

I trained as a CPA in the US, I graduated young and got my masters.

Explain that. Certified Public accountants. I am a chartered

accountant. I got my degree and then my license, I loved it, but I'll was

had a dream of living abroad, living and working abroad and being in a

different culture. Having the opportunity to come to the

headquarters in London with the then CEO, working with him for ten years,

and then we grew and developed and I was fortunate that they asked me to

take over when he stepped down. You've grown up throughout the

company, you've been there a long time. I wonder what the biggest

challenges for you must be, trying to manage a consistency across the

entire network when it comes to all the different cultures and people

you've got to work with, because there are lots of ways of doing

business. That is right, and it is what has kept me in this position

for so long. The issues that we have around the world are so varied, I

start my day with Asia and follow the time zones with regards to

talking to our members. I love that. We are very focused on client

service, adding value to our clients, working with them, with

their growth ambitions. As part of that, there are two things that I

really focus on, one is the quality structures we have within our

organisation, doing our very best to make sure that is the highest level,

and the other is the relationships we have with each other. If we can

connect very easily and seamlessly then that brings value to our

clients. We want to provide the services based on those

relationships. Something that is important to you is diversity, and a

big part of that is enabling women to claim the ladders. You are

actually in favour of quarters. -- quotas. How did you get to where you

are given many women say it is difficult to get to the top? Most

professions, we are still not at the level that I think we need to, to

have a well rounded workforce. I believe when you have diversity at

the table, not just gender but all diversity, it makes for better

business, and better decisions. Everybody agrees with that but it is

how you make that happen. It is multilayered, it is very

complicated, that I think one is having the conversations, the

current leaders need to set the stage for making that happen. I am

very fortunate to work within RSM, in a predominantly male profession.

I don't have my own children, so I'm able to devote a lot more time than

others could. That is just a reality of the world we are in. In business,

we need to make adjustments for the different needs our people have so

we can get that diversity. With regards quotas, we've been talking

about this for so long. I graduated a long time ago and we were talking

about it then, we are still talking about it. Everybody agrees we've not

made enough progress. The pace of change is not fast enough. Quotas

can help. They can mandate and drive change to the point where we don't

need them. Interesting that you say you don't have children. In the

Green room you said there is a recruitment that is 50-50 but you

said you see the fallout after eight or ten years. How do you manage to

get women to boardroom level and still be able to have a family? I

think it starts with women having a discussion with the employer, saying

this is what they need, and being flexible with regards the hours,

making it easy for women to have that, and families. It is not just

women, it is a family issue. When you talk in Scandinavian countries,

it is much more socially acceptable for them to take time off. We've got

to challenge all those things and having the discussion is very

important. It would be good to get to the point. Thank you for this.

There are lots of ways to keep up with BBC business. We would love to

hear from you, here's a reminder of how to get in touch. You can stay

ahead with all the day's breaking business news. We will keep you

up-to-date with insight and analysis from the team of editors around the

world. We want to hear from you, get involved on the web page. You can

get involved on Twitter. It is on TV and online. Jane is back and with us

in the studio to talk about the other stories out there. There is a

story in the Financial Times. This relates to sanctions. There have

been sanctions placed on Russian businesses. Banks have the job of

facilitating business. I work for a bank, we have all had compliance

training. We have had training with businesses that are sanctioned. This

investigation, reported in the FT, says the US authorities are

investigating some business that Deutsche Bank has been doing in

Russia. It is only an investigation at this stage, but they are saying

they are potentially investigating a breach of those sanctions. One of

the stories we were alluding to is what is going on with earnings at

the moment and the slowdown. The Wall Street Journal is looking at

this, companies warning they will see a dip in profits and sales. This

is fascinating. All year we've been debating whether it is doing well

enough for them to hike interest rates. This story suggests US

corporate, manufacturers are stressing out. One manufacturer says

the sector is in recession. We know that energy companies are under

pressure because of oil prices but this goes further in suggesting

other corporate companies are under stress as well. I would say that we

can take this back to the first quarter. A number of corporate work

complaining about the strength of the US dollar, the strongest

currency over the last 12 months, it has affected the profits of many

companies overseas. A story which caught our attention, the originator

of Green Black saying he regretted selling it to Cadbury. He says we

value corporate for how much they are valued for, not the number of

people we employ. Short-term as is the failure of capitalism. That is

such a deep ending. See you soon.