IPSO India Initiative Launch: India Conference

Interconnected Future: India and Georgia
Georgia Center for Continuing Education
Save the Date: April 2 & 3, 2009

This two-day event includes the India Conference that will be held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education in Athens. A special lecture sponsored by the College of Public Health on Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 6 pm will kick off the conference at the Paul D. Coverdell Center. On Friday, April 3, 2009 the conference will run from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, including a keynote and luncheon speaker, followed by a cultural performance and a reception. The conference will cover four areas: political, economic, educational, and cultural aspects of India and how they relate to Georgia. Specific objectives of the conference include: a focus on foreign investment in Georgia from Indian firms and Indo-American business relations for economic development as well as educational partnerships for UGA and Indian institutions of higher education.

Click here for more conference information

Emerald Group Publishing Ltd is pleased to offer ICA Institute readers free access to its journal Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China during March.

China is undergoing a fast transformation from the world's manufacturer to a leading player in the field of knowledge-based innovation. Published in association with the China Association for Management of Technology (CAMOT), the Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China (JKIC) responds to the lack of scholarly publications with a Chinese perspective on this field of study. JKIC publishes research that addresses emerging or developed innovative practices in modern China, and how innovation is feeding into the country's rapidly growing knowledge economy. This includes critical analyses which are informed by an appreciation of the complexity of the National Innovation System (NIS) and of regional and sectoral diversity.

To access the journal visit http://www.emeraldinsight.com/jkic.htm , see the table of contents and - when prompted - enter the following:

Username: ICAinstitute
Password: emerald

For more information on the journal, please contact the Publisher, Victoria Buttigieg, at vbuttigieg@emeraldinsight.com

Call for Papers
3rd China Goes Global Conference
September 30 - October 2, 2009
Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
www.chinagoesglobal.org

Overview
This century has been dubbed the Chinese Century. But will the naming of this Century be congruent with the country's performance in the global political economy? As part of a series of conferences on the topic China Goes Global, held at Harvard Kennedy School and Rollins College, we issue a new call for papers on the globalization of China and Chinese companies, focusing on the following broad questions:
1. What are the social, political and economic influences of China's globalization?
2. How will China's globalization effect the business environment of firms in developed and emerging countries?
3. Will China really replace the US economic, political and business leadership in the 21st Century?
4. What are the factors associated with China's emerging global economic prowess?
5. Can Western political/economic models and theories help explain China's current trajectory, either on a macro or a micro level?

Important Dates
Deadline for Submission: May 15, 2009
Paper acceptance/rejection: July 1, 2009
Revised paper submission: August 15, 2009
Registration Fee
Please note that all presenters and participants must register to attend the conference. The early bird registration fee of USD 495 is due on July 5, 2009, and the regular registration fee of USD 595 is due on August 15, 2009. The registration fee includes refreshments, lunches, reception, conference dinner, and a copy of the book China Rules: Globalization and Political Transformation (Palgrave McMillan, 2009). Conference registration does not include accommodation or travel costs.

Organizational Committee
Dr. Ilan Alon, Petters Professor, Director Rollins China Center, Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College, Asia Programs Visiting Scholar, Harvard University
Dr. Julian Chang, Executive Director, Asia Programs, Ash Institute, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Dr. Marc Fetscherin, Assistant Professor, Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College, Asia Programs Visiting Scholar, Harvard University
Dr. Christoph Lattemann, Assistant Professor of Corporate Governance & E-Commerce, University of Potsdam, Asia Programs Visiting Scholar, Harvard University
Dr. John R. McIntyre, Professor, Director of Georgia Tech CIBER, Georgia Institute of Technology

For more information, visit the conference website http://www.chinagoesglobal.org/

China Denies Protectionism In Coca-Cola Ruling (CNN Money, Mar 19)
China dismissed criticism that its rejection of Coca- Cola Co.'s (KO) bid for China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. (1886.HK) was a protectionist move, saying Thursday the decision was consistent with its antimonopoly law and the country remains open to foreign investment. The Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday it had ruled against Coca-Cola's purchase of Huiyuan for US$2.4 billion because the deal would unduly restrict competition. The ruling, the first big test of China's antimonopoly law that took effect in August, could discourage foreign investment and undermine Beijing's calls against protectionism in global markets.

CPI drops, but no deflation forecast (Shanghai Daily, Mar 11)
CHINA'S consumer price index fell in February for the first time in six years, another indicator of a weakening economy and a possible signal that interest rate cuts might be on the horizon.

India Inflation Slows to 2-Decade Low of 0.44 Percent (Bloomberg, Mar 19)
India's inflation slowed to a two- decade low, providing room for the central bank to cut interest rates to protect the economy from the global recession. Wholesale prices rose 0.44 percent in the week to March 7 from a year earlier after gaining 2.43 percent the previous week, the commerce ministry said in New Delhi. That's the lowest inflation rate on record, according to data available since 1990 on Bloomberg. Economists expected an increase of 0.86 percent.

India News Digest: Indian CEOs Raise H-IB Visa Issue With Obama Administration (Wall Street Journal, Mar 19)
Asian stocks gained for a second day, led by commodity and construction companies, after China's Premier Wen Jiabao said the country's economic growth target for this year is within reach. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, climbed 4.4 percent in Sydney and Komatsu Ltd., the world's No. 2 maker of earthmoving equipment, jumped 3.8 percent in Tokyo on speculation demand for metals and industrial machinery will rise. Mazda Motor Corp., Japan's No. 4 carmaker, surged 11 percent as the yen weakened. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and U.S. futures erased gains after Wen refrained from announcing an expansion of a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) spending package.

The Dam Building Boom: Right Path to Clean Energy? (Yale Environment 360, Feb 23)
Led by China, the developing world is engaged in a flurry of dam construction, touting hydropower as renewable energy in an era of global warming. But critics point out that the human and environmental costs of dams remain high.

Could Small Nations Like the Maldives Lead in Renewable Energy? (Green Inc., Mar 16)
President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a chain of low-lying islets in the Indian Ocean, is aiming to make his country the first carbon-neutral nation by fully switching to the use of renewable energy within a decade, according to The Observer, a newspaper published on Sundays in Britain. According to Mr. Nasheed, global warming that prompts rises in sea levels is threatening the existence of the Maldives. Previously the nation had considered a global warming relocation fund using revenue from tourism to buy land elsewhere as a new home for the country's 400,000 citizens should the worst-case scenarios play out.

Environment: Smart progress made on the green front (China Daily, Mar 6)
China will continue its drive toward energy conservation, emissions reduction, and environmental protection in 2009, Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday. In the past three years China's energy consumption per unit of GDP has dropped by 10.08 percent, Wen told lawmakers in a report to the annual session of the National People's Congress.

Energy: Pollution levels, energy use drop (China Daily, Mar 9)
China made progress in reducing its energy use last year, according to a government report. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)'s annual report, released late February, said energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) fell 4.59 percent in 2008, slightly higher than the bureau's previous 4.21 percent estimate.

Outsourcing: China vs. India (China Knowledge, Mar 9)
Affected by the global economic crisis, China's exports dropped rapidly in the fourth quarter of 2008. In December, China's export growth was -2.8%, bringing the growth rate for 2008 to 17.2%, which is 2.1% lower than the growth in the first 11 months. However, China's software industry still experienced fast growth in 2008. This year, China's software exports reached US$14.2 billion, up 39% year on year. Service outsourcing grew at an even faster speed of 54.3% to US$1.6 billion by the end of 2008. The growth in the whole year was 6.2% higher than the growth in the first 11 months.

India registers slight slowdown in new telecom connections (The Hindu, Mar 19)
India's telecom operators managed to add 13.42 million new subscribers to the network in February, which was lower than the 15.26 million new connections during the previous month, official data showed Thursday. With this, the total number of telephone connections in the country under both the wireless and wireline segments has gone up to 413.47 million, the sector's watchdog, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, said in a statement.

TCOM expects to earn $800 m from emerging markets (The Economic Times, Mar 17)
MUMBAI: Tata Communications (TCOM), the global telecommunications arm of the Tata Group, is eyeing 20% of its revenues, or around $800 million, from non-Indian emerging markets in the next three years. TCOM's target markets are South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa excluding India and China. The company's focus on these markets is in tune with current economic scenario. While most of the developed world, including the US and UK, is expected to report negative GDP growth in near term, major emerging economies are still expected to grow, though at a much reduced rate.

China's largest PC maker targets rural market (China View, Mar 6)
Lenovo, China's largest personal computer maker, aims to sell 5 million computers in rural areas within three years, reported Friday's China Daily.

TMT: Motorola unit exits handsets business (China Daily, Mar 4)
Hangzhou Motorola Cellular Equipment Co Ltd, a joint venture between Motorola Inc and Hangzhou Eastern Communications Co Ltd, is stopping cell phone production after the first quarter of this year, underlining the extended woes of the US communication giant's troubled mobile phone business.

Global companies facing growing water risk, warn experts (NDTV.com, Mar 19)
On the socio-economically important industry like agriculture, the report says that reduced water availability is already impacting food commodity prices, as shown by last year's sharp increase in global rice prices triggered by a drought-induced collapse of rice production in Australia. Roughly 70 per cent of the water used globally is for agriculture, with as much as 90 per cent in developing countries where populations are growing fastest.

Live bird markets to be shut down (Shanghai Daily, Mar 11)
THE Ministry of Agriculture plans to close all live bird markets in medium and large cities across the country to combat a possible bird flu epidemic, Beijing Times reported today.

India May Subsidize Wheat Exports as Stockpiles Mount (Bloomberg.com, Mar 17)
India, the world's second-biggest wheat grower, may subsidize exports to run down stockpiles at government warehouses that may reach a seven-year high, likely pressuring global prices, a U.S. growers' group said. The government will face a storage problem when it begins buying wheat next month as it raised the assured price paid to farmers to a record, said Mark Samson, vice president for South Asia at the U.S. Wheat Associates. Reserves may reach 30 million metric tons by June 1, 40 percent of demand, the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service said in January.

Chinese state councilor meets Georgetown University president (China View, Mar 8)
Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong met here on Sunday with John DeGioia, president of Georgetown University of the United States. Liu expressed appreciation for the contribution of DeGioia to push forward educational exchanges and personnel training between China and the U.S..

Building a Professional Network in China (e-education journal, Mar 19)
Did you know that most Chinese mobile phone users don't use voicemail? Members of the Graduates in Instructional Technology Student Association (GrITS) at Georgia State University learned about Chinese telecommunications habits recently while collaborating with Zoo Atlanta's Academy for Conservation Training (ACT). ACT invited GrITS members to brainstorm technology solutions to help foster the professional network for zoo educators in China and maintain momentum between training programs. Funded by The UPS Foundation, Zoo Atlanta's award-winning Academy for Conservation Training (ACT) is the preeminent conservation education training for Chinese zoo educators. The goal of ACT is to work with the Chinese Association of Zoologcial Gardens (the organization that oversees accredited zoos in China) to develop and support a network of professional zoo educators who have the skills, knowledge and tools to support their conservation missions through education.

Survey: Gap between China's rural and urban education levels huge (China View, Mar 5)
A survey made public Tuesday by Peking University shows that China is seeing an increasingly large gap between the education levels of people holding urban and rural permanent residency permits, or "hukou" in Chinese.

HP Joins Foxconn In Recycling E-waste In China (China CSR, Mar 11)
HP and Foxconn have announced that they will expand the recycling of e-waste in China. Based on HP's recycle program, the new project will make use of Foxconn's expertise and infrastructure in logistics and manufacture.

Companies Had To Pay Female Employees Fivefold Salary On IWD (China CSR, Mar 10)
Hu Dongyun, the deputy director of the Hubei Provincial Labor and Social Security Department, said that according to Chinese rules and regulations, March 8, the International Women's Day, was a holiday designated by law and companies needed to offer a half-day off for their female employees. Hu said that since this year's IWD fell on Sunday, female employees can apply for a fivefold payment for a half day's work if they are asked to work more than a half day. Employees can report to the labor department employers who refuse pay this overtime.

Jinjiang Inn To Join WWF's "Earth Hour" (China CSR, Mar 10)
Budget hotel group Jinjiang Inn says it will join the Earth Hour program initiated by the World Wildlife Fund. On March 28, 2009, all the 240 plus outlets of Jinjiang Inn will turn off their external lights. In addition, the hotel will send off information cards free of charge to its customers via its official website, calling on these customers to do their bit to protect the earth.

DuPont's TiO2 Plant in China still awaiting approval (China Knowledge, Mar 17)
The U.S.-based chemical industry giant E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co (DuPont) is determined to build a 200,000-ton per year titanium dioxide (TiO2) plant in Dongying City, Shandong Province, and sent a representative to China last week to say so, sources reported. Douglas W. Muzyka, vice president of DuPont and president of DuPont Greater China, last Tuesday visited Shandong Province and met the province's Vice Governor Cai Limin, aiming to speed up the approval process. The company wants to build the plant in the city's Economic Development Zone. It will cost around US$640 million to construct the factory and to buy the supporting facilities.

Minister: Industries see recovery signs (China Daily, Mar 11)
There are indications that China's industries are recovering, the country's top industrial official said yesterday while cautioning that businesses still face "their most difficult times".

Drought without end? (chinadialogue, Mar 3)
Some parts of China are suffering their worst drought in 50 years. The country needs to focus on how it uses water for agriculture and industry.

The high cost of low carbon (chinadialogue, Mar 2)
Many people in China want to live more environmentally friendly lifestyles. But reducing carbon footprints can be expensive and support for the effort is lacking.

Obama's green plan (chinadialogue, Feb 27)
The American president is taking bold steps to address the energy and climate-change crises. As Niu Jitao writes, a Sino-US partnership will have a vital role to play.

Indian meal starter lasts 50 years (BBC, Mar 11)
Eighty-year-old Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat defies her age. She seems more agile and active than her grandchildren. "I don't want to stop working," she says with youthful determination. Mrs Popat is the only survivor of a group of semi-literate Gujarati housewives who founded Lijjat Papad 50 years ago. She will be celebrating the Lijjat golden jubilee on 15 March with 45,000 other women who are part of the women-only co-operative. Mrs Popat cannot believe that what started as a desperate move to "supplement the family income" 50 years ago has come so far.

'Journey to the West' theme park idea (Shanghai Daily, Mar 11)
A SHANGHAI CPPCC member has proposed a theme park based on "Journey to the West," one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature - a fictionalized account of the legends about the Buddhist monk Xuanzang's pilgrimage to India during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). It's best known in the West for its monkey king character.

China able to send man to moon around 2020: expert (China View, Mar 10)
A Chinese astronautics professor said Tuesday the country is capable of sending astronauts to moon around 2020. "The key technology problem is the 'returning'", said Xu Shijie, a professor from the Beijing University of Aeronautics, explaining that the country's three-stage moon mission could be defined as "orbiting", "landing" and "returning".

British, Chinese experts working on 4G mobile phone solutions to get extra funding (China View, Mar 7)
Experts in Britain and China working together on technology for the next generation of mobile phones have received nearly 1 million pounds (about 1.42 billion U.S. dollars) to boost the project.

NW China region reports sharp rise in HIV/AIDS cases (Xinhua, Mar 9)
The number of reported cases of HIV/AIDS rose by 50 percent last year to 216 in northwest China's Gansu Province.

Hospital ordered to pay after HIV scare (Shanghai Daily, Mar 11)
A WELL-KNOWN infectious diseases hospital in Beijing was ordered to pay 13,344 yuan (US$1,959) for accidentally pricking a man with a needle an AIDS patient had used, according to a court ruling on Monday.

Lawmakers urge stepped-up measures on tobacco control (Shanghai Daily, Mar 11)
LAWMAKERS are pressing for tighter tobacco control to reduce smoking prevalence in China, where a quarter of the population are smokers. The country should initiate a tobacco-control program as soon as possible to cut down tobacco supplies and demand, and protect people's health, Ma Li, a deputy to the National People's Congress, said on the sidelines of the top legislature's annual meeting.

Hong Kong has rising cases of HIV infection (Shanghai Daily, Mar 4)
THERE were 435 new HIV cases in Hong Kong in 2008, which is the highest recorded annual figure, Hong Kong Center for Health Protection said yesterday, adding that the figure was 5 percent higher than in 2007. A consultant from the Center for Health Protection, Wong Ka-hing, said sexual transmission continued to be the major way HIV is spreading.

Sales of vehicles speed up 25% (Shanghai Daily, Mar 11)
CHINA'S vehicle sales accelerated 25 percent in February, reversing from a 14-percent drop a month earlier, as demand for small cars surged after the government launched stimulus measures.

Home prices continue to fall for 3rd consecutive month (Shanghai Daily, Mar 11)
HOME prices in major Chinese cities continued to go south last month, extending year-on-year losses for the third consecutive month.

China disputes US over ship tiff (Shanghai Daily, Mar 11)
CHINA yesterday accused the United States of distorting the truth and breaking the law after a US Navy survey ship jostled with Chinese vessels off an island in the South China Sea.

Direct shipping boosts mainland imports of Taiwan farm produce (China View, Mar 10)
China mainland's imports of duty-free farm produce from Taiwan grew 177 percent over the same period last year to 2,635 tonnes from Dec. 15 to mid-February, reflecting the policy of "three direct links", statistics released Tuesday showed.

International Contributors Editorial Board
RJ Paulsick - Co-Editor
Roxanne Russell - Co-Editor
Geoff Hiscock - Australia
Priya Roy- China (Shanghai)
Harsha Harjani - Hong Kong
Dr. Nilay Yajnik - India
Farhad Mirzaei - Iran
Asha Hemrajani- Singapore
Melissa Steinmetz - UK
Dr. Daney Jackson - USA
Dr. Sudhanva Char - Academic Resources
Shree Pandya - Engaging Youth
Laurel Askue - Environment & Conservation
Christopher Chan - Intellectual Property