Amanda Min Chung Han

Ms. Shieh, an architect based in Bejing, is considering buying an air purifier for her house. An American-born Chinese, Ms. Shieh came to China a couple of years back to follow her job. Before the move, she was concerned about different food and a language barrier, since her Chinese wasn’t fluent enough. But she didn’t pay much attention to poor air quality.

US-listed Chinese IPO (Initial Public Offering) companies have always caught investors’ attention. On May 4th, Chinese social networking site ‘Renren’, also known as the Chinese Facebook, listed in the New York stock exchange at US$14 per share. The stock price soared to $24 during the day before ending at $16 per share.

The company’s IPO raised a total of US$743 million which is 72 times the worth of its sales from last year. Initially the company planned to raise US$584 million, yet eager investors demanded more opportunity, which led the company to raise share prices higher. It is an eye-popping amount of money considering the fact that the original Facebook was valued at only 25 times its previous annual sales in a recent Goldman Sachs investment in the company.

If you conduct your business affairs online, you can save thousands of trees and you can remove your carbon footprints. Are you ready to join the world movement toward ecofriendly Internet business?

China is emerging as one of the most prominent “green” business markets.

According to Shanghai Expo representatives, half a million local tourists visit the Shanghai Expo. The 184-day event is predicted to attract an estimated 4 million foreign visitors. The Shanghai Expo is being held on both banks of the Huangpu River in the city of Shanghai from May 1 to Oct. 31.

There are always fads and trends not only in fashion, but also in business management strat¬egy. Six sigma was once a must have tag to improve the manufacturing processes. Ac¬cording to the book “Institute’s Six Sigma Breakthrough and Beyond,” by the late 1990s about two-thirds of the Fortune 500 organizations had begun Six Sigma initiatives with the aim of reducing costs and improving quality.

What if you have to pay more tax on top of your gas charge just because you use more gas than your neighbors? Would you think the tax is too much? Due to increasing concerns about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, many countries – mostly in Europe – have already established and/or proposed a carbon tax. Not good news if you were a heavy user of gas.

Kim Jeong-sook, a 31- year-old homemaker in Seoul, buys groceries through the Internet shopping mall with her co-workers. The Internet shopping mall is operated by a group of farmers from her hometown.

“There are many advantages to buying vegetables, rice and honey directly from a farmer and a beekeeper,” she says. “The price is somewhere between the wholesale price and the retail price because I place a large order with my colleagues. I feel I get ripped off whenever I see the retail price in a supermarket or a department store.”

One of the most high-flying Korean equities of this year is Samchuly Bicycle Co. This stock traded for a mere 2,730 won on Oct. 10, 2008. However, it quickly soared to 37,400 won as of May 15. There were jokes that Samchuly Bikes are not rolling, but instead are flying in the market. Another bicycle manufacturer, Very Good Leisure Co., has also enjoyed a soaring share price for some time, thanks to the series of government green transportation polices.