David Cross, one of the students who participated in last year’s China trip, sent me the following flash presentation found on the Goldman Sachs website (see upper right hand corner and then click on “The BRICs Dream: Web Tour.”  I thought it was well done.  Clearly, the folks at Goldman “get” the importance of the global economy.  FYI, “BRICs” stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China.  You will need Adobe, Flash or Player to watch the flash presentation.  It would be great if we could do a trip that visits all four countries, although to do so would likely be cost and time prohibitive!

I found this post on the China Law Blog re: the marketing of American consumer products in China to be interesting.  I did not know that firms such as UPS, the package delivery company, provide annual reports available to the public about the categories of products they deliver in a particular country.  The UPS survey asserts that Chinese urban consumers, or “Chuppies, have many shopping preferences depending on their age, gender and location, and they appear to have a heavy preference for a variety of quality American products.  The ”most sought after” categories of American goods by these “Chuppies” are: (1) home appliances; (2) consumer electronics; (3) health care products/pharmaceuticals; (4) beauty products; (5) apparel/fashion accessories; and (6) movies, music and books.  This data and information, while broad, would seem to be of interest and value to a variety of American firms seeking to penetrate the Chinese market.