CIO Insight

In China, Complex Supply Chains Yield to Simple Systems
Despite the increasing size of Western companies in China and tight supply-chain connections between Chinese and Western organizations, few of the companies operating in China are interested in sophisticated supply chain management systems.
CIO Insight Feature (November 2005)
Weak Infrastructure, Logistics Weaken Supply Chains in China
Electrolux China, a group that manufactures kitchen, cleaning and outdoor appliances for consumers and business users, set up its supply chain system in 2002, after it had been in China for a few years.
CIO Insight Feature (November 2005)

Cost for Windows falls—to 50 cents—in China
Despite three years of attention by lawmaking committees and a steadily increasing roster of laws protecting intellectual property, China is a shopper's paradise for all things pirated—handbags, jewelry, movie DVDs, and, of course, software. Vendors pushing wheelbarrows piled with CDs offer Windows 98, 2000 and XP for as little as 4 yuan—just 50 cents. A slightly higher-quality product is available from tiny, hole-in-the wall storefronts. There, a copy of the software still in its original packaging—or what looks like original packaging – is available for 18 yuan, or $2.25. Still a bargain.
CIO Insight Feature (October 2005)

Chinese Legal System Hinders IP Protection Efforts
If finding a software pirate is as simple as walking down the street and looking around for wheelbarrows, why is China—home of the largest authoritarian government on the planet—having problems catching these guys? One reason could be that it's arresting them that's hard; it's keeping them locked up that's the problem.
CIO Insight Feature (October 2005)
Open-Source May Help China Curb Software Piracy
Since Linux doesn't require user licenses, it's also a way to combat software piracy, which is an epidemic in China. Under pressure from the world community and from local technology companies and other industry sectors, China has started thinking about cleaning up its act. A recent study by the International Data Corp. and the Business Software Alliance found that 90 percent of all software used in China was pirated.
CIO Insight Feature (September 2005)

Chinese Companies Plan Massive Linux Deployments
Tokyo-based TurboLinux has recently announced that the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China will roll out Linux in all of its 20,000 retail branches. ICBC, which has 100 million customers and over 8 million corporate accounts, is the largest bank in China. Under the deal, ICBC will buy an unrestricted user license and will integrate it throughout its entire banking operations network over the next three years.
CIO Insight Feature (September 2005)

Chinese Companies Pick Linux to Boost Their Own Skills
The last couple of years have seen one disaster after another in China's financial sector: financial scandals, record losses, a stock market at six-year lows. The fact is that the industry's existing technology infrastructure can't meet its urgent need for better customer service, oversight and compliance, much less the crash program in process improvement needed to compete globally. Cost is a major advantage, confirmed Shuo Bai, chief technology officer at the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
CIO Insight Feature (September 2005)