So what does the future store for China in the next 40 years? Let’s see–

Prediction No. 2

Nation-state power around the globe will be increasingly “multi-polar” in terms of who wields it and where

• The economies of Brazil, China and India will become less US and EU centric.
• Foreign Direct Investments will shift toward developing economies.

Prediction No. 25

China will continue to position itself as a long-term economic power-player around the globe

• China teams with other emerging countries (Brazil, India and China) to influence currency utilization.
• China partners with other countries (Venezuela and Africa) to meet energy needs and to import a wide range of raw materials.

Former Foreign Prime Minister of Mexico Jorge Castañeda does not agree they are ready though, at least when he wrote his piece in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs talking about China and the emerging countries joining the leadership of the global institutions.

At best, they are regional powers that pack a minuscule international punch; at worst they are neophytes whose participation in international institutions may undermine progress toward a stronger international legal order.

Prediction No. 37

China’s monopoly control of the world’s rare earth metals market will have a significant impact on US national security and the economy

• The seventeen elements that make up a group known as rare earth metals will remain critical to the performance of hundreds of products and technologies.
• The US will be reliant on China’s metals to produce such things as high-performance weapons components, internal guidance systems, microwave communications systems, radars, the motors and generators that power aircraft and ships, wind turbines, high-performance batteries, hybrid cars, superconductors, computer chips and digital displays.

This prediction is on a wait-and-see mode. Global Times reported early this month that China does not have monopoly over the rare earth reserves.

Among the world’s 88-million-ton known rare-earth deposits, China has about 36 million tons, hardly more than the combined deposits of the US (13 million tons) and Russia (19 million tons).

But over the years, due to the underregulated market in China, it supplies the world with close to 97 percent of the total market share. Japan, for example, depends solely on China for rare-earth minerals.

…with reports early on saying China blocked rare earth metal exports to Japan.

See anything new or trends moving towards the predictions? Considering the prognosis of the predictions before, they are not really that shocking.

Olivier used to live in Beijing, and loved living in China.  It is exciting being in the center of one of the most important stories of our time:  the rise of China.  But there are some downsides.

Peaceful Rise…

But then he decided to change his surroundings, and moved to Phuket.  Unfortunately, he is a bit removed from the center of the China story, but there are some compensatory aspects of living in Phuket.

..or Peaceful life?

photo credit: Shelby PDX under CC

And that, my friends, is the dilemma we all face, isn’t it?

If you are willing to forego the excitement of China for the chance to feed your social media addiction in a place like Phuket, read on:

Social Media Manager/Strategist

Type: Full-time

Experience: Mid level managerial

Functions: Strategy/Planning, Online Marketing, Information Technology, Other

Industries: B2C Online Marketing and Advertising, Travel

Report: Chief Information Officer

Job Description

Before reading any further, you must be able to answer a resounding and confident “yes, I can” to the following questions, and be able to substantiate each:

• Do you eat, sleep and breathe social media?
• Seriously, do you dream in 140 characters?
• Can you think bigger than Facebook and Twitter and put together integrated B2C social media campaigns and solutions that are miles ahead of the competition?
• Can you map out the relationships between B2C social media opportunities, how they fit with one another, what are they respective strengths and weaknesses, and how each could be maximised to enhance our company’s social media campaigns, website and blog?
• Do you have enough sensibility to modulate the tone of your postings/messages according to your audience?
• Are you able to grow revenue streams though social media and in time deliver a positive ROI?
• Do you have the social media inner fire burning in you? The one that gives you your daily torrent of adrenaline, the one that makes you a winner when you pass-smash your targets?
• Can you walk the talk? Anyone can dream up a strategy, what counts is its execution. Can you?

Now,

• If you have been honest with yourself and gave yourself the thumbs up for each the above self-testing questions
• If you firmly believe that you are such a social media innovator and animal
• If you believe you have the passion, energy, innovation, knowledge and skills to be our social media face
• If you can get your hands dirty and execute what you preach
• And if you can prove it all with an impeccable track record of successful past experience

Then, we want to talk to you…

HotelTravel.com has an immediate opening for such an innovative, driven, hands-on Social Media Manager/Strategist.

I’m interested!  How do I apply?

If you’re the right candidate, you’ll know how.  And if you don’t know how, you’re not the right candidate. Hint: @olivierdombey at @hoteltravel.

Here’s the US tourism strategy in summary: let’s tax Europeans–who will just end up levying a retaliatory tax–to attract Chinese–who already want to come but suffer visa restrictions and strict requirements to do so.

I just wanted to mouth off about the recently passed and soon to be implemented Travel Promotion Act of 2010.  Industry lobbyist Roger Dow of US Travel Association makes the case for this Act in HuffPo:

The bill is called the Travel Promotion Act, and it was enacted with strong, bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate (78-18) and is on its way to the President for his signature. The Act establishes a new public-private partnership to promote the U.S. as a leading destination for international travelers and educate them about U.S. security procedures. This partnership will be funded by a modest $10 fee on overseas travelers who do not pay $131 for a U.S. visa and matched by the travel industry. …

When it comes to competing for international travelers, in many ways, the U.S. is playing catch up. Other countries have been quicker to recognize and support the role travel plays in their economies. The countries of the European Union, for example, spend a collective $800 million per year promoting travel to their countries. Mexico spends nearly $150 million annually; Australia over $113 million; Canada and China, about $60 million. The United States: $0.

While it may make sense to spend some money on tourism promotion, it’s not clear why we should tax visitors to pay for it.  Let’s see.  Each visitor spends about $4,000.  So let’s tax people (and otherwise create administrative headaches) so they can enjoy the privilege of doing so.  Here’s Gadling‘s blunt take:

Of course, because the new law does not require any U.S. taxpayer dollars, it was passed with bipartisan support. Apparently the stupidity of taxing visitors to the U.S. in order to encourage them to visit was lost on most of the U.S. Congress.

The European Union– no surprise– is displeased by the new legislation, and is considering retaliating against it by charging U.S. visitors to Europe a $10 fee.

Meanwhile,  more Chinese go to Paris each year than to the entire United States. (source: some big shot quoted this at World Tourism Summit…need to get source).

Why?

Well, apparently (and I don’t have this confirmed in all cases) Chinese nationals need to come into a US Consulate or Embassy in China for an in-person interview before a visa can be aproved.  Guess what?  There are only 6 consulates in China:  Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Wuhan (source: US State Dept).

Well, this kinda sucks if you don’t live in one of these 6 cities.  According to Wikipedia, there are 160 cities in China with population over 1 mm.  Let me offer a few examples of how ridiculous this is. For example, if you are one of the 32 million people in the Chongqing municipality, you have to travel the 350+ km to Chengdu for your visa interview.  If you are one of the 11.9 million people in the Tianjin municipality, take the new CRH high speed train from Tianjin to Beijing for your visa interview.  Ditto for the other 152 1 million+ population cities in China.

But instead of really helping tap into latent tourism demand from countries like China by either easing visa restrictions or opening up more consulates, let’s tax the Europeans (and other visa-waiver countries) $14 a person.

Do you know any US visa horror stories from your Chinese friends?  Any consular interviews leave a bad impression on prospective visitors with a Chinese passport?  What are the problems Chinese people are facing coming to the US?

And can you think of how taxing Europeans $14 a head will help overcome these problems?

I actually think the $14 is better than doing nothing — but let’s solve some real problems to get the Chinese (and the rest of the world who currently need a visa) to come to to the great US and A and spend some money in doing so!

Photo: source

I’ll be attending the annual China Travel Distribution Summit in Beijing September 15-16.  First of all, if you have any interest in online travel in China, this is *the* event of the year to attend.  Charlie Li, founder of TravelDaily.cn the organizer of the event, has put together a great program of global innovators and the most important players in online travel in China.

Special 10% discount for CNReviews readers and friends

As a moderator and media partner of the event, I can access a 10% discount off of the current rate of RMB 3800 from the event.  Use the code “CTS555″ when you register and you should get a $50 discount, or 10% off.  Use this link: http://www.traveldaily.cn/go/74.html

TripIt founder Gregg Brockway

Earlier this year, I discovered that Gregg Brockway, founder of itinerary management Web service TripIt, would be speaking at the event.  TripIt is the travel application I use more than any other, to coordinate on average 1 trip a month.  I highly recommend the service!

With permission from China TravelDaily, below is a excerpt of an article by Maggie Rauch:

What is TripIt?

TripIt, based in the Bay Area and founded in 2006, gives users one place online to organize their travel details. If travel providers are TripIt partners, then users can have their flights and hotel reservations automatically sent to their TripIt account. When they use non-participating travel services, they have to e-mail their reservations to TripIt, which then adds all reservations to an itinerary. Users can also choose to share their plans with others, a function which Brocway says gave rise to TripIt’s corporate offering, TripIt for Business.

How does TripIt make money?

“We saw one of the most common uses of the share function was sharing fellow employees,” he says. “So we created a corporate group function.” For $399 annually, companies can give employees access to TripIt Groups (available for free) and can also create their own subgroups for their travelers. Employees at companies with TripIt for business accounts also can use TripIt Pro services (which would cost $49 if bought separately), including flight-alert notifications, information about alternative flights, frequent flyer mile tracking and hotel rewards point tracking. Its business services and individual subscriptions are key revenue streams, the others being advertising and working with travel agencies to create e-itineraries for their customers.

In its efforts to beef up business offerings, TripIt recently announced a partnership with Orbitz for Business. The deal will allow travelers using Orbitz for Business to seamlessly sync their travel plans via TripIt, and to access additional planning tools like maps and online check-in.

Why is Gregg Brockway coming to China?  Is TripIt expanding to China?

With the Orbitz agreement inked and 300% growth year on year, Brockway’s trip to China comes at a time when the entrepreneur (a co-founder of Hotwire in 1999) has a little more freedom to look at new markets. TripIt is already used internationally, he says.

“With our mobile app, we see people using it pretty much everywhere,” he says. TripIt has mobile apps for Android, Blackberry and iPhone. Brockway emphasizes that it does not seek to be a one-stop travel shop, and has not invested heavily in destination-based content. If the company looks at expansion into a new market, he says that factors it will consider are the maturity of the travel market; e-connectivity for hotel data, and tour and flight information; what is the equivalent of a GDS in a given market; and how much travel activity takes place online.

“I’m very curious to learn more about the state of the travel market there,” Brockway says about his trip to China. He already has some experience in the Far East, having worked in Hong Kong for five years in the mid-90s.

He’s well aware of the pitfalls of charging into a new market without soberly evaluating the opportunity or finding good local support. “Even when I was working in Hong Kong, people would come in with misguided preconceived notions about how they could bring their business model there.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting people doing innovative things in travel, and perhaps help someone as an adviser. That’s not something I had time to do the past couple of years, but now that the company is really up and running, it’s something I would consider.

Please let me know if you’ll be at the event.  I’ll look forward to meeting up!

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro at Shanghai Expo

Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom just jetted in with an 80-strong delegation that includes a US Senator, and with Sister City ties with Shanghai that go back 30 years, they’re getting a red-carpet welcome and enjoying huge buzz.

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle likewise enjoyed a largely successful week of business meetings and events during Hawaii Week at the Expo, and the future looks bright for a jump in trade between Hawaii and China.

So you can’t blame the Expo or the US Pavilion for San Antonio’s poor reception. What San Antonio lacks at the Expo is a USP – a unique selling proposition.

Aside from the 30-year old relationship with Shanghai, San Francisco also has some very powerful mojo that is earning it a lot of attention at the Expo – their passion for green causes. San Francisco is one of the most environmentally aware cities in the United States, and that vibes well with the Expo’s focus on sustainability and theme of a’ Better City, Better Life.’

With this theme in mind, San Francisco Bay Area companies are being showcased in the Urban Best Practice Area and instead of an investment seminar, San Francisco has a Green Energy Seminar.

If San Francisco has Silicon Valley and green innovations to offer, Hawaii has its tourist appeal, beaches and the Asia-Pacific cultural link which mainland America doesn’t have. Gov. Lingle also made it plain that Hawaii is no longer solely focused on Japanese visitors.

They’re now spending a lot more on promoting Hawaii as a tourist destination in China and South Korea. Gov. Lingle announced during her visit that there will be a direct flight from China to Hawaii by the end of the year.

As for San Antonio – Other than the fact that Jose Villarreal, the US Pavilion Commissioner General, is from San Antonio and the city hosted a World’s Fair in 1968, there’s not much of a connection between San Antonio, the Expo and China.

San Antonio - and other cities hoping for a business boost from the Expo - should try to generate more interest in the City and what it has to offer before making an investment pitch.

Haibao wants YOU!

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m consulting with HUBS1, a hot Shanghai travel startup that just raised $10 mm USD from a set of top venture capitalists and is the exclusive Official World Expo hotel reservation provider.  In addition to the Product Manager role, we are also hiring an Online Marketing Manager.  If the Product Manager is in charge of throwing the party, the Online Marketing Manager is in charge of getting people to show up to the party!  Anyway, for those of you who are savvy enough to see the long-term potential of online-marketing skills in China and globally, this is an exceptional Shanghai-based opportunity to build your career in this space.

If you’re interested, send a customized cover letter (or email) and resume to me at elliott at hubs1 dot net with CNReviews somewhere in the Subject line.  Or forward this to your friends via this URL: http://tinyurl.com/expotia-mktg

Overview – Online Marketing Manager

HUBS1 is hiring an Online Marketing Manager to focus on driving traffic and hotel bookings from international inbound travelers to China. Your online marketing strategies and programs will enable HUBS1 to compete in the competitive online travel arena with global competitors. You’ll determine the right mix of marketing tactics: PR, events, social media, affiliate, PPC search advertising, SEO, and lead generation. You’ll get budget approval and be held accountable for developing profitable marketing programs for the company.

Key success factors in your role include: interest in understanding human behavior online, ability to come up with advertising and promotional concepts, extreme focus on data and analysis, interest in social media, ability to work with partners and a cross-functional team.

Responsibilities

• Develop overall online marketing strategy. Develop programs, budgets and ROI targets.
• Programs and tactics could include: PPC advertising, banner advertising, portal partnerships, sponsorship deals, affiliate programs, electronic direct marketing (EDM) and SEO efforts.
• Deveop our content and editorial strategy on the Website, our blog, and other social media outposts like Facebook, Twitter, and other travel Websites.
• Select the right partners and agencies to help execute on programs.
• Monitor program Key Performance Indicators and use Web analytics to evaluate program success.
• Partner with our customer service department to provide great pre-sales and post-sales experience via the contact center. Decide which contact channels (e.g. chat, email, Twitter) need to be supported.

Qualifications

• 2-4 years of professional experience. Minimum of 2 years experience working on consumer Websites required. Minimum of 1 year online marketing experience in any of the following areas: SEO, PPC, online advertising, affiliate programs, EDM, social media marketing, partnerships.
• Experience with Google Analytics or other Web analytics program required.
• Personal qualities include: entrepreneurial attitude, quantitative analysis skills, communication skills, excellent at teamwork, organized and positive.
• Passionate about online marketing.
• High level of English fluency. Native speaker desired but not required.
• High level of Chinese fluency desired but not required.
• English writing and blogging skills highly desired but not required.
• BS/BA, with demonstrated excellence

About HUBS1

If you are building your career in the fast-growing field of online marketing or e-commerce, consider focusing on online travel–one of the largest and fastest growing parts of e-commerce. According to iResearch, the online travel market is already RMB 3.7 billion RMB in 2009, growing 23% annually to RMB 9 billion by 2013.

HUBS1 is one of the most prominent new companies in online travel. We’re backed by three leading international venture capital firms: GSR Ventures, GGV Capital, and Matrix China–firms that have invested in other online startups like Alibaba, Anjuke, Baihe, Baixing, Tudou, and Qunar. HUBS1 is also backed by Jin Jiang Hotel Group and is the exclusive official hotel reservation provider of the Shanghai World Expo. Our business model and fast growth will provide exceptional career opportunities for those who join us at this stage.

Job description in Chinese:

网络营销经理（英文网站）

概要：

我们正在寻找一位网络营销经理，主要负责为网站带来流量以及来自海外游客对中国酒店的预订。您的在线营销策略和项目将使HUBS1汇通天下在激烈的全球在线旅游市场竞争中拥有自己的地位。您将决定最佳的市场营销方式，包括：公关、活动营销、社会化媒体营销、PPC搜索广告、搜索引擎优化等等。您将获得相应的营销预算，并负责为公司带来高回报率的营销方案。

胜任这个职位的关键点包括：对在线用户行为的了解、对广告和促销方案的策划能力、关注数据和定量分析能力、对社会化媒体感兴趣、善于与他人和其他职能部门的合作能力。

这个职位将向您打开许多HUBS1汇通天下内部乃至整个中国在线旅游行业的职业发展机会。您所加入的团队具有在锦江、雅高、万豪、希尔顿、喜达屋等国际酒店集团以及Cypress半导体公司的多年从业经验。HUBS1汇通天下目前有约150人的团队，并且这支队伍正在快速壮大。作为一家创业公司，相比大型公司HUBS1汇通天下为您提供更多机会与创始人及公司高层管理团队直接交流的机会。

工作职责：

1. 提出完整的在线营销计划、项目、预算以及投资回报率目标；
2. 需要通晓的在线营销技巧：PPC形式的广告投放、横幅广告、门户网站合作、赞助商合作、联盟合作计划、EDM以及搜索引擎优化技巧；
3. 提供完整的网站内容策略，不仅包括网站本身，还包括博客以及其他社交网站，如Facebook、Twitter等，以及其他旅游网站；
4. 选择合适的合作伙伴和代理商共同执行营销项目；
5. 对项目运营情况进行评估，能使用一些在线分析工具；
6. 与客户服务部门合作，为客户提供优质的售前及售后体验，并进行各种渠道的可行性分析；

能力要求：

1. 2-4年相应领域的工作经验。至少2年消费类网站工作经验。至少1年在下述在线营销从事经验：SEO、PPC、网络广告、联盟合作、EDM、社会化媒体营销；
2. 熟悉Google Analytics以及其他在线分析工具；
3. 能够拥有创业者的工作心态、定量分析的能力、优秀的团队组织、协作能力和沟通技巧；
4. 热衷网络营销工作；
5. 熟练的英语沟通能力；
6. 中文表达能力突出；
7. 优秀的英语写作能力，并拥有不错的博客写作能力；
8. 大学本科学历或硕士学历

关于HUBS1汇通天下

中国的电子商务和网络营销正在经历着一个快速发展的阶段，如果您正在计划自己未来在这个领域中的职业生涯，不如考虑在线旅游行业。目前，国内在线旅游市场已成为国内电子商务及网络营销市场中增长最快、最有前景的市场之一。来自艾瑞咨询的研究，2009年，中国在线旅游市场规模已经达到37亿人民币，预计2013年将增长到90亿人民币，年增长率高达23%。

HUBS1汇通天下是目前国内在线旅游市场众多优秀新兴公司中的其中一家。我们目前已经接受了来自著名风险投资公司的投资，如金沙江创投、GGV Capital以及Matrix China。这些风险投资公司同时也投资了国内其他出色的互联网创业公司，如阿里巴巴、安居客、百合网、百姓网、土豆网以及去哪儿等。HUBS1汇通天下受上海锦江国际酒店集团的支持，并且是中国2010年上海世博会指定订房业务承办方和赞助商。相信公司的商业模式及快速发展将为任何一位加入HUBS1汇通天下团队的朋友提供绝佳的职业机遇。

Shaun Gao and Teddy Zhang, the HUBS1 founders, invited me to help them put together the strategy and the plan to build out the consumer Web channel for international inbound visitors to China.  Our first version of the new English-language Website, called Expotia.com,  will be launching later this month (link to the Chinese Expotia site)  The site will be initially focused on helping travelers to Shanghai with a focus on the Shanghai World Expo, because HUBS1 is the exclusive Official hotel reservation provider of the Shanghai World Expo.

The company intends to develop our consumer Website, Expotia.com. into the best English language travel planning and booking site for inbound China travel.  We’re putting our money where our mouth is, and recruiting a consumer Web team to make this happen for both the domestic Chinese market and the international English-language market.  I won’t share how many people we’re hiring for competitive reasons, but suffice it to say these guys are in it to win.

I’m listing 2 jobs focused on the English language website:  Product Manager, and Online Marketing Manager.  If you’re interested, send a customized cover letter (or email) and resume to me at elliott at hubs1 dot net with CNReviews somewhere in the Subject line.  Or forward this to your friends via this URL: http://tinyurl.com/expotia-pm

Overview – Product Manager opportunity

We are now hiring a Product Manager to own the English version of Expotia.com, our branded online travel Website. Under your leadership, Expotia.com will become the leading travel website focusing on inbound, international travelers to China. Initially focused on the Shanghai World Expo, you will develop the strategy to expand the site beyond Shanghai to the rest of China. Key success factors in your role include: product vision, business judgment, and exceptional ability to work with and motivate a cross-functional team.

Success with this project will open up many career opportunities within HUBS1 and in the entire online travel industry in China. You’ll join a team that has experience at companies like Jin Jiang Hotels, Accor, Marriott, Hilton, Starwood Hotels, IBM, and Cypress Semiconductor. With 150 people and growing quickly, HUBS1 will provide you with more direct access to the founders and executive team than you would get at a larger company.

Responsibilities

• Own the product roadmap for English Expotia.com. Lead the team to decide when and what is developed for international travelers, including expansion to other online services and languages.
• Define target customer and customer needs. Conduct online and offline market and customer research.
• Be creative and innovative!
• Define on-site search engine optimization (SEO) and Web traffic requirements.
• Coordinate with key marketing and product partners to implement co-marketing programs.
• Communicate your product vision through product briefs and requirement documents.
• Work with User Experience designers to develop wireframes and prototypes.
• Work with internal and external designers to create an effective brand identity and website.
• Measure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and directly use analytics tools to develop insight into Website performance.
• Manage ongoing program multivariate testing to improve Website KPIs. Oversee all on-site merchandising.
• Lead cross-functional team to deliver for the international inbound customer: IT, customer service, hotel sales.
• Define and manage key project management and product management processes in support of your goals.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of professional experience required. Minimum of 2 years working on consumer Websites required.
• Experience with English-language Websites desired but not required.
• Demonstrated track record of creativity and product passion.
• High attention to detail.
• Good at working with teams, especially diverse teams. Experience with leadership important, but even more important is working a team of peers to accomplish a common goal.
• High level of English and Chinese language fluency, but can be native speaker of either English or Chinese.

About HUBS1

If you are building your career in the fast-growing field of online marketing or e-commerce, consider focusing on online travel–one of the largest and fastest growing parts of e-commerce. According to iResearch, the online travel market is already RMB 3.7 billion RMB in 2009, growing 23% annually to RMB 9 billion by 2013.

HUBS1 is one of the most prominent new companies in online travel. We’re backed by three leading international venture capital firms: GSR Ventures, GGV Capital, and Matrix China–firms that have invested in other online startups like Alibaba, Anjuke, Baihe, Baixing, Tudou, and Qunar. HUBS1 is also backed by Jin Jiang Hotel Group and is the exclusive official hotel reservation provider of the Shanghai World Expo. Our business model and fast growth will provide exceptional career opportunities for those who join us at this stage.

Chinese Job Description:

产品经理（英文网站）

概要：

我们正在寻找一位产品经理负责在线旅游网站Expotia.com英文版。在您的带领下，Expotia.com将成为领先的旅游网站，为海外游客到中国入境旅游提供服务。网站目前的重点在上海世博会的入境旅游，您将制定策略将产品从上海扩展到全国。

胜任这个职位的关键点包括：拥有产品愿景及规划能力、拥有产品的商业价值判断能力、优秀的跨部门合作能力等。

这个职位将向您打开许多HUBS1汇通天下内部乃至整个中国在线旅游行业的职业发展机会。您所加入的团队具有在锦江、雅高、万豪、希尔顿、喜达屋等国际酒店集团以及Cypress半导体公司的多年从业经验。HUBS1汇通天下目前有约150人的团队，并且这支队伍正在快速壮大。作为一家创业公司，相比大型公司HUBS1汇通天下为您提供更多机会与创始人及公司高层管理团队直接交流的机会。

工作职责：

1. 制订Expotia.com英文网站产品发展规划路线。能领导团队决定提出为海外游客提供哪些产品，何时提供这些产品，包括发展其他的在线服务和语言版本；
2. 定义目标用户以及用户需求，进行线上或线下的市场和用户调查研究；
3. 具有创新能力；
4. 确定站内搜索引擎优化策略和网站流量引导策略；
5. 与其他营销部门和产品伙伴合作，实施联合推广项目；
6. 通过产品介绍和产品需求体现产品愿景
7. 能提供完整的产品规划文档
8. 与网站设计人员合作，提供相应的产品原型和页面模型；
9. 与内外部设计人员合作，提供有效的品牌认知及网站设计；

10.  确定并贯彻KPI指标，能够使用分析工具评估网站表现；

11.  进行多变量指标研究，不断提高各项KPI指标的表现；

12.  监督所有的站内商业运作；

13.  带领跨职能部门的团队为海外游客提供优质服务，如IT部门、客服部门以及酒店销售部门；

14.  组建项目管理机制及流程以达到目标。

能力要求：

1. 3-5年工作经验，至少2年消费类网站工作经验；
2. 具有英文网站产品工作经验者优先（并非一定要求）；
3. 有成功案例体现您优秀的创新能力和产品理念；
4. 关注细节；
5. 良好的团队协作能力，尤其是跨职能团队的协作能力。能带领团队为共同目标工作的能力；
6. 熟练的中英文表达能力，中文或英文母语皆可能；

关于HUBS1汇通天下

中国的电子商务和网络营销正在经历着一个快速发展的阶段，如果您正在计划自己未来在这个领域中的职业生涯，不如考虑在线旅游行业。目前，国内在线旅游市场已成为国内电子商务及网络营销市场中增长最快、最有前景的市场之一。来自艾瑞咨询的研究，2009年，中国在线旅游市场规模已经达到37亿人民币，预计2013年将增长到90亿人民币，年增长率高达23%。

HUBS1汇通天下是目前国内在线旅游市场众多优秀新兴公司中的其中一家。我们目前已经接受了来自著名风险投资公司的投资，如金沙江创投、GGV Capital以及Matrix China。这些风险投资公司同时也投资了国内其他出色的互联网创业公司，如阿里巴巴、安居客、百合网、百姓网、土豆网以及去哪儿等。HUBS1汇通天下受上海锦江国际酒店集团的支持，并且是中国2010年上海世博会指定订房业务承办方和赞助商。相信公司的商业模式及快速发展将为任何一位加入HUBS1汇通天下团队的朋友提供绝佳的职业机遇。

I’ve been following this story because I’ve been focusing my time and effort recently on the China travel industry.  I know that the CNReviews readership would rather have me write a controversial post on Google China.  I’ve even got some thoughts I want to share.  But ever since leaving UpTake, I’ve been feeling pressure to “figure out what I’m going to do when I grow up” and my wife has clearly indicated to me that whatever that is, it involves some current-period income sometime in the next future!  The net result of this is that I’m pretty focused on China travel right now, so bear with me…

The China Lodging Group (HTHT, parent company of Hanting Express) story first got my attention when I learned of Ctrip’s intent to invest in the company.  I wrote a long post on China Lodging Group over at Tnooz, a travel industry blog I’m starting to blog at (here’s my feed).  Here’s an excerpt:

Leveraging its market share, cash war chest, and insider relationships, Ctrip is making strategic investments in hotel chains to secure access to inventory and potentially even integrate IT and some operations with their partners.

On March 12, Ctrip announced that it will purchase shares equivalent to 8% of the company at the IPO price (see Tnooz, JLM Pacific Epoch) and also 15% of another hotel chain, BTG-Jianguo Hotels & Resorts. At the expected IPO price, Ctrip’s investment will cost them $48-58 million.  China Lodging Group will appoint Ctrip co-founder and CEO Min Fan as a Board Director.

For China Lodging Group, 8% to Ctrip represents a significant stake—all other public investors are expected to account for only another 15% of the company.

Think Different.  Think Offline.  Play an Offline game to win Online.

The first lesson I think this case holds is that a successful “online business” in China must always be thinking about the “offline” components that will confer them advantage.  The conventional wisdom is that Ctrip was smart to focus on call center and on offline media, while eLong was stuck focusing on a more pure online model, in part because of their foreign investors and meddlers from Expedia.  Whether that is true or not, now we see Ctrip making large $50 mm investments in economy hotel chains.

One hypothesis I have:  The hotel industry is massively fragmented and dominated by local interests.  Because hospitality is basically like a real estate business, local hotels all have local “uncles” and connections to protect their real estate interests, so its difficult to consolidate.  While travelers want a nationwide brand, hotel operators have a hard time acquiring the properties in different cities, dominated by local interests, to get the coverage needed to support a brand.  What Hanting, Home Inns, Motel 168, and others have done is much more remarkable than a Western viewer might initially think.

This fragmentation slows the adoption of technology and service management practices.  As a result, the level of service, technology is very low level and primitive.  That’s why it will take a while before Ctrip, or anyone else for that matter, can move beyond faxes, calls, and SMS messages (and hongbao) to local hotel salespeople.  In turn, this limits the ability for Ctrip (or any online travel agency, for that matter) to improve their service.  Any time a customer makes an online reservation, they need to get a call center rep to contact the hotel to confirm that the room that the customer booked is actually available.  Only after some period of time (e.g. 24 hours) can Ctrip contact the customer to tell them that the room is actually confirmed.

The discount economy hotel chains, on the other hand, can provide instant confirmation.  If Ctrip can get access to their inventory, and connect directly to their Central Reservation Systems (CRS), then Ctrip’s hotel booking service becomes that much better.  And if Ctrip could, say, sit on the Board of these companies, and block competitors from having the same access, then all the better.

Did Google play offline to win online?

Make sure you got juice.  In other words, combine centers of power to gain unfair advantage.

Another general theme I see is combining various sources of power together to gain an unfair advantage.  There is a tight set of interlocking Board directorships and investments going on with Ctrip, Home Inns, Beijing Tourism Group (state-owned enterprise and parent company of BTG-Jianguo Hotels), and China Lodging Group.  From my Tnooz post:

In the case of Home Inns and China Lodging Group, Ctrip enjoys an especially cozy relationship with the two companies.

Home Inn was co-founded by Neil Nanpeng Shen, who also co-founded Ctrip and sits on the Board of both companies.

China Lodging Group was founded by Qi Ji, who co-founded Home Inns and also Ctrip, and sits on the Board of both China Lodging Group and Ctrip.

Home Inn co-chairman Yunxin Mei serves on the board of Home Inn and is also vice-chairman and president of BTG (Beijing Tourism Group), a state-owned enterprise focused on tourism.  BTG’s hotel subsidiary BTG-Jianguo Hotel & Resorts also received an investment from Ctrip.

The real test of Ctrip’s strategy will come when they try to secure similar deals with other hotel operators without as close a relationship as Home Inns, BTG-Jianguo, and China Lodging Group.

So who is BTG exactly?  They’re big and state owned:

Beijing Tourism Group (“BTG”), established in February of 1998, is China’s first provincial-level, wholly state-owned tourism enterprise. Through over ten years of hard work, BTG has realized leap-frog development. According to the “2007 China Big Enterprise Groups” published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, BTG ranked 188, which showed its leadership among China’s tourism enterprise. By 31st December, 2008p, BTG has a total of 40,367 employees, with total assets of RMB28.55 billion. For the year 2008 alone, BTG has realized business revenue of RMB2.22 billion and a total profit of RMB1.24 billion, which enables it to rank the fourth among enterprises supervised and administered by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the People’s Government of Beijing.

BTG has nearly one thousand member enterprises, with investment and management expanding as far as to Rizhao of Shandong in the east, Korla of Xinjiang in the west, Sanya of Hainan in the south, and Harbin of Heilongjiang in the north; also, it has several enterprises in America, France, and Hong Kong under its control or in which it has shares; it’s a nationwide strategic controlling and investment group focusing on investment, operation, and management in tourism and modern service industry, with business covering industries of hotel, tourism, catering, tourism service, auto service, tourist spot service, and tourism land property etc.

Despite the Chinglish, its clear that these guys are big and powerful.  They got juice.  And in China, you need juice.

BTG is an investor in Home Inns.  Ctrip is an investor in Home Inns.  Now Ctrip is an investor in BTG-Jianguo Hotels.  I sense a lot of juice flow in this whole arrangement…and juice flow means unfair advantage.  And if you don’t have the unfair advantage, someone else will.  Did I mention that a lot of times this juice comes from the government or an SOE?  I don’t know the specifics, but the pattern seems clear.

Did Google have any juice?

In China, you need an ‘uncle’

Tony, will you be my uncle?

I was sharing my insights about China entrepreneurship with a VC friend, and he crystallized what I was saying in a very concise way: “In China, you need an ‘uncle’.”

I confess I don’t even fully understand what this means, but it totally seems on target.  First, it highlights to me the difference between high-tech entrepreneurship in the United States and in China.  In the US, you need business relationships, reputation, and connections.  But all of these connections and relationships are generally private sector.  In China, the reality is that the government is simply more involved in everything.  And you have to think about the motivations and incentives of your ‘uncle’…even if he is actually your real, biological uncle!

As always, its impossible to generalize about anything in China.  Many businesses don’t need an ‘uncle’ especially if it doesn’t involve real estate or local licenses.  But this fact forces both investors and entrepreneurs to think differently about the sources of advantage for a company in China, and many of these advantages have nothing to do with the technology talents, the innovation capability, or the management expertise of the team.  You need to have all these things AND…have an uncle.

Agree?  Disagree?

Set from Flickr user Junyu Wang (王俊煜):

Flowers on the sign:

Candlelight vigil:

Photographers and people gathering around:

Google headquarters at night:

Aeriel view from the building earlier in the day:

From Twitter user bonnae come some photos (source on img.ly):

Some more photos at Tinypic user foku:

The Chinese government seeks a harmonious society. But it’s Facebook’s social games that are cooperative, while China’s closer resemble the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Of China’s top 10 social games, 9 feature competitive actions that hurt other players (see graphic); the one exception is Renren Restaurant, an exact copy of Playfish’s Restaurant City on Facebook. Of Facebook’s top 10 games, only 1 features competitive actions. Chinese players cherish intense competition.

The post has more details on the game actions, which include enslaving and humiliating friends, bombs in the hospital, and looting at the farm.

Mischief Accomplished: worms added to friend's farm

Why all the Schadenfreude, Stealing, and Status?

Three speculations as to why Chinese games are more competitive.

1) Chinese Education System

Are Chinese children hard-wired for competition at a young age? Do Chinese become accustomed, even fond, of the tools required to succeed in a hyper-competitive education system? Are social games a lifelong detox from the gaokao?

2) Culture

Though ambiguous and slippery, culture is often cited as a source of societal differences (and even geopolitics, in Samuel Huntington’s Clash of the Civilizations) But real-life crime rates, including theft, are not notably higher appear in China (though harsher punishments and lackadaisical reporting muddle the issue). So why should they be in social games? Luxury goods, booming in China, help make the case that status is especially important in Chinese culture.

Nasty actions in the Wonder Hospital game

3) Specific to Social Games

Perhaps Chinese are more apt to add “friends” on social networks, even if there’s no close personal relationship. That could lead to fewer reservations about stealing from your “friends.” China’s prolific online friendships are evidenced by the finding that Chinese have more online than offline friends. Or perhaps Chinese netizens simply have a better sense of humor than Westerners when it comes to the value of virtual goods.

The new China Social Games Blog

China Social Games is a blog dedicated to tracking the hottest games, networks, and trends. Though already wildly popular in China (and on Facebook), social gaming is still in its infancy. Games are just starting to become truly social, so the China market is evolving, innovative, and yes, extremely competitive. China Social Games offer up-to-the-minute coverage as the market grows, consolidates, and Western players enter.

Our latest guest posts:

• TechCrunch: China To Police Social Games
• VentureBeat: China’s growing addiction: online farming games
• VentureBeat: The year it exploded: 10 hottest Chinese social games of 2009

China Social Games is brought to you by the BloggerInsight team, regular contributors to CNReviews. Follow @CNsocialgames on Twitter.