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Business trumps politics for Chinese companies at CES

Las Vegas (AFP) – Xiaoyu Fan smiled as she looked around a bustling China Pavilion at the Consumer Electronics Show Wednesday as gadgets like bladeless fans were displayed and deals were being made.

Issued on: 11/01/2024 – 02:37

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Hundreds of Chinese companies were at the annual CES gadget extravaganza, shrugging off US-China political trade tensions and focusing on taking care of business.

“I believe all the people in each country are very good, the civilization of each country is very nice, very friendly,” said Fan, who was with the Zhejiang Crossbow Brand Electric Appliance Company from Wuyi, China.

“We don’t care about the governments; that’s not our business” she added, a necklace around her neck spelling out the word “peace.”

About 500 of the 3,500 or so exhibitors at CES are from China, more than last year but still not at pre-Covid numbers, according to the Consumer Technology Association that runs CES.

“The Chinese are back,” association president Gary Shapiro said in the lead-up to the Las Vegas show that ends on Friday.

Chinese titans like TCL and Hisense dazzled CES goers with stunning televisions while less well-known companies showed off robots, drones, electronic bikes, charging cables and much more.

TCL’s partnership with the US National Football League was the main theme at a CES press event, complete with appearances by sports legends.

“They certainly seemed like a red-blooded American company that drinks beer and watches football,” said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart.

-‘Copycats’ no more? –

Chinese business leaders at CES included Appotronics chief executive Li Yi, whose company specializes in laser display technology used by major companies including car makers BMW and BYD.

To Li, it seemed tension between the United States and China on the trade front was beginning to stabilize, and that the issue was more a battle over high technology than the type of consumer tech packing CES.

“For Chinese brands, being in the US is tough in today’s climate,” Li acknowledged to AFP.

“But there is also an emerging opportunity; components technology companies are starting to see this as a chance to emerge.”

Chinese companies at CES played up innovation, wanting their country to be seen as a technology leader rather than just a place where things can be made cheaply.

“People typically think we are a manufacturing powerhouse, and then people think we are copycats,” Li said of attitudes towards Chinese entrepreneurs.

Today’s news: Trending business stories for January 11, 2024

The latest business news as it happens

Published Jan 11, 2024 • Last updated 3 days ago • 11 minute read

A Hertz office in San Francisco. The company is planning to sell one-third of its EVs in the U.S. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Hertz to sell 20,000 EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. plans to sell a third of its United States electric vehicle fleet and reinvest in gas-powered cars due to weak demand for the battery-powered options.

The sales of 20,000 EVs began last month and will continue over the course of 2024, the rental giant said Thursday in a regulatory filing. Hertz expects to record a non-cash charge in its fourth-quarter results of US$245 million related to incremental net depreciation expense.

“The company expects to reinvest a portion of the proceeds from the sale of EVs into

Fire that destroyed popular N.B. restaurant has local business owners feeling uneasy – New Brunswick

The cause of the fire that burned down the Aboiteau Seafood Paradise restaurant and Aboiteau Fisheries fish market at the Aboiteau Wharf in Cap-Pelé, N.B., on Sunday is still under investigation.

The restaurant was a popular tourist destination and community gathering place, according to Anthony Azard, the CEO of Cap Acadie’s Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a total loss for the business but also the whole community,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Cap-Acadie fire Chief Ronald Cormier told Global News that firefighters fought the blaze from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

He said no one was injured as the restaurant was closed for the season.

Between 2019 and 2022, the Cap-Acadie region, which includes Cap-Pelé, saw several businesses burned down due to arson.

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These included Chez Camille, another seafood restaurant in Cap-Pelé that burned down in the spring of 2022, as well as M&M Cormier Fisheries’ smokehouse in 2021.

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Mario Cormier, the president of M&M Cormier Fisheries, said he had to lay off half of his employees as a result of the fire.

The smokehouse had been built just five years prior, and was built primarily to modernize his business.

He said the fire on the Aboiteau wharf stirred up painful memories, but he’s hopeful the cause of the fire wasn’t criminal.

“When a fire happens, people say, ‘Well, is it going to start again?’” he said.

“It’s on the back of everyone’s minds that it might happen again,” he said of the rash of fires.

Azard said one of the chamber’s main messages to the community was that “there is no need to panic.”

“I don’t want to connect (the Aboiteau wharf fire) to the past fires,” he said.

He said that when the original rash of fires occured, the chamber advised businesses to reinforce their security measures, saying many businesses installed security measures.

He said it was also important to check the structural integrity of the building to prepare for possible accidental fires.

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“Whether it was criminal or not, whether it was accidental or not, we will have an adequate response to that. For now, I am sending

US business leaders are pushing back against years of corporate diversity efforts

By Elizabeth BennettFeatures correspondent

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Bill Ackman, chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, pushed back on DEI policies in an X post (Credit: Getty Images)

Diversity, equity and inclusion policies have become the norm at many companies. As some notable corporate leaders reject the approach, is a DEI backlash brewing?

Elon Musk used his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on 3 January to tell his 168 million followers that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was “just another word for racism”. Musk added his comments in a retweet of American hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, who had posted a long criticism of DEI policies, following his successful calls for the resignation of Claudine Gay, Harvard University’s first black and female president.

In the same week, Chip Wilson, founder of activewear brand Lululemon, made headlines in a Forbes profile when he spoke out about the “whole diversity and inclusion thing”. The former CEO (Wilson left the company in 2013 but still remains a major shareholder), criticised Lululemon for wanting to be “everything to everybody”, and called the brand’s inclusive advertising imagery “unhealthy”, “sickly” and “not inspirational”.

For the past several decades, corporate DEI policies have become an increasing priority, embraced by leaders of major businesses. Katleen De Stobbeleir, professor of leadership at Vlerick Business School, Belgium, says DEI has been a prominent theme since the 1960s, but the focus has amplified in the past decade. “It used to be a ‘nice to have’, and something for the more advanced companies. But today it has become a qualifying minimum and a topic that has received more attention from the C-suite.”

Yet some of the same kinds of high-profile leaders who embraced the inclusive policies are now publicly critical of them.

Alamy

Chip Wilson, founder of activewear brand Lululemon, criticised the brand for its inclusive advertising imagery, calling it “not inspirational” (Credit: Alamy)

Sankalp Chaturvedi, professor of organisational behaviour and leadership, and associate dean of equity, diversity and inclusion at London’s Imperial College Business School, says extensive research has shown “when gender, ethnicity or any form of the diversity are on the table, quality of discussions and decision-making is better, creativity is improved and the performance of the organisation and its culture is stronger”.

Yet despite this, these programmes are increasingly landing in corporate crosshairs.

Chaturvedi says the current public pushback is

Man faces fraud charges after bilking Orillia business: OPP

Investigators believe there may be other victims and encourage them to reach out to police

NEWS RELEASE

ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE

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The Central Region Fraud Unit and the Huron County Crime Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has arrested and charged a suspect in relation to multiple fraud investigations.

In April 2023, the Orillia Detachment received a report from a local business identifying a breach to their email system. A fraud occurred where cheques were redirected from the intended business to the suspect in Guelph, incurring a loss of $6,954. The case was turned over to the Central Region Fraud Unit, and further investigation led to the identification of a suspect.

In June 2023, Huron County Detachment of the OPP entered a separate fraud investigation which was turned over to the Huron County Crime Unit. Similar to the fraud investigation in Orillia, the identified suspect had funds redirected from a local business to their own account in the form of e-transfers totalling $27,181.

Investigators from the Central Region Fraud Unit and Huron County Crime Unit collaborated, and on Dec. 19, 2023, David Cooper, a 78-year-old from Guelph, was arrested and charged in Rockwood, Ont.

The accused was charged by the Central Region Fraud Unit for the following:

   •   Use, deals, acts on forged document

   •   Fraud over $5,000

   •   Possession property obtained by crime over $5,000

The accused was charged by the Huron County Crime Unit for the following:

• Fraud over $5,000

• Possession property obtained by crime

The accused was released and is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Goderich on Feb. 5, 2024, and the Ontario Court of Justice in Orillia on Feb. 13, 2024.

Investigators believe there may be more victims and would encourage them to reach out and report any fraud to their local OPP Detachment or Municipal Police Service.

Members of the OPP are committed to public safety, delivering proactive and innovative policing in partnership with our communities. Officers value your contribution to building safe communities. If you have information about suspected unlawful activity, please contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online.

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