Kursverdoppelung bei Actua Corporation (vorm. Internet Capital)

What many observers don't know about China is that it employed about 10-15 million more manufacturing workers in the mid-1990s. Since then, China has privatized a lot of previously state-run companies, and started many joint ventures with foreign companies, which has meant the loss of those jobs even as manufacturing output has gone up. As Judith Banister of Beijing Javelin Investment Consulting writes, this means that "China's manufacturing sector is shedding surplus workers and becoming more productive and competitive."

That productivity is aided by, inter alia, China's low wages, low cost of land, large numbers of suppliers, vast consumer market, and trade-friendly laws and politics. But that doesn't mean it is a fixed quantity. For China to keep its position as "the world's workshop," both productivity and competitiveness have to keep increasing, especially in comparison to other manufacturing powers.

Banister's report portrays a country that is engaged in the early stages of classic restructuring. In China's case that has meant dispensing with the inefficiencies of state-run, centrally-planned models and transitioning to a free market model. The next inefficiency confronting Chinese manufacturing will not be the challenge from a collectivist/Communist model, but the challenge from a lack of manufacturing automation. That's what's driving the increased uptake of manufacturing resource planning (MRP), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and other applications, as noted by IBM, Oracle, and other North American software companies. As Chinese manufacturing workers are being paid higher wages, the way to get more value out of them will be to ramp up their productivity within increasingly automated production environments.

Something else that'll drive increased e-business consumption in China, Banister notes, is the country's increased share of higher-technology manufacturing, such as that of many popular consumer electronics items. Half of the world's cameras and photocopiers, for example, are now made in China. Manufacturing more complex items means more of a need for, say, product lifecycle management (PLM), product information management (PIM), and similar e-business software solutions.

Linux for China

Novell, which became a major Linux player in the aftermath of its acquisition of SUSE and ramped-up prioritization of open source, is moving on China.

The company has taken three steps there. The first is an acceleration of its partnership with the China Standard Software Company (CS2C), the creation of a Chinese-language website for openSUSE, and the creation of a research and development (R&D) center in China to complement Novell's existing sales and marketing personnel in the Middle Kingdom.

These three steps have one goal in common, to promote the adoption of Linux in China at both the desktop and server level. Bruce Lowry, Novell's spokesman, says that the time is right. "The commercial Linux market to date in China has been quite small, but at a policy level the Chinese government has expressed an interest in open source. Also, China is experience much stronger economic growth than other regions of the world."

Going into China always requires local partners, and this is where CS2C will lend Novell a hand. "They'll bring localization skills," says Lowry, who reveals that a Chinese version of SUSE for desktops and servers alike should be out by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Novell will be building its own Chinese expertise in the R&D center, which will focus on high-performance enterprise Linux, Linux localization and internationalization, and desktop Linux.

With its vast population and booming economy, China is a big prize for vendors who can translate opportunity into execution. "We see it as a growing market," Lowry concludes.

Better Business With China

China calls itself the "Middle Kingdom," which indicates the central role that country has always considered itself to play in the world. That role is not just an artifact of ethnocentrism; as Marco Polo's account attests, it had a basis in reality. The most European traveler of all described China as possessing "...the greatest scale of magnificence that ever was seen. Never had emperor, king, or lord, such wealth as this..." And that was only a propos the Chinese postal system.

Today's China, while still far from its former glory, is once again the world's workshop, and is growing at a rate that will, ceteris paribus, make it the world's largest economy in eight years. China's position has made it the leading light of low cost country sourcing (LCCS) strategies, and research from Aberdeen says that 78 percent of U.S.-based companies are buying or selling (or both) in China. That's up 12 percent from just two years ago, and Aberdeen goes on to note that 60 percent of organizations are sourcing from China.

The days of the Yuan Dynasty and its bureaucratic efficiency are long behind us, though, so one of the pitfalls of sourcing so much from China is not knowing landed cost. "Ingersoll-Rand estimates that transportation, duties, taxes and other cross-border logistics costs range from 13 to 24 percent of the basic price of imported materials and parts," Aberdeen notes.

Thus, invest in a landed cost engine -- there are several on the market, available as either standalones or as part of a larger sourcing platform -- to be able to understand just how much your Chinese sourcing costs. If landed costs are unexpectedly high, it could be reason to turn to another Far Eastern country for a certain good or service.

Another component of your LCCS strategy, whether focused in China or elsewhere, should be to use the huge number of available suppliers to your benefit. Here is where supplier performance management and supplier intelligence tools come to your aid. You need to understand as much as possible about the viability of your Chinese suppliers, drill down into their historical performance, and set up weighted cost/quality measurements. Without doing this, you won't have much data to provide decision support in putting together a broad portfolio of suppliers, or dropping certain suppliers altogether.

Neither this recommendation nor the technology under discussion is new. U.S. companies have applied it to on- and near-shore suppliers for years. Aberdeen's note serves as a reminder that the same principles are applicable to Chinese suppliers; perhaps more so, given the increased risk factors in an extended supply chain.

Something else to think about is cultivating employees with good knowledge of Chinese. Certainly, the Chinese are learning English in record numbers. However, in language as in low-cost business conditions, the Chinese enjoy some advantages over English speakers. According to a fascinating blog post ("Why Chinese is So Damn Hard") by David Moser, a graduate student at the University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, "for an average American, Chinese is significantly harder to learn than any of the other thirty or so major world languages that are usually studied formally at the university level...I couldn't comfortably read a newspaper when I had 2,000 [Chinese] characters under my belt." That should turn the knowledge of Chinese into a distinct business advantage, and an increasingly meaningful resume qualification.




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rung in 2007 erreichen kann, wenn die IPO-Marktkapitalisierung in 2006 bei 500 Millionen liegt, ist Euch vielleicht schon anhand des letzten Postings klar geworden. Eine Milliarde wären bei einem 33%-Anteil für Internet Capital immerhin 333 Millionen. Das ist in etwa die momentane Marktkapitalisierung, zusammen mit der momentan vorhandenen Nettocash sind es gar 533 Millionen, was allein schon einem Kurs 13 bis 14 Dollar entsprechen würde.

Hier noch eine etwas allgemeinere Fundierung der enormen Chancen von Freeborders.

Report From Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation A new study that will be presented today to the National Academies, the nation's leading advisory groups on science and technology, suggests that more and more research work at corporations will be sent to fast-growing economies with strong education systems, like China and India.

In a survey of more than 200 multinational corporations on their research center decisions, 38 percent said they planned to "change substantially" the worldwide distribution of their research and development work over the next three years — with the booming markets of China and India, and their world-class scientists, attracting the greatest increase in projects.

Whether placing research centers in their home countries or overseas, the study said, companies often use similar criteria. The quality of scientists and engineers and their proximity to research centers are crucial.

The study contended that lower labor costs in emerging markets are not the major reason for hiring researchers overseas, though they are a consideration. Tax incentives do not matter much, it said.

Instead, the report found that multinational corporations were global shoppers for talent. The companies want to nurture close links with leading universities in emerging markets to work with professors and to hire promising graduates.

"The story comes through loud and clear in the data," said Marie Thursby, an author of the study and a professor at Georgia Tech's college of management. "You have to have an environment that fosters the development of a high-quality work force and productive collaboration between corporations and universities if America wants to maintain a competitive advantage in research and development."

The multinationals, representing 15 industries, were from the United States and Western Europe. The authors said there was no statistically significant difference between the American and European companies.

Dow Chemical is one company that plans to invest heavily in new research and development centers in China and India. It is building a research center in Shanghai, which will employ 600 technical workers when it is completed next year. Dow is also finishing plans for a large installation in India, said William F. Banholzer, Dow's chief technology officer.

Today, the company employs 5,700 scientists worldwide, about 4,000 of them in the United States and Canada, and most of the rest in Europe. But the moves overseas will alter that. "There will be a major shift for us," Mr. Banholzer said.

The swift economic growth in China and India, he said, is part of the appeal because products and processes often have to be tailored for local conditions. The rising skill of the scientists abroad is another reason. "There are so many smart people over there," Mr. Banholzer said. "There is no monopoly on brains, and none on education either."

Such views were echoed by other senior technology executives, whose companies are increasing their research employment abroad. "We go with the flow, to find the best minds we can anywhere in the world," said Nicholas M. Donofrio, executive vice president for technology and innovation at I.B.M., which first set up research labs in India and China in the 1990's. The company is announcing today that it is opening a software and services lab in Bangalore, India.

At Hewlett-Packard, which opened an Indian lab in 2002 and is starting one in China, Richard H. Lampman, senior vice president for research, points to the spread of innovation around the world. "If your company is going to be a global leader, you have to understand what's going on in the rest of the world," he said.

The globalization of research investment, industry executives and academics argued, need not harm the United States. In research, as in economics, they said, growth abroad does not mean stagnation at home — and typically the benefits outweigh the costs.

Still, more companies in the survey said they planned to decrease research and development employment in the United States and Europe than planned to increase employment.

In numerical terms, scientists and engineers in research labs represent a relatively small part of the national work force. Like the debate about offshore outsourcing in general, the trend, which may point to a loss of competitiveness, is more significant than the quantity of jobs involved.

The American executives who are planning to send work abroad express concern about what they regard as an incipient erosion of scientific prowess in this country, pointing to the lagging math and science proficiency of American high school students and the reluctance of some college graduates to pursue careers in science and engineering.

"For a company, the reality is that we have a lot of options," Mr. Banholzer of Dow Chemical said. "But my personal worry is that an educated, innovative science and engineering work force is vital to the economy. If that slips, it is going to hurt the United States in the long run."

Some university administrators see the same trend. "This is part of an incredible tectonic shift that is occurring," said A. Richard Newton, dean of the college of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, "and we've got to think about this more profoundly than we have in the past. Berkeley and other leading American universities, he said, are now competing in a global market for talent. His strategy is to become an aggressive acquirer. He is trying to get Tsinghua University in Beijing and some leading technical universities in India to set up satellite schools linked to Berkeley. The university has 90 acres in Richmond, Calif., that he thinks would be an ideal site.

"I want to get them here, make Berkeley the intellectual hub of the planet, and they won't leave," said Mr. Newton, who emigrated from Australia 25 years ago.

The corporate research survey was financed by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which supports studies on innovation. It was designed and written by Ms. Thursby, who is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and her husband, Jerry Thursby, who is chairman of the economics department at Emory University in Atlanta.

The linchpin to the transaction is China's low-cost, highly educated technology talent pool, says Freeborders co-CEO, Ramsey Walker, and how that contrasts with India. Salaries in India have increased 13% each year since 2000 for entry-level software developers and 23% annually for midlevel managers, he says, which is helping drive a large amount of employee turnover in the region.

"Engineers [in India] are jumping from company to company for modestly better offers, so American and European customers are facing attrition rates on teams of 20% to 50%," Walker says. "When that happens with software, the quality of the deliverable and the time it takes to deliver goes down significantly."

The higher wages in India are also highlighting the cost effectiveness of outsourcing in China. Labor costs are as much as 40% lower in China than India, and China produces 352,000 engineering graduates compared with 184,000 in India. This abundance of technology savvy in China highlights increasing problems large companies face when relying on Indian outsourcers, Walker says.

Freeborders' new Chinese software developers have plenty of business, ITK founder Susan Kirchoff adds. "We focused on project management and business analysis, which are front-end services," she says. "But we've heard from clients that we don't have the software engineers, to actually deliver a solution."

A common project for ITK, for example, would be to evaluate an investment bank's capital markets software applications, note its limitations, compare it to what rivals use and recommend how to improve it. With ITK in the picture, Freeborders' engineering team in Shenzhen can tailor or update new software.

"There was a gap that can be bridged now," Kirchoff says. And not just by comparatively small companies such as Freeborders, which expects to have 1,000 technologists in China by the end of 2006. Last year, for example, Microsoft Corp. announced a deal with the outsourcing unit of India's sprawling Tata Group and the Chinese government to form a venture to provide technology outsourcing in the region beginning this year.

"The demand is just beginning to pick up in China, and the supply and talent is very significant," Walker says. And like Tata, other rivals to the Chinese outsourcing industry can't help but acknowledge its ascendancy. Vivek Paul, the former vice chairman of Indian IT giant Wipro Ltd. , told a Silicon Valley audience last year his company had established an operation in Shanghai that is "ready to scale" to meet clients' demand. "China is one of those places that you cannot ignore," said Paul, who has since left Wipro to become a partner at Texas Pacific Group .

But is China the new India? "The market is a few years away from full development," Paul argues. Of course, this might make it the right time to get a foothold in the Chinese market, both for Freeborders and its investors, including FTVentures , which led the recent $20 million round that funded the ITK acquisition.

The New York venture firm invests in early- to mid-stage software and services firms that serve the financial sector. More importantly, FTVentures' limited partners are 38 large financial institutions - ­and potential customers.

"Financial institutions are thought leaders in offshore outsourcing, so obviously our LPs have lots of demands for outsourcing services," says FTVentures principal Chris Winship. "We certainly introduce our investors to Freeborders."

The deal isn't FTVentures' first investment in the outsourcing market. The firm bought a stake in India's ExlService Holdings Inc. The startup's potential return to FTVentures has been in limbo, however, as its filing for an initial public offering has lingered since December 2004.

Does this market reluctance show a growing concern about India's place atop outsourcing? That's hard to tell. But U.S. and European companies that have relied on the region for technology expertise are studying other sources, Winship says.

"Most offshore outsourcing is obviously still being done in India, but many Fortune 100 companies are starting to worry about overexposure there," he says. Which could make the Chinese market a smart hedge for companies seeking an alternative source for technology talent and for private investors looking for solid investments.

Olaf de Senerpont Domis is West Coast bureau chief for The Deal. © Freeborders 2006, All Rights Reserved

Funding came from existing investors TAL Investments, a division of TAL Group, one of the largest apparel manufacturers in the world, and Internet Capital Group, a venture fund that targets B2B e-commerce companies, as well as new investor FTVentures, a consortium of financial services firms.

Sourcingmag.com recently spoke with co-CEO John Cestar to learn how the company intends to use the money and just what the business model is. Along the way, he explained the nuances of delivering services to the retail and financial industries and how the company will grow to a thousand people by the end of 2006.

Can you explain what this latest investment is about?

John Cestar:
We were founded on the premise that we could build software in China for delivery to major industries here in the US. The economics for doing that are extremely attractive for clients. At the time -- in 2000 -- you couldn’t get a financial services firm to do that. They were too nervous about China. India at that time was extremely cost effective and successful. So most financial services firms were not interested [in China].

The industry that was interested was retail. It kind of makes sense. Retailers have been working in China for decades. Many of them have infrastructure in China. They’ve been getting their core products from China. China’s no big mystery to most big global retailers. They felt comfortable having their software products built and delivered from China as well...

Our initial investment went to building out the retail vertical of the business. So we invested in hiring retail experts here in the US, because it’s not enough to have engineers in China to build software. If you do that, you’re just a commodity. You have to really have industry-specific business process experts here in the US to drive strong results.

We did that and gained process maturity.

In what kinds of projects?
At that time, most custom non-packaged software the retailers were consuming was and continues to be on the supply chain side of the business. Retailers will buy a package to manage retail point of sale, for example, or buy a package to manage CRM -- customer-facing software.

Retail supply chains are extremely complicated, and retailers typically build large custom systems around categories like PLM, which we specialize in -- product lifecycle management -- around workflow and other supply chain management applications, plus applications that touch logistics and integrate into ERP systems...

Retailers see that as strategic to their businesses. We’ve got 30 retail clients in this business. They all approach it differently. They all have some twist on it that they see as competitively important. Which is why vendors have not succeeded at selling fixed packages on the supply side to retail.

Is that retail vertical business coming from the US or China reps?
[TAL Apparel Group] is an investor. They are part of this $20 million expansion round. TAL is one of the largest retail products manufacturers in the world. [Major customers include Brooks Brothers, L.L. Bean, J.C. Penney, Giordano, Land’s End, Liz Claiborne., Nautica and Tommy Hilfiger.] They’re a private company. They are extremely profitable and strategic to retailers.

Fountain Set is another one. Fountain Set produces 50% of the Gap’s knit fabric. It’s the largest fabric supplier in the world. They’re a shareholder in the company.

What’s going on in retail is a concentration of strategic work with highly technology-enabled partners. It’s kind of the opposite of what went on [in retail] in the early ’80s -- which was, just find more sources of supply, cheaply.

So we were...able to attack the market with a deep knowledge of how key strategic suppliers need to communicate with retailers here in the US.

How do you make the leap to providing services for financial services firms then?
The core strategic value that we have developed is the ability to build complex software products from scratch in China for delivery to the US. That requires a huge degree of process maturity. We work differently today than we did five years ago. Five years ago in China our infrastructure wasn’t as automated as it is now. We were much more focused on heavy lifting -- everybody jump on a new project and do it to perfection. Now we’ve got serious process maturity and repeatability...

Those processes do migrate to other industries well. We’ve completed major work for financial services firms, and the key is bringing on front end talent here in the US -- but using the same processes for defining requirements, getting technical specs to China, communicating well in a formal process with the engineers in China, then delivering back and implementing in the US... It’s all around process maturity.

We’re in the final evaluation for [Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)] level 5. We should have it in December... We’ve had our auditors living with us for two years. And the audit firm is from India because CMMI -- as a value -- was really developed and proven by the major outsourcing firms in India. We realized we didn’t want to have an auditor from China who was basically looking for us to get to Level 5 as a marketing matter.

Why are financial services so important to your company?
FTVentures [is] a special kind of firm. [Their] limited partners -- people who gave them the capital to invest -- are the 33 largest financial services firm in the world -- everybody from Citigroup to UBS to Deutsche Bank to JP Morgan. They really are a consortium of financial services firms with a mission of giving companies expansion capital to deliver services to financial services.

Delivering technologies to financial services requires the same degree of industry knowledge as delivering in retail. If you’re going to work on a supply chain in retail, you’re going to have to know how the retail supply chain really works. If you’re going to work on a core banking system, a trading system, a cash management system -- whatever in financial services -- you really need to have the industry expertise to have credibility.

We were interested in their partnership, in their ability to recruit top talent, in their track record in building outsourcing services firms. You can see on their Web site, they’ve built some successful firms in India that deliver services to Wall Street firms.

The reason [the financial services firms] invested in FTVentures was to turn around and be the client for the firms that FT [funds]. It’s a virtuous circle. It’s really the bank’s money. The banks give it to FT to decide where to place it, and then the banks become customers of the companies that FT invests in.

We’re not exclusive to financial services. But in our business, you say, “Hey, let’s not reinvent the business model. India did it.” ...The top Indian firms work in multiple verticals, not just one. Of the top five Indian firms, financial services is the largest vertical. The reason is, there’s huge profit. Financial services firms dedicate a large percent of their budgets to IT and outsourcing.

I think last year, there was about $12 billion that went from the US to the firms in India... Half of it was from Wall Street.

Most major Wall Street firms decide, we are going to outsource. Then it’s a question of, what are we outsourcing? What are we keeping in-house? How strategic do we get with our outsourcing firms? Do we throw projects over the wall? Or do we actually bring them inside our firewall? So from China, they’re inside our firewall in NY and can do large-scale maintenance and integration work. It’s really a co-sourcing or co-location model. That’s where you get groups like Infosys inside Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch has got 2,000 people at Infosys.

Who’s your competition?
If you go in the Internet and put in “China software outsourcing” or “China solutions outsourcing,” you’ll see a bunch of entrepreneurs from China who have no understanding of how major global companies consume services... Lots of companies that are working in the China market are not sophisticated enough in terms of their process, in terms of their English language, in terms of their business knowledge [or] knowledge of how major western clients work, to deliver to them.

[So the competition] really is the guys from India.

Now, China has an advantage over India that’s significant. We’re not saying that all the business in the world is going to move from India to China. But China is more cost effective than India, significantly. And part of that is what I call “the disease of success.” India has been so successful, it’s gone haywire. So many firms are out there now, and there’s been wage inflation. There’s been a lot of turnover at the firms. And the clients feel this. India firms are passing on price increases to clients, because their own wage bases have gone up 60% in the last 18 months.

That’s driving people to look at China for the first time.

Also, more importantly, in the financial services world, there’s the sense that major firms got overcommitted to India. Just as a matter of risk mitigation and diversification -- they are bankers after all -- they need to send 5%, 15%, half of it, whatever the number, to China. They have to diversify away from India a bit.

The only place where you can get the kind of scale that you can get in India is China.

What are your goals?
We have 400 [people] now in China. We plan to be at a thousand in 12 months. We’re hiring between 30 and 50 people a month. And we’re being selective in hiring. The good news is the talent pool is huge and well qualified. The education system is producing results. More importantly, multi-nationals are training good technologists in China.

So IBM has huge facilities in China. Microsoft has huge facilities in China. What they’re doing is not what we’re doing, which is offering talent from China to the rest of the world. They’re taking Microsoft products from the US and using teams from China to localize that product for the China market.

Since we started four years ago, what’s gone on in China is a dramatic shift in multi-nationals going to China. There’s not an industry in the US today that has not identified China as their number one growth story. Four years ago, Microsoft had 50 people in China. Now it’s 5,000.

It’s enabled us to tap into that. It’s great training. We’ve hired many people from multi-nationals.

They know as technologists that their careers become valuable if two things happen: One, if they work in an English-speaking environment. So if you’re localizing an IBM product for China, you’re speaking Chinese, you’re delivering a product for the Chinese market that’s Chinese-based. English is important. The other is the opportunity to work for multiple western-based clients outside of China. You know if you’re delivering to a major bank in NY and you succeed, that is a major accomplishment and career builder.

What is recruiting like in China vs. the US?
...The key to success in operating in China is not having expatriates run the technology facilities. Expatriates meaning Americans, Indians, anybody outside of China.

What’s lacking in China -- which is true of many developing economies, but particularly in China -- there are outstanding technologists -- world-class. We have many clients who will attest to that. The challenge is identifying and recruiting good senior managers, who know what it means to be good custodians over someone else’s assets, not theirs.

Part of it is the history of the country. There are many bureaucrats in that economy... In the US, on the left hand side [of a bell curve], there are relatively few bureaucrats in our economy as a percent of the working population. Relatively few people work in government. Most people work in the middle, and professional management. And we have relatively few entrepreneurs on the right hand side as a percent of the working population. China is the exact reverse of that curve. There’s a huge group of bureaucrats who are well trained technologists, who work for state-owned industries. And they want to make the leap to a private company. But if you hire those guys, nothing gets done. They just don’t know how to deliver the quality. On the right hand side of the curve, there’s a huge group of entrepreneurs in China, but if you’re going to rest your company’s fortunes on that group, it’s a big risk. You’re not really sure what they’re up to. In the middle of the curve, there’s a tiny group of professional managers.

We spend all of our effort, identifying, recruiting, training and retaining those people. Initially we recruited at the top -- 20 people from the US who were Chinese citizens, who were from the US or Canada or Europe who were on H-1 visas or some kind of visas and working for western software companies... They had a taste for how western clients consumed technology services.

So we were able to populate our initial management ranks in China with those people.

Then [those management groups] spend a great deal of effort identifying and recruiting in China.

We’re well known in China. Where we are in Shenzhen -- in southern China, fairly close to Hong Kong -- [there’s a] national draw. If you go around the facility and ask people where they’re from, nobody’s from Shenzhen. But they all go there because of the opportunity and because major firms like IBM and Microsoft are set up there.

We recruit through our network in China. We use Web sites. We use job fairs. We do use recruiters as well...

Last year, we went through 20,000 applications and invited 3,400 for first-round interviews and testing. We invited 800 back for second round interviews and further testing. We gave 200 offers and 170 accepted.

What we were recruiting for last year, we definitely emphasized English language. People must speak English as well as being strong technologists. We tie our comp plan to demonstrating increasingly proficient English skills. You can be a great technologist, but if you can’t pass a level 2 English exam that’s online, then you don’t get your comp.

...We do a lot of training around how to speak with clients. What clients are concerned about, how to ask questions, how to listen. These things are not obvious to people who are good technologists in China but haven’t worked with Western clients...

What are the US-based folks doing?
We’re working in three distinct industries: financial services, retail and high tech. The main expert [for retail, for example,] used to run the women’s business at Levi Strauss & Co. She has a couple of decades in retail. All of our retail team has great degree of retail credibility and business credibility. So what they do is initiate discussions with the client. Clients typically are very vague in the beginning: “We need a system to coordinate with 10 suppliers.” It’s the CIO’s job and his or her team’s job to translate that mandate into a technology project that meets the needs of the end users and that works and that is cost effective.

The industry experts on the front end will work with the business users to really flesh out what the use of this product is, will define the high-level requirements, will drive those high-level requirements into detailed use cases and detailed functional specs.

Ultimately those specifications are transferred in standardized documents we’ve developed over the years to a team lead in China...someone with eight to 12 years of experience in application development and in running teams. That team lead will take the hand-off.

And we have deployed in China solutions managers who will get assigned to the project as well, who will clarify any questions on the spot in China about requirements, will build a sizing plan and execute against the documentation.

Sizing?
Sizing is the key to the whole thing. It’s the key to setting the project delivery schedule, setting customer expectations, it’s the key to pricing. And we are very highly productive in China. Yet we don’t push people 80 hours a day. It’s important to setting client expectations.

Most of the clients take our deliverables and use them in their business. If we slip on timelines, it’s very painful for them. We’ve gotten sophisticated about understanding, “OK, in a product cycle in this retailer, they need this system in place by June 1st, in order to hit a Jan. 1 set of deliveries that need to be in stores by May 15th.” The implications of our delivery slipping is major for their business because we understand how that retailer deploys software. We understand that retailer’s own merchandising calendar.

One of the reasons our growth has been so swift is that we are close to the client, and we make decisions close to the client. We push decision authority in this organization down to client partners who live with our clients.

We’re doing the same with financial services. We’ve been building HR systems for financial services most recently. And the whole compliance area in financial services is a very big growth area. [Sarbanes-Oxley] is a subset of that.

Like retailers, financial services firms are global. They work in many different geographies and legal environments.

We’re working on a number of systems that give early warnings to managers back in the US if managers in a different country are out of compliance, either with specifics of regulations in that country or with the global regulations internally at the bank. So it’s these training systems that will ask critical questions of key managers every week. [As a manager] you’re able to understand pretty quickly if their understanding of regulations is sufficient. And if not, you get them additional training.

What systems are you using?
We’re heavy users of Skype. We’re heavy users of formalized process. If you start talking informally on the phone -- you can do that to clarify specific issues, but if that’s the process, there will be communication error. If we’re ever off a 10th of a degree in a delivery, it’s because of communication errors. You want to squeeze out all communication error. So we have documentation and processes around issue resolution, around decision checkpoints, around escalation procedures. We constantly train on and reinforce process. You cannot work in an ad hoc way.

We’ve invested in systems to do it, very sophisticated software systems from companies like [IBM Rational Software] and others that help to put a workflow process around issue resolution.

Talk about intellectual property. I can see it be important to financial services, but retail?
I think the whole category needs to be taken very, very seriously. I wouldn’t want to distinguish between industries. It is true, if you build a complex back end system [for retail], there’s no commercial value to anybody. You’re not going to sell that thing on the streets of Shenzhen. But at the same time, these systems are delivering competitive advantage to the client. They don’t want any of that knowledge going anywhere else.

It’s important that we have security inside our facility... When you come to our facility, it looks like it’s in San Jose CA. It happens to be in China. It happens to enjoy the world’s most cost-effective environment for doing this kind of work. The teams are dedicated and the infrastructure is secure. And there’s no chance that work from one client is suddenly going to show up in the environment of another client. We encourage our clients to visit us. This is a big reason we’ve grown so swiftly. When people do come to visit, they say, “Wow, this place does look like it could be in California.”

For example, there is no paper. You will not see a scrap of paper. No one can bring anything in, no one can bring anything out. Everyone is searched on the way in and on the way out. We have no USB ports. They’re all blocked out. You can’t email, except for dedicated people in dedicated rooms.

...It looks almost like we’ve gone too far. The people in China weren’t used to that. [They’d say,] “What are we building in this place?” It looks like a government lockdown.

Now it’s clear, you’re working on important work. This work you’re doing is for the world’s largest companies. And it’s strategic and competitive to them. It actually adds seriousness to the environment. It’s like if you wear a suit to work, you probably act more serious than if you wear jeans.

So what is the dress code?
...We don’t require people to wear coat and tie, but everybody has to wear a collared shirt with slacks. No short skirts.

At first, people said, “Wait a minute. We’re executing over here. We can’t be marketing.” And we said, “No, no. You may not be explicitly marketing, but this facility is a big part of our company’s presentation, because people want to come see it.”

We want to squeeze out the whole thing that this is a college all-nighter. It’s not a college all-nighter. It’s a professional environment. We’re going to do all we can to eliminate all the heavy lifting. We want to run a facility that’s highly automated. The work is very professional, but well meted out, well planned. We’re not having a lot of crisis. It’s not a success in my view if we have to get our best people around a problem, stay up all night for three days, to deliver to the client, even if the client is happy. That’s too much heavy lifting.

According to a November 9, 2005 report by Gartner entitled "What Chinese IT Services Providers Must Do to Succeed In the Global Market", it states, "Chinese companies that want to sell to sophisticated global customers must achieve high levels of process maturity assessment. A high level of quality and process maturity, assessed by an independent authority, can help them overcome concern about that risk."

The assessment was carried out by CyberQ, the leading Software Quality Assurance Consulting and Auditing company from India that has conducted appraisals of many leading companies in several countries of the world . Dr. Rajiv Nag, Lead Appraiser, praised Freeborders for its strong focus on customer satisfaction, commitment to quality at all levels, and the sincerity and integrity of its approach toward process improvement.

"There is a common misperception that China IT teams can only succeed in small, low-value development tasks," said Fang Liang, President Asia, Freeborders. "But at Freeborders, CMMI Level 5 certification demonstrates that our talent in China is very capable of adhering to international standards of solution design, requirements building, deployment and implementation of large-scale projects."

About Freeborders

Freeborders is the leading provider of technology solutions and outsourcing from China. Freeborders provides vertical expertise to North American and European companies in retail, financial services and software/hi-tech. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in three continents, Freeborders has developed a track record of service delivery to the Fortune 1000 by combining world-class project management in both hemispheres with one of the largest technology centers in China. Freeborders believes China's massive and growing supply of IT talent and the country's emerging importance in the global supply chain make China a strategic imperative for any company seeking cost-effective world-class technology solutions. Freeborders is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices throughout U.S., Canada and Europe.

About CMMI

The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) of Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Melon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, is a framework that describes the key elements of an effective software and system engineering process. The staged representation of the CMM I describes an evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc, immature process to a mature, disciplined process. The CMM I covers practices for planning, engineering, and managing software development and maintenance.

When followed, these practices improve the ability of organizations to meet goals for cost, schedule, functionality, and product quality. The CMM I establishes a yardstick against which it is possible to judge the maturity of an organization's software process and compare it to the state of the practice of the industry. The CMM I can also be used by an organization to plan improvements to its process.
© Freeborders 2006, All Rights  

McFARLAN: First, China has a much more robust internal IT structure, networks and so forth, than does India. They've had a massive telecommunications expansion, and they have more networking capacity than people think. All of that has been a direct result of national economic policy.

Second, China is graduating about 400,000 technical graduates each year. And their university structure is good at the high end. These people coming out have strong technical skills. So they're quite competitive with the people coming out of India.

The third thing is the issue of English. The British left the English language and the university system in India, so there's a lot more work scrambling for English in China.

Can the infrastructure keep pace with the growth?

A colleague who's seen a lot of both India and China says the basic problem with India is they can't build a highway from the airport to the center of the city because of all the public interest. When that kind of decision is made in China, bang, it's done. And at this stage, IT infrastructure is high on the [Chinese] government's agenda.

Why do people in the U.S. have the wrong impression of Chinese IT?

The language issue is a problem. And all the publicity they hear about is India, India, India. When you think about India, you think about companies such as Tata, Infosys, Satyam. The comparable ones in China are much smaller.



Spread of open source could reduce piracy in China. Click here to read more.

What can you tell us about the differences between China and India when it comes to outsourcing?

India's advantage has always been the large pool of inexpensive, English-speaking talent. But now salaries in India are jumping at 25 percent or more annually. So India's cost advantage may not endure. We don't see that in China yet.

What are the risks of outsourcing to China?

The biggest risk I see is political. All of the growth in China has been heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. That has intensified the divide between rural and urban life. But as long as the government can deliver 7 percent or 8 percent growth annually, the poorer people will remain patient. The Chinese government's problem is trying to maintain a fast-enough growth rate that the citizens on balance will buy into it.

Worst case scenario, how does this play out?

The worst case scenario is that you have a revolution.

       

Tell us what you think: onlineeditors@cioinsight.com  

ist nachhaltig - nicht wie uns so mancher Spinner erzählt eine einmalige Angelegenheit des Jahres 2005. Die Pipeline von Internet Capital ist mit IPO's so gut gefüllt, dass ein stetiger Erlösfluß mit entsprechenden Gewinnen wahrscheinlich ist.

Wird der IPO von Freeborders (siehe vorhergehenden Postings) wird der Kurs meines Erachtens relativ schnell bei 15 stehen. Dann ist es zwar immer noch nicht zu spät. Nur wenn man zu 8,77 Dollar einkauft ist das billiger als bei 15 Dollar.

FREEBORDERS IPO........
by: t0b00t  03/20/06 10:10 am
Msg: 240159 of 240160

Any word on ICGE cos going public?

Die werden eben mit Informationen zu Freeborders nicht so gut versorgt wie Ihr. Dass die deutschen Kleinzocker Ihr dadurch vorhandenes "Vorkaufsrecht" nicht wahrnehmen steht auf einem anderen Blatt. Die haben meist einen Computer, auf dem sie Börse spielen und zeigt erst Verkaufssignale bei 15. Dann kaufen sie in Panik und Gier, verkaufen beim ersten Rücksetzer und sind beim Sprung über die 20-Dollar-Marke nicht dabei.

Und die Moral von der Geschicht: Sie bleiben uns hier als ewige Nörgler auf dem Board erhalten.

Um erfolgreich zu spekulieren, sollte man eins voraussetzen: dieSmall Cap Märkte bestehen in erster Linie, um dich zu schröpfen. Ich spreche hier von Märkten wie Vancouver, Alberta, den OTC (Pinksheets, OTC BB u.a.) Man kann das auch auf andere Märkte ausdehnen wie Toronto, New York, Nasdaq, London.... und vor allem auf die Neue Deutsche Welle, die vom Bafin und den zuständigen Staatsanwälten nicht belangt, beliebig gegen das Wertpapierhandelsgesetz verstoßen und ihre Betrügerspielchen durchziehen darf.

Der durchschnittliche Investor wird nicht viel Erfolg haben mit dem Smallcaps-Glücksspiel. .......
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Damit diese Märkte sich fortsetzen, müssen neue Verlierer in den Markt kommen. Die Annahme stimmt nicht, dass solche verrückte Aktivität nur kurzlebig sein kann. Ich schlage eine andere Lösung vor. Was die Professionals und die Bankenaufsicht wissen und verstehen, aber der Rest von uns nicht, ist dies:



Regel Nr.1
alle heftigen Preisbewegungen - ob rauf oder runter - sind das Resultat von einem oder mehreren (gewöhnlich einer Gruppe) von Professionellen, die den Preis manipulieren.





Das soll erklären, warum eine Minengesellschaft etwas Gutes findet und nichts passiert.Gleichzeitig, ohne irgendeinen offensichtlichen Grund, rast eine Aktie plötzlich nach oben bei niedrigem Volumen. Irgend jemand manipuliert die Aktie, oft mit einem nicht begründeten Gerücht.

Damit diese Manipulationen wirken, nehmen die Professionellen an,dass (a)die Leute dumm sind und (b)die Leute vor allem kaufen, wenn der Preis der Aktie hoch ist und (c verkaufen, wenn der Preis niedrig ist. Daher kann der Marktmanipulierer solange erfolgreich sein, wie er die Menge kontrolliert

Lasst es uns klar sagen: der Grund, warum Du in diesen Märkten spekulierst, ist dass Du gierig bist und optimistisch. Du glaubst, dass es morgen besser ist und Du musst schnell Geld machen. Es ist diese Einstellung, die der Marktmanipulator ausnutzt. Er packt Dich bei Deiner Gier und Furcht für eine bestimmte Aktie! Wenn er will, das Du kaufst, sieht die Zukunft der Aktie aus wie die nächste Microsoft.
Sobald der Manipulator will, dass Du das sinkende Schiff verlässt, wird er plötzlich sehr vorsichtig mit seinen Bemerkungne über die Company. Dies bringt uns zu der nächsten Regel:



Regel Nr.2
Sobald der Marktmanipulator seine Aktien verkaufen will, wird er eine Good News Promotional Kampagne starten.

Hast Du Dich jemals gewundert, warum eine bestimmte Company dargestellt wird als sei sie das Grösste seit der Erfindung der Brotschnitte? Dies Sentiment wird bewusst hergestellt. Newsletterschreiber werden angeheuert-ob heimlich oder nicht-, um einen bestimmten Wert hochzujubeln. Public Relation Firmen werden angeheuert und auf ein nichts ahnendes Publikum losgelassen. Kontrakte, um in Radiotalkshows zu erscheinen, werden unterschrieben und ausgeführt. Eine Reklame- Kampagne beginnt(Fernsehreklame, Zeitungsanzeigen, Wurfsendungen)Die Banken kriegen billige Aktien ab, damit sie die Firma in ihren Kundenbriefen empfehlen. Die Firma tritt bei Investmentkonferenzen auf, um Dir zu erzählen, wie wirklich ganz anders ihre Firma ist. Merkwürdige kleine begeisterte Threads tauchen in den Bords auf, immer von der gleichen Sorte Pusher, je mehr um so besser. Die HYPE geht los. Je cleverer ein Stock Promoter ist, um so besser sind seine Kenntnisse der Werbebranche. Kleine Tricks werden benutzt, z.B. lass eine völlig unbekannte Firma interessant aussehen indem du sie mit einer kürzlichen Erfolgsstory vergleichst. Das ist die Positionspredigt s. Ries und Trout. Der einzige Grund warum Du zu diesem anscheinend unglaublichen Bankett eingeladen wirst, ist der, dass Du das Hauptgericht bist! Nachdem der Marktmanipulator Dich in sein Investment gesaugt hat indem er seine Papiere gegen Dein Geld getauscht hat, schliessen sich die Mauern um Dich.Warum ist das so?



Regel Nr.3
Sobald der Manipulator seine Aktien verkauft hat, wird er eine Kampagne mit schlechten oder gar keinen Nachrichten starten.

Deine Lieblingsaktie stagniert oder geht etwas runter von ihrer Höhe. Plötzlich ist da ein Vacuum von News, entweder gar keine Nachrichten oder schlimme Gerüchte.......Keine Nachrichten mehr " tut uns leid,er ist nicht im Büro" oder " er wird nicht vor Montag zurück sein"

Die wirklich aalglatten Marktmanipulierer werden sogar die Bords und die Journalisten entsprechend mit negativen Geschichten über die Firma füttern.Oder eine Propagandakampagne mit negativen Gerüchten auf allen Komunikationsebenen starten, sogar jemanden anstellen, um den Preis zu drücken. Sogar jemanden anstellen, der den Analysten angreift, der zuvor begeistert über den Wert geschrieben hatte(Dies ist kein Spiel für Leute mit schwachem Herzen!)

Du siehst die Aktie endlos dahintreiben, Du kannst sogar ein Gefühl der Hilflosigkeit entwickeln, so als ob Du im All schwebst ohne Rettungsleine. Das genau ist es, was der Manipulator will. Veilleicht tut er dies, um die tiefe Enttäuschung über einen missglückten Deal zu vermeiden.Oftmals hörst Du den Refrain " oh,das sind die jungen Unternehmen ...sehr riskant..." oder " 9 von 10 Firmen machen jedes Jahr pleite und dies ist eine Venture Capital Börse für junge Unternehmen" . Denke nicht, dass das nicht geplant war.!.....



Regel Nr.4
jede Aktie, die bei hohem Volumen zu einem hohen Preis gehandelt wird, signalisiert die Verkaufsphase der Professionellen.

Als das Volumen geringer war, war auch der Preis niedriger. Die Professionellen sammelten ein. Sobald der Preis steigt, erhöht sich das Volumen. Die Professionellen kauften niedrig und verkauften hoch. Die Amateure kauften hoch (und werden bald genug niedriger verkaufen)......Der Marktmanipulator wird alles in seiner Macht stehende tun, um Dich aus der Aktie draussen zu halten, manchmal indem Du hinausgeschüttelt wirst, solange bis der Preis zwei bis dreimal höher ist und er selbst genug Aktien eingesammelt hat.....Wann immer Du ein sehr hohes Volumen siehst, nachdem die Aktie um 75 grad gestiegen ist, hat die Verkaufsphase begonnen und Du wirst wahrscheinlich zum Höchstpreis ...kaufen.
.......Erfolgreiche Kurzfristtrader gehen gewöhnlich aus einer Aktie raus, sobald das Volumen hoch ist, Amateure werden gierig und kaufen hier.



Regel Nr.5
Der Marktmanipulierer wird immer versuchen Dich zum Kaufen zu bewegen, wenn der Preis so hoch wie möglich ist, und zum Verkauf beim niedrigst möglichen Preis.

So wie der Manipulator jeden nur möglichen Trick benutzt, um Dich zur Party einzuladen, wird er dich grausam und brutal von seiner Aktie vertreiben, sobald er Dich geschröpft hat. Die erste falsche Annahme ist die, dass der Stockpromoter dich reich machen will indem Du in seine Firma investierst. So beginnt eine Reihe von Lügen, die laufen solange wie es Dein Magen verträgt.
Du kriegst den ersten Hinweis, dass er Dich getäuscht hat, wenn die Aktie bei dem höheren Level durchsackt. Irgendwie hat sie den Dampf verloren und Du weisst nicht warum.Tja, sie hat den Dampf verloren, weil der Stockmanipulator aufgehört hat, sie zu pushen. Sie ist zu stark aufgebläht und er kann niemanden mehr überzeugen, sie zu kaufen. Das Volumen trocknet aus während der Preis durchzusacken scheint.



Regel Nr.6
Wenn dies ein wirklicher Deal ist, dann bist Du wahrscheinlich die letzte Person, die benachrichtigt wird und Du wirst zu einem niedrigeren Preis rausgetrieben.

........Wenn der Manipulator dich aus der Aktie vertreiben will, wird es ein Orchester von Gerüchten geben, die cirkulieren, auf dich wird geschossen werden aus verschiedenen Richtungen... Du wirst den Beweis in einem sehr scharfen Absturz des Kurses sehen bei riesigem Volumen. Das bist Du und deine Kumpel, die nach dem Ausgang rennen. Wenn der Deal echt ist, will der Manipulator all deine Aktien oder so viel wie möglich kriegen zum niedrigst möglichen Preis. Der Marktmanipulator wird dich hinausschütteln, indem er den Preis so niedrig wie möglich treibt, so kann er soviele Aktien wie möglich wieder einsammeln.(der Autor verweist hier auf verschiedene Mining Companies in Kanada)
Die Phase des Einsammelns war tödlich still. Erst sobald die Insider all ihre Aktien eingesammelt hatten, haben sie dir ihr Geheimnis verraten!



Regel Nr.7
Du wirst der letzte sein, der informiert wird, wenn das Geschäft Zeichen von Schwäche zeigt.

Ein Rückblick wird Dir oft zeigen, dass da ein kleiner Rückgang im Kurs war, gerade als die Bohrproben aufgeschoben wurden oder das Geschäft platzte. Die Manipulatoren begannen ihre Aktien zu verkaufen, um den Kurssturz einzuleiten.Und um dies zu beschleunigen. Der schnelle Absturz macht es dir unmöglich, mehr dafür zu kriegen als Du bezahlt hast....und gibt Dir einen besseren Grund, noch etwas zu warten falls der Kurs zurückkommt. Dann beginnt die Drifting Phase und Furcht überkommt dich. Wenn Du nicht gerade Nerven wie Stahlseile hast und es Dir leisten kannst, den Stockmanipulator auszusitzen, wirst Du sehr wahrscheinlich die Aktien zu einem billigen Preis verkaufen. Denn der Insider, Makler oder die emittierende Bank sind verpflichtet, die Aktien zurückzukaufen, um die Firma am Leben zu erhalten und Kontrolle über sie zu behalten. Je weniger er dafür zahlen muss, um so niedriger werden die Kosten für eine neue Stockpromotion zu einem zukünftigen Zeitpunkt. Auch wenn die Firma gar keine Zukunft mehr hat, wird doch der Mantel noch einen gewissen Wert haben....



Regel Nr.8
Der Marktmanipulator wird dich so in seine Aktie zwingen, dass du den Preis hochtreibst.

Er wird sein eigenes Papier kaufen, so dass Du nach einem höheren Preis langst. Er wird dich zu einem höheren Preis zwingen, indem er die Aktien zum laufenden Preis aufkauft. Man kann die Marktmanipulation vermeiden indem man nicht kauft zu den Zeiten des annormal hohen Volumens, bekannt als " die Aktie hochjagen zu einem höheren Preis"



Regel Nr.9
Der Marktmanipulator ist sich deiner Gefühle, die du während des Anstiegs und des Absturzes erfährst, wohl bewusst und wird damit spielen wie mit einem Klavier.

Während des Anstiegs wirst du einen Anfall von Gier haben, die dich zwingt in die Aktie zu investieren.
Während des Absturzes wirst Du Angst haben, dass Du alles verlierst...daher wirst Du zum Ausgang rennen. Kannst Du sehen wie einfach es ist und wie klar eine Glocke läutet? Denke nicht, dass dies Schema nicht in den Verstand eines jeden Marktmanipulators eintätowiert ist. Der Marktmanipulator wird dich den den ganzen Weg rauf und runter manipulieren. Wenn er es sehr gut macht, kann er es so aussehen lassen als sei jemand anderes daran schuld, dass Du dein Geld verloren hast. Du wirst wieder diese Aktie kaufen, er wird dich wieder so erschrecken, dass Du denkst, du wirst jeden Penny verlieren. Du wirst vor Entsetzen davonrennen. Und schwören, dass Du nie wieder in solche Aktien investierst, Aber viele von Euch tun es doch. Der Manipulator weiss, wie er Dich zurückbringt. Ein neues Spiel beginnt.



Letzte Regel
Ein neuer Schub von Zockern wird mit jedem neuen Spiel geboren.

Die Finanzmärkte sind ein grausames, unfreundliches und gefährliches Spielfeld, ein Platz, wo die neuesten Amateure gewöhnlich am meisten geschröpft werden von denen die die Regeln kennen. Es wird immer einen vertrauenden Dummen geben, den die tollwütigen Hunde in Stücke reissen So wie ich die Pflicht habe sicher zustellen, dass jeder von euch versteht, wie dieses Spiel gespielt wird, so habt Ihr dieselbe Pflicht, dass Eure Mitspieler an der Börse diese Regeln verstehen.Wenn diese Bemühung von vielen eifrig unterstützt würde, könnten die Finanzmärkte vielleicht die unehrlichen Manipulatoren abschütteln und die Promoter könnten uns rechtmässige Spiele anbieten. Die Finanzmärkte sind ein Finanzierungswerkzeug. Die Firmen borgen das Geld von Dir, wenn Du in ihre Firma investierst oder spekulierst. Sie wollen, dass der Kurs steigt, so dass sie ihr Geschäft mit weniger Verdünnung ihrer Aktien finanzieren können.....wenn sie gute Leute sind. Aber wie würdest du fühlen über einen Freund oder ein Familienmitglied, das Geld von dir pumpt und niemals zurückzahlt? Das wäre ganz einfach Diebstahl.Also ist ein Marktmanipulierer jemand der dein Geld stiehlt. Lass nicht zu, dass er das weiterhin tut.........Mach deine sorgfältige Recherche bevor du investierst. Such dir gute Companies mit denen du spekulierst und steig unten ein alles andere ist kriminell oder dumm!....



Der Pilz des Glückes wartet fein.Es können Dinge sich begeben,die mich der Arbeit ganz entheben.
und immer schön locker bleiben.    

On top of these, there are some major BPO firms in India that must be considering such a move. WNS Global Services, the former finance and accounting arm of British Airways now majority-owned by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, is an obvious candidate, as is Genpact, another former captive which is now majority-owned by investment firms. When it changed its name from GECIS last year, executives said it was too early to plan an IPO, though it was a longer-term target. Office Tiger, a US-based offshore provider, may choose India for its IPO, which could happen by the end of the year, though it is also wary of giving an indication of the timeframe.

There are slim pickings for IT services firms in the US. There have been a few human resources flotations in the past year though, such as employee management specialists Taleo and Kenexa. There are others which will make the jump this year such as EXLService Holdings, which plans to raise $75m on Nasdaq, but even this is an offshore provider with an Indian-based service provision. Achievo Corp, which has a strong presence in China could also file this year, but there are few opportunities compared to India.

This is in part because of the increased costs associated with becoming a public company as a result of the introduction of Sarbanes-Oxley laws.

Private firms that realized in 2002 when the act was made law that becoming public was a serious prospect would have started ensuring that their financial processes met Sarbanes-Oxley rules there and then. Unfortunately the cost of doing so for many may have seemed like an unnecessary gamble, especially through the early-funding years when cash is tight, and such companies need to be run on a very strict budget.

The effect is that many private companies haven't budgeted for these extra costs, and haven't ensured that their processes are compliant, therefore slowing the IPO pipeline. Some may decide that the extra costs are not worth it, and there have been a number of cases of public firms returning to private ownership in the last year. Another consequence of Sarbanes-Oxley is the fact that private firms that are not compliant become less attractive to being takeover by public ones.


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Comment on this Article

Schau mal,der Shorti spielt wieder. 42/58




top    ICGE Stats    Symbol Search


Time B/S Shares  Price    

13:56:05.122 S 58  8.8900  

13:56:05.122 S 42  8.8900  

13:54:30.833 S 58  8.8900  

13:54:30.833 S 42  8.8900  

13:53:35.136 S 58  8.8900  

13:53:35.136 S 42  8.8900  

13:51:37.743 B 100  8.9000  

13:49:24.665 B 200  8.9000  

13:47:05.130 S 100  8.8900  

13:45:35.129 S 100  8.8900  

13:43:05.132 S 58  8.8900  

13:43:05.132 S 42  8.8900  

13:39:25.568 B 200  8.9000  

13:38:35.145 S 58  8.8900  

13:38:35.145 S 42  8.8900  

13:38:14.890 B 100  8.9000  

13:38:11.786 S 100  8.8900  

13:37:35.133 S 100  8.8900  

13:37:31.454 S 58  8.8900  

13:37:31.454 S 42  8.8900  

13:37:26.365 S 100  8.8900  

dass die Aktie heute wieder extrem manipuliert wird, denn der Kurs läuft wie auf Schienen. Das bedeutet auch, dass noch erheblich Leerpositionen einzudecken sind. Nach dem 15., also am Donnerstag und Freitag sind die noch einmal nach oben gefahren worden. Würde jetzt etwas über Freeborders kommen, sieht der Shortseller ganz alt aus. Nachwievor gehe ich aber davon aus, dass das Management von Internet Capital die Nachrichten von Freeborders vom Zeitpunkt der Bekanntgabe mitsteuern kann. Da sie dem Shortseller zumindest aus der Ferne freundschaftlich verbunden sind, lassen sie ihn vermutlich nicht hängen - sodass in Sachen Freeborders vermutlich doch noch einige Tage ins Land gehen. Wer das nicht nutzt, ist allerdings selber dran schuld. Auf der anderen Seite kann ich mir aber auch nicht vorstellen, dass der Shortseller ungerupft von seinen Leerpositionen kommt, denn immerhin liegen 57,5% der Aktien bei Instutitionals wie Barclays und anderen ersten Adressen.

wenn Ihr das Limit nicht zu knapp legt. Ab ca. 14.00 Uhr kann sich der Skontrenführer in Frankfurt mit einem Gegengeschäft in den USA bei einem Kaufauftrag von Euch in den USA eindecken.

Solange Euch der Shortseller so günstiger Kurse liefert, solltet Ihr zugreifen - denn vermutlich steht jetzt bald ein Schwarm guter Nachrichten zu Metastorm ins Haus, wo Internet Capital 42% hält.

The Gartner Outsourcing Summit is the only event designed to provide a comprehensive view of the entire outsourcing arena that allows leaders from both business and IT groups to come together; and offers a holistic understanding of all the options, risks and opportunities available. The Summit provides unbiased, road-tested advice and best practices necessary for setting outsourcing strategies and objectives, evaluating and selecting the right services providers, managing relationships with external partners and delivering profitable outcomes. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/us/outsourcing.

About Freeborders

Freeborders is a leading provider of technology solutions and outsourcing from China. Freeborders provides industry expertise to North American and European companies in financial services, technology, retail/consumer goods, manufacturing and transportation & logistics. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices on three continents, Freeborders has developed a track record of service delivery to the Fortune 1000 by combining world-class project management in both hemispheres with one of the largest technology centers in China. Freeborders believes China’s massive and growing supply of IT talent and the country’s emerging importance in the global supply chain make China a strategic imperative for any company seeking cost-effective world-class technology solutions.
© Freeborders 2006, All Rights Reserved

Managements? Denn das läuft eben gerade ab. Ich hatte ja angedeutet, dass mit den Shortsellern zusammenarbeiten. Insgesamt deutet das darauf hin, dass uns in den nächsten Tagen wieder Insiderkäufe gemeldet werden dürften - und die Herren wollen schließlich nicht zu teuer einkaufen.

Wie das mit dem verarschen abläuft, könnt Ihr unter folgender Adresse erkennen:

finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=ICGE

Da wird etwas völlig unerklärt ins Netz gestellt, nämlich die Ergebnisse der Holding. Bei der Holding werden nur die Ausgaben und Einnahmen der Verwaltung der Beteiligungen erfasst und bisher drei oder zwei der ca. zwanzig Firmen: Früher waren das ICGCommerce, Commercequest und Investorefoce, anschließend ICGCommerce, Starcite und Investorforce. Offensichtlich haben sie aber jetzt nachträglich eine der Beteiligungen rausgenommen, vermutlich die mit Abstand größte unter den drei konsolidierten - nämlich ICGCommerce. Erklärt wird da nichts, aber auch rein gar nichts. Offensichtlich soll da der Eindruck weggeputzt werden, den ein Jahresgewinn von 72 Millionen für 2005, der meines Erachtens durchaus nachhaltig und nicht einmalig ist, "verwischt" werden.

Ich vermute aber einmal, dass man mit solchen Dumme-Jungen-Streiche keine Profis schrecken kann, denn 57,5% der Aktien liegen allein bei Institutionals. Die erkennen viel mehr, dass da jemand verarscht werden soll und werden einsammeln.

Mein Rat an Euch: Mit den Profis mitsammeln.

anscheinend mißlungen. Denn die haben sich auch durch eine Umstellung der Rechnungslegung der Holding, in der nur jetzt vermutlich nur noch zwei statt drei von 20 Beteiligungen erfasst werden, versucht, den Gewinn in Höhe von 72,5 Millionen für 2005 zu vertuschen.

Aber ganz verheimlich konnte man das Nachstehende dann doch nicht, sonst würde die SEC das Management in den Knast stecken:

finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=ICGE&annual

Und das gut daran ist, das ein nachhaltiger Gewinn und keine einmalige Angelegenheit, denn bei einem Wagnisfinanzierer, bei dem das Geschäft rollt, kommen eben Gewinne aus der Differenz zwischen dem Kauf von Firmen in frühem Stadium und dem späteren Verkauf zustande. Und hier ist die Pipeline von Internet Capital so gut, und sie wird auch noch nachgeladen, dass man auf Jahre von einem doch einigermaßen kontiuierlichen Gewinn in der Größenordnung der 72 Millionen rechnen kann - und zwar mit Tendenz nach oben. Lasst Euch von den Heulnummern zu diesem Thema nicht verarschen und kauft. Noch ist es billig, denn auf der Basis der 72 Millionen liegt das KGV knapp unter dem sagenhaft niedrigen Wert von 5.

lässt sich relativ einfach nachvollziehen, selbst wenn man nur annehmen würde, dass die Werte von Internet Capital der momentanen Marktkapitalisierung von 350 Millionen entsprechen. Private Equity arbeitet mit Renditen, die nicht unter 20% liegen - und da kommt man ziemlich genau auf die 72 Millionen. Nach meiner Auffassung würden wir momentan aber bei einer Monetarisierung der Vermögenswerte mindestens beim Doppelten landen - also 700 Millionen. Was 20% davon bedeuten, könnt Ihr sicher selbst ausrechnen.

Klingt alles etwas theoretisch, also hier praktischer: Allein Freeborders könnte den Gewinn von 72 Millionen auf Jahre sichern. Denn die stehen mit fast Null in den Büchern - und ich gehe davon aus, dass die 33% von Internet Capital schon jetzt einen Wert von 150 Millionen haben, der bis 2007 auf 300 Millionen steigen kann - und das ist noch lange nicht das Ende der Fahnenstange. Und 50 Millionen Gewinn jetzt schon bei Blackboard gespeichert. Vermutlich muss man selbst bei einem IPO von Freeborders in 2006 davon keinen müden Dollar angreifen, um wieder 72 Millionen Dollar Gewinn ausweisen zu können - ich vermute in Kürze ein Verkauf der erst vor kurzem erworbenen Metastorm, die momentan gerade schon gemacht wird. Dazu einiges später.

wobei ich hoffe, dass die von Shortsellern fabriziert wurden.

Nicht zufrieden wäre ich, wenn die einer Investorengruppe kämen, die dann ein Übernahmeangebot macht, z.B. für 11 oder 12 Dollar - ein Verdacht, der bei mir nie ausgeräumt ist. Zwar dürften potenzielle Käufer nicht gleichzeiitig shorten, da dies nach dem deutschen Wertpapierhandelsgesetz Kursbetrug wäre - und ich gehe davon aus, bei den Amis auch - aber so genau weiss man eben nie. Nun könntet Ihr sagen, was will denn der Libuda - ein Anstieg auf 11 oder 12 Dollar ist doch auch etwas. Okay, aber nicht wenn der Fair Value bei 20 liegt.

Was mich allerdings beruhig, ist, dass Investoren wie Barclays und andere 57,5% halten und sich durch Bescheisserspielchen um Geld bringen lassen. Daher würde ich sagen: Selten hat sich ein Einstieg in der letzten Zeit so  gerechnet wie morgen. Ab 14.00 Uhr hat ja der Skontrenführer in Frankfurt die Möglichkeit, die Sonderangebote des US-Shortsellers anzunehmen.

Allerdings müssen da von Euch nicht zu knapp limitere Aufträge in Frankfurt vorliegen.

Ist schon seltsam wenn die Analysten jede Pommes Bude bewerten,nur zu ICGE hört man nie etwas.

denn die haben die Aktie fast alle schon einmal empfohlen, allerdings in 1999/2000 als sie bei 4000 Dollar lag. Und jetzt, da die fundamentalen Daten besser sind als damals und das Unternehmen fast schuldenfrei ist, schämen sie sich - sie haben schlicht und einfach Angst, dass sich die Leute an ihre ehemaligen Untaten erinnern, wenn sie das Wort Internet Capital in den Mund legen.

Dabei spricht alles dafür, dass die vorhandene Nettocash von 200 Millionen und z.B. der Wert von einer der ca. 20 Beteiligungen, nämlich Freeborders, schon mehr als die momentane Marktkapitalisierung von 340 Millionen ausmachen.

Auch in nachstehender Übersicht entdeckt Ihr z.B. Freeborders als Nr. 2 bei den Top Watch to China:

www.globalservicesmedia.com/sections/gs100/...ID=177104474#107

How much bigger did you get with the acquisition of CommerceQuest?

On a combined basis for 2006, we'll grow 60 percent over 2005. With two months of combined operations in 2005, we were able to grow 36 percent year-over-year in 2005.

It seems lots of companies trying to use BPM run up against a wall with process modeling. Can you give concrete recommendations or best practices for process modeling?

You hit the nail on the head in terms of the challenge of doing these projects. Once you have processes defined, doing the actual implementation is pretty easy. Defining processes is cultural. It's organizational. We suggest customers take a "stage-action-role" approach to the whole thing. If you think of processes in those three terms, you facilitate the identification and documentation of a business process's core elements by breaking it down into sub-processes and elements that are intuitive to the business. You break it into something companies understand in their own nomenclature, rather than in the context of some kind of technology.

How do you define stages, actions and roles in BPM?

Think of a process progressing through an organization. As it moves forward, it hits a different stage at each point along the road, if you will. As it reaches a new stage, you have a series of actions that have to take place at that stage. They're controlled by a series of roles, which are in turn controlled by various entities. The role could be controlled by a human, a system, an external entity or a Web service, for instance. If you break down your processes in that framework, they become easier to understand.

There's a lot of talk about the "convergence" of BPM and business intelligence. How do you see that unfolding in the coming years?

The key elements of BI in the context of business process management are the abilities to analyze processes as they're going on in real-time. You have to be able to understand what's going on with processes, and then have a set of rules operating against that analytical data so you can make changes to processes in real-time, whether manually or systematically. We have a product called Metastorm Insight that we use for analysis on processes.


Wenn das mit den 60% Wachstum in 2006 gelingt, ist damit trotzdem noch kein Mammutunternehmen vorhanden, aber bei einem Umsatz von 40 bis 50 Millionen dürfte man liegen. Ob es irgendwann zu einem IPO kommt, halte ich für eher unwahrscheinnlich - ich halte eine Übernahme durch einen großen Software-Konzern für sehr viel wahrscheinlicher - von dem Internet Capital diesmal profitieren wird. Denn vor kanpp zwei Jahren sind bei einem derartigen Deal schon einmal ziemlich auf die Nase gefallen. Damals haben sie für einen Appel und ein Ei ihre 31%-Beteiligung an Syncra an die Firma Retek verkauft. Mit Syncra als Herzstück wurde Retek dann so attraktiv, dass sich nur wenige Moante nach dem Verkauf SAP und Oracle einen Bieterwettkampf um Retec lieferten und für Retek schließlich ein Betrag von 450 Millionen Dollar heraussprang. Daraus hatte man offensichtlich die Lehren gezogen. Hätte man z.B. Syncra nicht für einen Appel und ein Ei an Retek verkauft, sondern hätte sich dafür 10% an Retek geben lassen, wären immerhin 45 Millionen hängengeblieben.

Wer Metastorm haben will, muss meines Erachtens 150 bis 200 Millionen auf den Tisch legen, was für Internet Kapital 65 bis 85 Millionen Dollar bedeuten würden. Und es gibt einige Anzeichen dafür, dass ein solcher Deal ansteht, denn Metastorm wird momentan auf Investoren-Roadshows noch und nöcher präsentiert.

Metastorm CEO to Present at the Montgomery & Co. Technology Conference

COLUMBIA, MD – March 13, 2006 – Metastorm, a leading provider of Business Process Management (BPM) software for modeling, automating, integrating, and improving both human and system-based processes, today announced that its CEO, Bob Farrell will be presenting at the Montgomery & Co. Technology Conference on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 at 9:00 AM at The Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, California.

The conference will gather a highly select group of venture, private equity, public institutional investors and senior technology executives from around the world. Conference highlights include 90 high-quality private companies, 50 industry-leading public companies, industry keynotes and panels.



About Metastorm
As the first breakaway BPM vendor, Metastorm is a leader in business process management (BPM) software and best practice methodologies for modeling, automating, integrating, and improving both human and system-based processes. Metastorm BPM™ is a complete solution for roundtrip process improvement, designed specifically to address complex processes that are unique to organizations. Metastorm’s 1200+ global client base in manufacturing, retail, financial services, business services, healthcare and government are achieving rapid ROI and Enterprise Process Advantage® in customer service, supply chain operations, risk management, and internal operations. For more information visit www.metastorm.com.

Where: Exhibition Floor Booth #10



About Metastorm
As the first breakaway BPM vendor, Metastorm is a leader in business process management (BPM) software and best practice methodologies for modeling, automating, integrating, and improving both human and system-based processes. Metastorm BPM™ is a complete solution for roundtrip process improvement, designed specifically to address complex processes that are unique to organizations. Metastorm’s 1200+ global client base in manufacturing, retail, financial services, business services, healthcare and government are achieving rapid ROI and Enterprise Process Advantage® in customer service, supply chain operations, risk management, and internal operations. For more information visit www.metastorm.com.

Copyright 2006, Metastorm, Inc. All rights reserved. Metastorm BPM and Enterprise Process Advantage are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Metastorm, Inc. Other product, service and company names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Klappt die Verarschung der Anleger durch das   Libuda   21.03.06 16:52  

Managements? Denn das läuft eben gerade ab. Ich hatte ja angedeutet, dass mit den Shortsellern zusammenarbeiten. Insgesamt deutet das darauf hin, dass uns in den nächsten Tagen wieder Insiderkäufe gemeldet werden dürften - und die Herren wollen schließlich nicht zu teuer einkaufen.


Ich glaube nicht an den Grund nicht zu teuer einkaufen zu wollen.
Seit 2Jahren wird der Kurs von sicherlich mehr als einer Person künstlich unten gehalten.Das machen die mit sehr viel Kohle und sind bestimmt nicht umsonst zu haben.Die nach meiner Einschätzung relativ mickrigen Käufe der Angestellten wiegen den Aufwand bei weitem nicht auf.Es ist ja auch so,dass sie nicht zu Tiefstkursen kauften.Der Shortie hat wesentlich mehr Kohle reingesteckt als irgend jemand gespart hat.Für mich steht fest,Insiderkäufe fallen flach.Vielleicht ist es ja nur ein simpler Psychopath mit zu viel Kohle.Die Muster die er immer wieder einbringt deuten darauf hin.