"Largan last year had revenues in excess of $1bn and net profit margins above 40 per cent.
"Largan is doing so well because the optical-quality plastic lenses it makes for mobile phone cameras are unrivalled in their price and performance. Any higher-end mobile phone, be it an iPhone or an Android phone selling for above $400, relies on Largan lenses. Many companies in the mainland have tried to get into this business. So far none have succeeded.
"High precision, high megapixel plastic camera lenses are basically impossible to reverse-engineer. * * * Largan has been in the plastic lens business for almost twenty years. Today's success is the product of many long years of fruitless experimentation and struggle.
"The venture capital industry in China, though statistically the second-largest in the world, has shunned investments in early-stage and experimental R&D. Instead, VCs pour money into so-called 'C2C' businesses. These “Copied To China” companies look for an established or emerging business model elsewhere, usually in the US, then create a local Chinese version, safe in the knowledge the foreign innovator will probably never be able to shut-down this 'China only' version.
Note:
(a) "Peter Fuhrman 傅成 is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, China First Capital"
(i) China First Capital 中国首创 (established in 2008; based in Shenzhen; "投资银行及顾问公司")
(ii) The name Fuhrman is Americanized by shortening Fuhrmann. The latter is a German surname "from Middle High German vuorman carter, driver."
(b) Largan Precision Co, Ltd 大立光電股份有限公司
(c) "China has 5,000 years of glorious history during which it created such technology breakthroughs as paper, gunpowder, porcelain and the pump."
(i) pump https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump
(section 1.1.2.3.9 Rope pumps: Devised in China as chain pumps [链泵; see (ii) immeiately below] over 1000 years ago, these pumps can be made from very simple materials: A rope, a wheel and a PVC pipe are sufficient to make a simple rope pump)
(ii) 李根蟠, 翻车起源献疑——水车起源和发展丛谈（三）. http://economy.guoxue.com/?p=1810
("翻车的起源，一般追溯到东汉末年的毕岚 * * * 范晔《后汉书》卷78《宦者·张让传》载
(d) "While Largan may now be the best performing Taiwanese high-tech company, there are many others that similarly can run circles around mainland competitors."
(i) run circles around someone and run rings around someone:
"Fig. [Figurative] to outrun or outdo someone. (Alludes to someone who runs fast enough to run in circles around a competitor and still win the race.) http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/run+circles+around
(ii) Run Rings Around. The Phrase Finder, undated www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/run-rings-around.html
("The alternative form of the expression is 'run circles around,' which came into being later again, around the turn of the 10th century. This form is entirely disassociated from the source hunting context and was coined in the USA")
I believe there is a typo here: 20th century, not "10th century."作者: choi 时间: 6-7-2016 16:04 本帖最后由 choi 于 6-7-2016 16:05 编辑
PE is
Private Equity. Investopdia, undated www.investopedia.com/terms/p/privateequity.asp
("Private equity investments often demand long holding periods to allow for a turnaround of a distressed company or a liquidity event such as an IPO or sale to a public company")