Just recently, in Shanghai, there has been talk of a project to plan Asia’s new largest exhibition venue. According to Mark Cochrane of Business Strategies Group, the announcement was first heard at the ceremony for signing the “National Convention Project” between China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Shanghai Municipal Government.

This new framework agreement for the project includes main investors China Foreign Trade (Group) in a joint venture with Shanghai Expo Group.

According to local press, this new exhibition is described as being MICE (Meeting, Incentive Travel, Convention and Exhibition)-related. Despite Hong Kong staying ahead of the competition for the global MICE sector, the venue’s location is planned for the Hongqiao district of Shanghai. The proposed site will be located in close proximity to the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, as well as the Hongqiao Rail Station.

The site plans are said to cover a 1.04 km² area that would include MICE amenities, such as logistics facilities and exhibition halls. The government’s goal is to have construction started by the end of this year, yet no set date has been determined. Currently existing buildings on the site would have to be demolished and removed, and tenants relocated, for construction to begin on the project.

The exhibition venue, which could be as large as 500,000 m², would steal the “largest exhibition venue in Asia” award away from the Chinese Import & Export Commodities Fair Ground – Pazhou Complex in Guangzhou (338,000 m²) also owned by the China Foreign Trade (Group).

The Top 5 Exhibition Centers in Shanghai (BSG’s database):

The Top 10 Exhibition Centers in Asia (based on total gross indoor size):

Source: Asia Business Media

In the video below, Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of Alibaba.com–China’s most successful e-commerce group–tells Charlie Rose how and why his business model has done so well.

Jack Ma’s priorities include focusing on small and medium sized businesses and providing solutions to their needs. As opposed to many American business models, he puts the customer first, employee second, and the shareholders third, in that order. As Ma says in the interview, “It’s the customers that pay us the money. It’s the employees that drive the innovation. It’s the shareholders that say, ‘We were long-term shareholders,’ but when crisis comes they run away.”

He has also taken the focus away from putting the eye directly on the money and instead taking the time to create a value in the market to fulfill the needs of the consumer, where in turn, money inevitably flows.

Technology and the internet play a vital supporting role in the company’s play of success, but ultimately the beliefs of Jack Ma and his business practices play the lead.

Original Video Source: Jack Ma – Charlie Rose Interview

According to Mark Cochrane of the Asia Business Media blog, Global Sources (NASDAQ), a popular B2B wholesale marketplace, recently released its third quarter results showing a 29% increase ($39.4 million USD) from 2009′s Q3.  Also shown was an 19% increase in online revenues of $24.8 million and a 752% increase of $7.7 million for exhibition revenues. The only fall from 2009 in revenue was for print, down from $7.9 million to $5.7 million.

GAAP net income also increased compared to the third quarter in 2009 from $1.2 million to $2.3 million (or from 3 to 6 cents per diluted share). Compared to $89.3 million in customer prepayments and deferred income in 2009, this year’s Q3 totaled $100.5 million.

The company’s revenues were $132 million,with Q3 ending September 30th, 2010, which is a 10% year-on-year increase. They also reported a GAAP net income of $12.1 million. A forecast for the second half of 2010 expects to see about a 16-17% increase from 2009′s second half, about $100 million.

Source: Asia Business Media

Alibaba.com operates the world’s largest online marketplace for wholesale goods.  They earn revenue by charging listing fees to the manufacturers and trading companies that advertise products on the site.

Because the site is dominated by paid listings, buyers often have trouble identifying the legitimate suppliers as opposed to those who are simply willing to pay the most for the exposure. On the other hand, the site’s advertising rates can be quite high, so that barrier can serve as a filter against the weakest, most poorly capitalized manufacturers.

Alibaba also earns considerable revenue through the huge product sourcing trade shows they host in China, Hong Kong and other parts of the world every year. Exhibitors pay a hefty fee to get in front of so many active buyers in a single location.  And the buyers often pay a nominal entry fee to help offset some of the event organizer’s costs as well.

However, the most important component of the Alibaba Group’s revenue comes from a different web site altogether, TaoBao.com.  A subsidiary of the Alibaba Group, TaoBao dominates ecommerce in China to a degree that only a combined eBay and Amazon together could hope to do in the United States.  With such a stranglehold on ecommerce in the world’s fastest growing Internet economy, it’s no surprise that as of today Alibaba is valued at 77.61 billion Hong Kong Dollars (almost $10 billion USD).