The banks have been busy lending to government, so lending to second-tier companies -- ones which probably need the money most -- has been minimal.

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In those markets, however, Apple has to content with a new breed of smartphone competition that are driving the price points well below the mid- and upper tier ones that Apple tends to compete in.

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But, in an interesting illustration of how modern campaigns by activists against companies can gather momentum, the top-tier companies now complain that lesser ones get away with poor labour practices, and so impede progress in the whole sector.

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It is more likely that the culture of the increasingly child-free northern tier and the slow-growth coasts will, to evoke the past, be the ones gone with the wind.

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Many who drop out of top-tier colleges might have thrived at slightly less competitive ones.

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Bramah wrapped up the panel by saying investors should favor companies that build mass-market residential housing over luxury developments, as well as ones that focus on the slightly smaller, second-tier cities in the mainland rather than metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai.

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