The Santa Cruz Operation Incorporate (SCO), a US-based software developer, opened a representative office in Beijing yesterday. Founded in 1979, SCO has become the world's leading developer and supplier of software for UNIX systems. The new office in Beijing will bring SCO closer to Chinese customers and help it understand the massive Chinese market better, said Lars Turndal, SCO'S president and chief executive officer. SCO will mainly target government, departments, key industries and service institutions.

US computer giant International Business Machines (IBM) last week announced that it will invest at least $100 million in information technology projects in China. This makes IBM the first foreign company to become involved in the country's top information infrastructure project,

Coca-Cola has been voted the top international company in Asia, according to a recent survey published by the Far Eastern Economic Review, a major Asian magazine. Readers of this and other prominent Asian economic magazines choose Coca-Cola from among 500 large international companies in Asia. Cola-Cola is now the world's largest beverage company serving 685 million drinks per day in more than 195 countries. D GRD, the manufacturing giant, plans to cut 1,500 jobs at its Portland factory over the next five years after union refusal to increase productivity. As a result, GRD have been forced to downsize the Portland plant. One of the purposes of entering China is to have a better idea of Chinese market.