17 January 2007

China will out-WAL-MART the world...

Hey Zenistas,

Thanks for reading! Sorry, I haven't been very 'visual' this last week... it's a literary month, I guess. But soon, I promise: the 2nd semi-annual "Best of ZENmud" cartoon revue! :-)

Was reading this at Bartcop, and thought you'd like to have a tour through the banalities of the ZENmemoryVAULT... because in my prior diplomatic life, I had a conversation with a colleague from the African continent, who has since retired.

We had a conversation that I drove forward, on a theory I've held some 20 years now, which was that the Americas and Europe, AND Africa, should be prepared to work together, in face of the rising strengths of Asia, both China and India, in the light of 'technology transfers' and the 'knowledge economy'... through in 'IP pirating and counterfeiting' and you can narrow down where I worked...

The nexis of my thinking was simple:

The next 'World War' wouldn't use guns or 'smart bombs'. It would be more simple, and it would follow a process of 'auto-destruction' practiced by the United States, in a leading role.

It would be as simple as this:

Companies from the USA, in pursuit of 'globalization' and lowest possible labor costs (as well as lower safety and environmental standards: frankly those three often are inseperable!), would attain access through contract to install manufacturing factories in China and elsewhere.

However, my friends, it becomes a necessity to factor in that China becomes, in every case, a junior partner to such investment activity: this often is in the forty percent range.

And, I asserted to my African friend, nothing would stop China from duplication of such factories on the other end of their territory, 'stealing' the technology that they acquired through contractual partnerships, and flooding global markets with nearly identical products, at unbeatable "WAL-Mart" prices...

If you don't think it possible, best use this link and read about the Daewoo-Chevy investments in China.... (Excerpt)

"China said that that the Spark design was never patented in China and anyway, it wasn’t a secret. GM said they could live with this only if Chery changed their name when they sell cars in the US the not-to-distant-future as it is too close to the Chevy moniker."



Thanks again, Bart, for posting the necessary information: Chinaco to ya!

ZENmud

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