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I was listening to something about economics on NPR this last weekend and it talked about some of the reasons for German manufacturing surviving and thriving af
by stevenwoo 9y ago
I was listening to something about economics on NPR this last weekend and it talked about some of the reasons for German manufacturing surviving and thriving after China joined the WTO and part of it was the Chinese market desired German quality in certain fields - there are niche markets that Germans specialized in that Chinese consumers recognize as having some value (not sure if brand or quality of goods or combination as it was not mentioned) over anything they could get in China, and that German manufacturers are on average much smaller, and the workers cooperated a bit with owners there to lower wages to out compete the Chinese. So it is possible, and also manufacturers were outsourcing from China to Thailand (before that last natural disaster), and Vietnam because of slight wage inflation in China at one point, too.
- mcguire 9y agoAutomobiles? Other luxury goods? Chinese manufacturers may be able to make the goods, but they'll never (or, not soon anyway) be able to make the cachet of BMW or Mont Blanc.
- pault 9y agoOn the other hand, it's easier for the Chinese to develop an understanding of premium brand design than it is for Germany to develop hundreds of millions of cheap factory workers.
- stevenwoo 9y agoI was speculating it was not cars because they discussed how many of the manufacturers were small and one has to go to Maserati/Ferrari to get small car manufacturers AFAIK.