3 ms·

> industrial espionage Are the Chinese the only ones doing it or are they better at it?

by smallbigfish 9y ago

paulie_a 9y ago
They might be so good they should launch it as a subscription platform...stealing other countries stuff as a service
- seanp2k2 9y ago
  I get that you’re being fascetious, but there are many Chinese manufacturers who will copy a product for you if you ask nicely (i.e. want a large enough volume to make it worth their time). The other common way this happens is ODMs there simply produce more of an order for a customer and sell it unbranded or under some made-up brand name. This is partially why you see so many products on Amazon with names like WinBuyer, iEnjoyWare, GooBang, Anewish, Globmall, GooDee, APEMAN, etc etc (those are all real examples). Amazon does sometimes step in and eat their lunch with AmazonBasics versions of common products (car top carry bags, camera cases, many home goods, etc). I personally do go for the AmazonBasics brands in these cases, since while they might be from the exact same factories as the GooBuy3000 version, I have higher confidence that I’ll be able to reasonably return it if it’s terrible, and moderate confidence that it’s at least a passable version of whatever it is (e.g. I own an AB umbrella and many batteries, all of which are decent). Amazon also has their own group of “house” brands that they go through some effort to obscure: https://www.l2inc.com/daily-insights/amazon-has-more-private-label-brands-than-you-think https://www.l2inc.com/daily-insights/amazon-has-more-private...
  - paulie_a 9y ago
    I actually was not being facetious, I was flat out accusing the Chinese government of industrial espionage. There is a difference between a company copying ideas and implementing them independently vs straight up hacking and stealing secrets. Everyone does the first, China does the latter on a massive scale.

3 ms·

> industrial espionage Are the Chinese the only ones doing it or are they better at it?

by smallbigfish 9y ago

> industrial espionage Are the Chinese the only ones doing it or are they better at it?

paulie_a 9y ago
They might be so good they should launch it as a subscription platform...stealing other countries stuff as a service
- seanp2k2 9y ago
  I get that you’re being fascetious, but there are many Chinese manufacturers who will copy a product for you if you ask nicely (i.e. want a large enough volume to make it worth their time). The other common way this happens is ODMs there simply produce more of an order for a customer and sell it unbranded or under some made-up brand name. This is partially why you see so many products on Amazon with names like WinBuyer, iEnjoyWare, GooBang, Anewish, Globmall, GooDee, APEMAN, etc etc (those are all real examples). Amazon does sometimes step in and eat their lunch with AmazonBasics versions of common products (car top carry bags, camera cases, many home goods, etc). I personally do go for the AmazonBasics brands in these cases, since while they might be from the exact same factories as the GooBuy3000 version, I have higher confidence that I’ll be able to reasonably return it if it’s terrible, and moderate confidence that it’s at least a passable version of whatever it is (e.g. I own an AB umbrella and many batteries, all of which are decent). Amazon also has their own group of “house” brands that they go through some effort to obscure: https://www.l2inc.com/daily-insights/amazon-has-more-private-label-brands-than-you-think https://www.l2inc.com/daily-insights/amazon-has-more-private...
  - paulie_a 9y ago
    I actually was not being facetious, I was flat out accusing the Chinese government of industrial espionage. There is a difference between a company copying ideas and implementing them independently vs straight up hacking and stealing secrets. Everyone does the first, China does the latter on a massive scale.