7 ms·

There has always been countries with lower wages than China, so this can not be the issue. China has better infrastructure and lower levels of graft than other

There has always been countries with lower wages than China, so this can not be the issue. China has better infrastructure and lower levels of graft than other low-cost countries, this is what has kept it competitive. Not sure what the point of China needing to create '10,000 apples' is. If manufacturing jobs are needed better to work for the existing Apple, maybe? Or maybe the point is that China needs to create global brands to stay competitive? This may or may not be true but without metrics it is just one person's opinion. And China has already started creating global brands. "In 2010 the Haier brand had the world's largest market share in white goods, with 6.1 per cent" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haier "In Q2 2011, Lenovo was the third largest vendor of personal computers in the world." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo ... etc

chugger 15y ago
That is exactly the issue, and it's already happening. Why Factories Are Leaving China http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_21/b4179011 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_21/b4179011 Fan is expanding his factory in Vietnam, where wages are $100 a month, one-third what he pays in China. Once it becomes too cost-prohibitive to manufacture products in China due to inflation, HP, Samsung, Sony, Dell, Apple,etc. has no choice but to move their operations to Vietnam, India, etc. China's main competitive advantage is being eroded by inflation. They need to move up the supply chain from being a manufacturer to seller/marketer, where they can charge more money based on their brand (Apple/BMW/LV/etc.).
- jisaacstone 15y ago
  Just I'm not sure that higher wages == no manufacture. Germany still makes things sometimes? The real challenge for China would be increasing the quality of their products and/or manufacturing innovation.
r00fus 15y ago
> "In 2010 the Haier brand had the world's largest market share in white goods, with 6.1 per cent" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haier When talking about brand strength, it's not market share that counts, it's profit share. Sometimes (often) it's coincident (read: Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, etc)... sometimes it's not (BMW, etc).

chugger 15y ago

That is exactly the issue, and it's already happening. Why Factories Are Leaving China http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_21/b4179011 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_21/b4179011 Fan is expanding his factory in Vietnam, where wages are $100 a month, one-third what he pays in China. Once it becomes too cost-prohibitive to manufacture products in China due to inflation, HP, Samsung, Sony, Dell, Apple,etc. has no choice but to move their operations to Vietnam, India, etc. China's main competitive advantage is being eroded by inflation. They need to move up the supply chain from being a manufacturer to seller/marketer, where they can charge more money based on their brand (Apple/BMW/LV/etc.).

jisaacstone 15y ago
Just I'm not sure that higher wages == no manufacture. Germany still makes things sometimes? The real challenge for China would be increasing the quality of their products and/or manufacturing innovation.

r00fus 15y ago

> "In 2010 the Haier brand had the world's largest market share in white goods, with 6.1 per cent" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haier When talking about brand strength, it's not market share that counts, it's profit share. Sometimes (often) it's coincident (read: Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, etc)... sometimes it's not (BMW, etc).