LKO, I knew the Pier 1 comment might draw the exact response you make, which is why I covered myself with a 'not that there is anything wrong with that' . Let me explain, I am trying to give all a flavor for the prevailing attitudes in India along with my own ideas. Clearly my own ideas emerged from them and I make no apologies. Even in the US, Perot for one maintained that potato chips and micro chips ain' t the same. A country with huge aspirations would not want play a one dimensional role of being a suppier of discretionary items for others.
My friends and I have discussed this several times, we have accused the other of being elitist, trying to uphold some ideal while denying whole groups in India who might just be happy supplying to Toys r us.
This elitism vs populism is a good starting point for my next thought,Th e british legacy, along with an ingrained caste system at the time of independence, then Nehru gets disappointed that the US really did not care much for India, And surprisingly the Soviets want an ally south of China. All this leads to the command and control economy. the Babus, the brahmins, the british educated, the Socialists, it all converges into a uniquely Indian avatar who believes that the common people don't know shit and that they have to protected and told what is good for them.
Your point on a good business climate helping Indians before westerners is quite apt. The problem is that there is no such thing as a semi-controlled economy. India has been trying hard to have one for a long time. Some amount control leads to leakages and cheating and capital flight and tax evasion. And total control is not possible let alone the question of being desirable. The Indian government has distrusted the business class because of hoarding usury smuggling overinvoicing imports and a host of other forms of cheating.
I sometimes feel like the psychic hotline, You become what you believe, if a country trusts its average citizen, then the avg citizen becomes trustworthy, if look for crooks in every nook and cranny it eventually finds crooks everywhere.
Folks on this thread, still expect a developing country to open its doors wide open, almost like the christian evangelists expecting instant repentence and surrender to the Lord. Why don't you guys start with the assumption that Joe thirdworlder is a smart consumer, He can see that KO makes 50% gross margin and that some local can make a similar concoction but BA is something else and LU and MOT's stuff are really worth a sacrifice. This is what India wanted to do. Import the stuff that the US and the west are really good at that are worth spending dollars on.
Would like comments on what people really mean by 'development' anyway. The Asian crisis has shown that it is not glitzy buildings, it is not DRAM factories, not being Niketown.
Regards Ramesh. |
