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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (41267)	11/6/1999 9:37:00 PM
From: Jacques Chitte	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 71178

I think China must be the industrialized country with the lowest cost of goods and labor anywhere. Part of it is that no job is too small, like Happy Meal toys. The other must be a willingness to do whatever the export market wants. I would imagine Africa could underbid China, say Nigeria where resources and labor are available and cheap. But I get the sinking feeling that the one real edge that the Chinese have is a culture that frowns upon corruption. The Chinese won't light shop towels ... they leave that to their boisterous Indonesian cousins. But the Africans would steal the friggen shop towels, probably before they even got to the shop floor. <sigh> Remember when "Made in Japan" was a badge that defined the bottom of the manufacturing pyramid? Now "Made in Japan" is behind only, say, "Made in Switzerland" in defining the top. Think Lexus and Sony. "Made in China" is on the bottom now, but we are right in the fat part of the quality revolution over there. maybe our kids will see "Made in <African country>" on HappyMeal trinkets once China becomes the King Daddy Tiger of high-quality manufacturing. I wonder how long it'll be before we will see Chinese cars for export to the USA and Europe.