Re: Made In China | China’s goods burden Africa’s producers – Washington Post
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Ismail M. Settenda
Jul 26, 2012, 7:14:14 PM7/26/12
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Hehehe..kinda my favorite too...thou would be nice to know how they arrived at that conclusion and what factors made China the best solution vis-a-vis say Japan or Germany...reading the article below...I kinda agree one thing China did was make goods more available (“If I had to go to Italy, the clothes would be too expensive,” Obi said. “So I go to China to get what people here demand.”) as somehow these products (i.e good quality products from Japan) despite having standards or even saving money for the good stuff were slowly stretching these items out of our affordability/useability grasp.
Some problems identified are “We don’t have economies of scale. Infrastructure and logistics is a nightmare for us. The only thing we have is cheaper labor,” he said. “Their fabric is also always going to be substandard.” Chinese counterfeits in everything from batteries to mobile telephones are so derided throughout Nairobi’s markets that shoppers even refer to fake brands as “China phones.”
So we do know the goods are substandard and yet continue to buy them.......and yet claim...
“If we had to compete with China, we would have to drop our wage rates by between 50 percent and 80 percent, and it can’t be done,” Jennings said. “And it’s causing significant job losses in Africa. To me, China is exporting unemployment.”...is that really all of it and if so...to decide that we cant do it is like you have admitted defeat...the same guy then says “You can’t compete with China. It’s impossible, as it’s not a level playing field,”.....I am like hmm if business is war and these guys are almost two oceans away ....are we not we kinda admitting that we have been beaten on our home ground.
Why cant we turn their technique back on them (to the extent we now have African/Kenyan fakes) and use their business model to our advantage. Cause I agree with Zuma "the current bilateral trade pattern — in which mainly raw materials flow out from Africa and finished goods come back — is simply not sustainable"
Regards
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Ismail
Some problems identified are “We don’t have economies of scale. Infrastructure and logistics is a nightmare for us. The only thing we have is cheaper labor,” he said. “Their fabric is also always going to be substandard.” Chinese counterfeits in everything from batteries to mobile telephones are so derided throughout Nairobi’s markets that shoppers even refer to fake brands as “China phones.”
So we do know the goods are substandard and yet continue to buy them.......and yet claim...
“If we had to compete with China, we would have to drop our wage rates by between 50 percent and 80 percent, and it can’t be done,” Jennings said. “And it’s causing significant job losses in Africa. To me, China is exporting unemployment.”...is that really all of it and if so...to decide that we cant do it is like you have admitted defeat...the same guy then says “You can’t compete with China. It’s impossible, as it’s not a level playing field,”.....I am like hmm if business is war and these guys are almost two oceans away ....are we not we kinda admitting that we have been beaten on our home ground.
Why cant we turn their technique back on them (to the extent we now have African/Kenyan fakes) and use their business model to our advantage. Cause I agree with Zuma "the current bilateral trade pattern — in which mainly raw materials flow out from Africa and finished goods come back — is simply not sustainable"
Regards
--
Ismail
On 26 July 2012 15:21, <aaron....@gmail.com> wrote:
My personal favorite is a scene from the movie "2012" when the 'Arks' (ships that will carry the lucky few chosen to survive and carry on mankind" after the extinction level event had occurred.
Well given the security, sacrifice, secrecy, impossible, scale, time line, cost and quality needed ... The "Master Minds" decided ONLY THE CHINESE COULD DELIVER!
When I tell my Sons one day that "Made in Japan" used to be top quality electronics etc I'm sure they will have lots of interesting questions..
AloniSent via BlackBerry from T-Mobilehttp://www.ugandandiasporanews.com/2012/07/25/re-made-in-china-chinas-goods-burden-africas-producers-washington-post/
--Ronnie Mayanja
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