China Is The Dumbest Country In The World
April 13th, 2007
You can easily buy a pair of stylish shoes in China for 10 bucks.
And you can buy a pair of stylish shoes in Rome for $500.
Often they are the same shoes, from the same factory, the same leather and identical designer– not a whit of difference.
So China, for all its emerging economic power (I have been there and it’s real), makes $1 and the Romans make $250. It’s not hard to do the math. And it’s ugly for China.
Why? Not because of the “inequity.” As a Republican, I don’t dwell on that. I prefer to focus on the fix. It’s ugly because China has a clear marketing fix.
China is a dictatorship. They can do something in a NY minute. So, and here comes the raw power of marketing, tomorrow you can have the power of branding and the equity that goes with it; from eyeglasses to suits, all you you have to say in China is: “Made In Italy.”
In one fell swoop, China becomes the most important economy in the world. Case closed!
Mark Stevens
CEO
So what do you think about “Made in Italy, China?”
April 13th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
China is already well on its way to becoming an economic power house. They are making name for themselves as being the inexpensive supplier of all kinds of wonderful things. Some of the items I sell are from China and they can do a better job than most companies at a usually 2/3 the cost (including import taxes, freight, and profit for the companies that do the actual importing). I don’t think changing tactics now would serve them in the short run. A better idea is to keep improving the quality of the products and building their reputation for doing it better and cheaper than domestic companies. They are doing the manufacturing that American companies are really no longer doing like we used to. Their price increases can be small and often until they dominate the markets.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Clearly Chinese products are behind the curve in benefiting from brand value associated with a whole host of tangible and intangible factors… but obvious point aside, Mark, just what is it you are proposing? China make its shoes in Italy? China make shoes in China and label them as made in Italy? Your point is unclear and if you are going to presumptively say “China is the dumbest country in the world,” you ought to have something clear to say to back that up.
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April 29th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Mark, I had the privilege of teaching in an MBA program in China for six weeks. I found the people very friendly and open to new ideas. While we in the United States are making our educational systems look more like factories, China is open to helping their citizens learn how to be creative thinkers. This is what I truly fear. Traditional ways of teaching and learning which have become a huge bureaucracy in the US will eventually cause us to fall. People here sit in comfort zones and it is scary.
Thoughts
April 29th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Have you ever been to silicon valley? The US is and remains the enterpeneurial firepower in the world.
Mark Stevens
CEO