António Vieira said:
What we see now about “Made in China” was the same 40 years ago with “Made in Japan”…
So you should be worry, in Japan now ISO 9001 is so poor for their quality people, that this standard should be in the Japanese quality museum…if there is one.
In Europe we are facing a big problem with China’s products. Our political leaders are always stating that it’s an economical problem, that Chinese people earn such low wages that it’s impossible to compete with them and all the factories are going there. This is true, but have you seen what’s the ISO 9001 largest growing country in the world?
Antonio, the China problem is being discussed over here in America everyday. The latest allegations being made include the notion that China is "manipulating" it currency. This last week my local congressman sent me an email expressing outrage at China's conduct. Of course, this is all a smoke screen and rather laughable as that same congressman comes from a party that alleges it believes in free trade, assisted China enter the WTO, is supported by "business " which is trying to export jobs to China as rapidly as it can and in the case of certain elements of Detroit's Big 3 car makers, simultaneously demand that suppliers source their components from China while closing factories here.
China pegged its yuan to the dollar many years ago and there was never any hint then that to do so was a form of "currency manipulation". Various other nations have also pegged their currency to the dollar over years. The upset, of course, is that China has yet to reset the peg, not that it should remove the peg. (Personally, I think China should float the yuan and that the yuan will rapidly become more important currency that the yen or the Euro: one day, by the laws of big numbers one can expect it will be more dominant than the US dollar, a thought that, for Americans, is as unthinkable for them as the demise of sterling was for the British, 100 years ago.)
Yes, China and other emerging nations will become more dominant traders and percentages of the global economy. It has all happened before (look at the demise of former great nations e.g. Britain etc.) and will happen again.
By their nature, politicians of course, will cite China's low wages as a competitive problem. But, I would rather see that as a challenge and opportunity. My observations of much of American business is that it has barely touched the problem of waste and asociated substantial opportunities to reduce the alleged competitive gap between China and USA.
In Europe, you have the problem of high fuel costs (largely because of tax), VAT @ 17.5 % which does not help and the EU with its bureaucratic stifling of business through excessive legislation. (As you may know I am a Brit.)
Individual EU nations, notably Italy, are now also grappling with the consequences of the Euro that prevent its adopters from controlling their own exchange rate so as to adjust to global trading circumstances. But, the EU is also now beginning to benefit from the low wage workers in the new members states. And, so the EU has its own internal China card which is gradually having a similar effect on world trade. EU politicians seem to turn a blind eye to the export of jobs from Freance, Germany, Britain etc to Hungary, Czech Republic and so on but the effect on the workforce in the western parts of the EU is the same: the jobs are gone, they must seek new ones.
For Portugal, whose economy has done well in recent years, notably since joining the EU, what worries me is that the Douro valley may not be able to attract sufficient workers to tend the essential crop with the result that my traditional Sunday glass of port will be too expensive. Today, from Quinta Panascal, it will be Fonseca!
And, when I drink my glass of port each Sunday, Antonio, I assure you, ISO 9K is totally absent from my thoughts.
