Source: The Economist: Great Exportations
China still has a very large poor population. I hope this changes the quality of life for them.
On a related note, here's an excerpt from Fareed Zakaria's book, The Post American World:
"To get a sense of how completely China dominates low-cost manufacturing, take a look at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is one of the world's largest corporations. Its revenues are eight times those of Microsoft and account for 2% of America's GDP. It employs 1.4 million people, more than GM, Ford, GE, and IBM put together. It is legendary for its efficient -- some would say ruthless -- efforts to get the lowest price possible for its customers. To that end it has adeptly used technology, managerial innovation, and perhaps most significantly, low-cost manufacturers. Wal-Mart imports about $18 billion worth of goods from China each year. The vast majority of its foreign suppliers are there. Wal-Mart's global supply chain is really a China supply chain."I had no idea Wal-Mart was so big. Wal-Mart sources a nice chunk of its food from China. To be fair, so does Whole Foods, who is being challenged over the organicness of its China-sourced organic food.
5 comments:
and Walmart deserves the notorious prize for discount culture and cheap and consumerisiiim
Wal-Mart is successful, in my opinion, because they sell so much ... we the people want what Wal-Mart is selling for the price they sell it.
I don't think Wal-Mart would be so successful if the external costs of its goods were factored in to the retail price of its goods. (One external cost is pollution, the costs to prevent it and clean it up.) This applies to food goods as well.
agree with you bix, and walmart is also a reason why obesity exists in this country. who can resist a candy pack for a $1.29? Bread sold at $1.89 - made with ingredients that increase shelf life, thus adding chemical nutrients/artificial flavors to our body ?
i have been in this country long enough and am still amazed at the food in grocery stores like Wegmans and BJs and Costco etc etc.. that can feed the entire continents of africa and south america and even the starving population of India on a single day.
i applaud the business strategies of companies that can collect resources, but feeding the same thing time and over again to the same population is poisoning the people with food, not feeding them.
What happened to credit defaults and banks and companies going bust is what is happening to bodies residing in America.
(By the way, when I say keep your eye on China, I mean that in a good way. Lots of potential there.)
It is ALL unfair. Walmart is an American company. This American is making the rest of America and the world poorer with the supply of cheap goods. China may be growing but it is costing widespread environmental damage with all this cheap labor and cheap products manufactured. People in China is getting a more economomically stable but it is helped by these multinational overseas that owns companies like Walmart which are the ones that are getting most of the riches without any of the devastation of environmental and human impact. Some cities in China are getting a little more expensive to manufacture now and you know, American companies just hop on over to Vietnam or Indonesia for more cheap labor so they can make an abundance of dough.
Post a Comment