Now it’s well known that, unlike a fellow blogger, I’m not all that high on China (having questioned how innovative LCCS sourcing to China really is back in month one) because I believe that we could be a lot more sustainable, green, and logical and near-source much of what we’re needlessly outsourcing halfway around the globe, but sometimes I think AMR is even lower on China than I am, to the point of being unjustly hard. (Because, as Dick Locke will point out, sometimes they are the best choice. Not always, but sometimes.)
Basically, I found this recent article from AMR on six reasons to worry about China in your supply chain a little unfair. While all of the reasons were valid, most of them weren’t exclusive to China. In fact, only two of them were specific to China and most of the rest were pretty generic and applicable across the globe. While the rare earth chokehold — evidenced by the fact that they control 93% of the world wide production of terbium, dysprosium, and other highly specialized high-tech minerals, and the exchange rate by fiat — evidenced by the fact that the Yuan’s exchange rate is still pegged to the dollar, are specific to China, the following concerns are much more global:
- Capricious Trade Rulings
China isn’t the only communist country that can impose prohibitive export taxes without warning that, in one case, quadrupled the price of yellow phosphorous overnight. Before Chavez started seizing oil companies, he was creating “extraction” taxes of at least 33%. And let’s not forget that protectionist democracies can hike taxes without warning too. For example, last year Obama imposed a huge, three-year tariff on tires imported from China that raised prices for consumers by 35%.
- Indigenous Innovation
Sure China has a policy that favours companies using domestically developed IP, but there’s nothing to stop India, which is also focussing strongly on (frugal) innovation from adopting a similar policy. And even if they don’t, with 1.2 Billion people and a burgeoning middle class that will soon be larger than the population of North America, it probably won’t be long before they’re out-innovating us.
- Rampant IP Piracy
Sure China might consistently top the watch lists, but Russia and Mexico are consistently high as well, and the recent US watch list also includes Spain near the top of the list!
- Poisons, Pollution, and Contamination
Sure the cities in China are bad, but so are the cities in India. And the water in much of India is terribly polluted — over a million children die each year from disease and infection from the polluted water, and it’s a major reason that 50% to 60% of women living in the slums suffer from chronic malnutrition, recurrent gastro-enteritis, and helminthic infections.
Now, I’m definitely not saying these aren’t valid concerns where China is involved, just that these concerns aren’t restricted to China and that if you’re gonna beat on China, you should be fair about it.