Candor, China and Innovation

Many companies here in Taiwan have headed over to China in search of bigger profits. A lot of the time the shift to China has been driven by the need to cut costs, especially in industries requiring manual labor. You hear many success stories, but what you don't hear so much about are the numerous failures. If individuals from Taiwanese firms find it tough going in China, with their common language, Mandarin, and somewhat similar culture, what about the rest of us? Chinese firms will also be keen to get a piece of the economic action; and will play the game of business by their rules, not the so-called "fair" rules dictated by Western governments.

A move to China is also driven by a desire to find new country-markets for existing products (market development). But while all of this is going on, what of your existing country-markets? You still need to keep your eye on the ball in terms of your product offering there as well.

So you cut costs to the bone, and you've run out of new country-markets to sell your products to, now what? For the fortunate ones, it might just mean retirement, but for many it's going to require innovation on the value side of things. Jack Welch on a Businessweek podcast has some interesting comments on China, and he also presents his views on candor, which he describes as a "Viagra for business."


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