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Q: Can China really make its shift to a service/innovation economy?
At least they think they do, and they are busy at it right now, trying to put the right incentives in place: setting up special areas for start-ups to develop, organizing forums and summits...
Can it really work? Can they actually succeed in their shift despite all the obstacles? Are they even aware of those obstacles?
How can they make it happen without loosening the tight control over everything they seem to value so much?
One thing in China is certain. Everything breaks. There is a huge need for service
There is only one thing that the Chinese are good at innovating. That is new methodology for stealing other people's ideas.
They need deep educational reforms to encourage individual thought and by extent creativity or innovation, they are good at memorizing but awful at thinking, right now people are not encouraged to think out of the box, the authorities preach a harmonious society in which people must be copies of copies and that is what most Chinese are, they have the same hobbies, the same opinions about the same topics, the same dreams, the same tastes (food or fashion), ... after 7 years in China I have yet to meet a truly different/unique Chinese who is interesting to talk with and does not repeat what thousand of other Chinese told me before him.
andy74rc:
...."who is interesting to talk with." Good point. In 10 years, I did once find one. Brilliant critical mind, acute observations, use of logic and out of the box thinking. He was in my team. We still miss him. He left on acute depression syndrome.....
Short answer... No.
Long answer... Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! No.
Will people stop rehashing the same old questions and spitting out the same old answers?
RiriRiri:
When was it asked?
I asked this question because I have attended several events on the subject that ended up being intellectually painful to hear. But I still and I wondered "what if" and "how to". They're obviously making moves and that's interesting to follow.
Let's observe the current issues with the current Chinese industry
http://www.chinalawblog.com/2014/11/china-product-manufacturing-you-want-quality-with-that.html
And anybody working with Chinese suppliers will tell you the same stories, there's even a book about it ("Poorly Made in China", by Paul Midler).
So, to have a service/innovation economy
* You need an education system that suits this need. So far, it's not quite there yet. Innovators are in large majority Chinese who studied abroad, often get residency in the West, and come back in China to setup a business,
* You need a culture of service and customer satisfaction. Due to what I mention above, there's a large cultural move to be made.
I work in a Chinese startup. Well... the funds are half USA, half Chinese. All the R&D staff are Chinese educated in the USA, and who made their career there. They have USA passport, they have their home there, etc. And me, who is imported from Europe. I look at the other startups in our startup park : exactly the same thing. Returnee Chinese, and a few imported from the West.
When we try to hire locals to research positions, it's usually so bad it's funny. The only serious candidates did their PhD abroad and live abroad... and ask for premium incomes for the "privilege" of working in China. And they are Chinese... So it's going to be a long march.
DrMonkey:
On the topic of working with Chinese supplier, from someone living in China, not living in an expat bubble, speaking Chinese, etc,
http://martalivesinchina.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/working-with-chinese-suppliers/
