This is one of the things that really irks me. Taiwan should be at the same level as Sweden or Normay or any other developed economy, in terms of fomenting the upper, higher value enterprises. Instead, it’s policies advocate regressing into low cost, the lower the better. This limbo dance is stagnating the economy, as the engine was pushing forward and instead of following a natural momentum, they are literally throwing rocks into the machinery so it will stop and collapse, hoping to make it cheaper than China, hah! Even in China this proposition is faltering, as the push westward will run out of space and hit a wall someday, as the coast cities have become too “expensive”, so the inland ones will, too.
This is one of the things that really irks me.[/quote]
Likewise. But it’s the bumblers, isn’t it? Taiwan is still basically run by a group of ageing overlords - the ones who washed up here first, grabbed as much land as possible, and started “businesses”. Although some of them have moved with the times and now run world-class companies, a lot of them are like this:
Mokswagen? Srsly?
These clowns serve an unsophisticated, undemanding local market and have no idea that the outside world no longer thinks “cheap but shit” is what it’s all about. They still talk about “balancing the needs of business with environmental protection”, because back in 1970 they acquired a fancy car and a big house by causing millions of $ worth of environmental damage, and therefore think that’s a workable business model - especially since they can see the Chinese doing the exact same thing and validating their viewpoint. They don’t even have the math skills to comprehend that a country that aspires to higher incomes isn’t going to do it with low-profit-margin industries.
I’m not just taking the piss. I deal with these people in my day-to-day work, and I’m watching their companies flounder because they imagine they’re in competition with China, and that “cheap” takes precedence over “good”. It’s sad and infuriating.
I’m confused. Is that idea ever not applied in Taiwan? It seems to me low prices trump qualitu any day of the week here.
I’m confused. Is that idea ever not applied in Taiwan? It seems to me low prices trump qualitu any day of the week here.[/quote]
Well - that was my point. It works fine for a huge segment of the local market. It also works fine for a significant segment of the export market. The problem is, that segment has been neatly, completely, sewn up by China. Taiwan doesn’t have a hope in hell of competing, and they shouldn’t even be trying. If Taiwan wants to earn (as a nation) higher salaries, then they need to do stuff that people will pay more money for. And that means good stuff.
I’m confused. Is that idea ever not applied in Taiwan? It seems to me low prices trump qualitu any day of the week here.[/quote]
Well - that was my point. It works fine for a huge segment of the local market. It also works fine for a significant segment of the export market. The problem is, that segment has been neatly, completely, sewn up by China. Taiwan doesn’t have a hope in hell of competing, and they shouldn’t even be trying. If Taiwan wants to earn (as a nation) higher salaries, then they need to do stuff that people will pay more money for. And that means good stuff.[/quote]
I don’t see it happening in any reasonable time frame. The motto “If it’s worth doing it’s worth doing well” is completely antithetic to the general attitude I’ve experienced so far on this Island.
They should also be willing to lead and innovate, again the education system doesn’t help in this regard.
The education system doesn’t help but I think at least in part that is because business just didn’t want it. I’ve heard enough stories of companies over the past 15 years trying to internationalize and just giving up. The managers and bosses just don’t get what they need to do, don’t want to give up on doing things the local way, and the workers have their own resistance.
If companies had forced change the education system would have followed. But parents still saw their best advantage to continue the status quo where a few make it into the best schools and graduate with useless but prestigious degrees while the demoralized rest graduate with useless AND unprestigious degrees.
I like to kindly remind everyone taking part in this topic that the topic is about “what goes wrong for Ma” not “what goes wrong for Taiwan’s populace, education, language, culture, business …”. I know they are related but please don’t go astray off the topic too far.
An excellent in depth analysis of ‘what goes wrong for Ma’ has been written by Jerome F. Keating. Here is the link
http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome/1355504587/index_html
[quote=“Mucha Man”]The education system doesn’t help but I think at least in part that is because business just didn’t want it. I’ve heard enough stories of companies over the past 15 years trying to internationalize and just giving up. The managers and bosses just don’t get what they need to do, don’t want to give up on doing things the local way, and the workers have their own resistance.
If companies had forced change the education system would have followed. But parents still saw their best advantage to continue the status quo where a few make it into the best schools and graduate with useless but prestigious degrees while the demoralized rest graduate with useless AND unprestigious degrees.[/quote]
Problem lies in teh fact that even teh prestigious universities are lowering the bar in terms of what is the payback, say, NTU’s president chastizing the students for wanting high salaries. The limbo bar keeps going lower and lower all around. Why make an effort if even with an NTU’s degree -and all it implies, meaning all money and sacrifice to get into a prestigious high school, live in an expensive area to get into adetermined school, etc.- you will still get the same 20K?
How does this relate to Ma? Well, that the needs of the few outweight the needs of the many and actions speak louder than words. So far, we hear deafening silence.