Our speaker this morning was SUNY Stony Brook, Associate Dean of Business, Joseph McDonnell Phd.
China, the fearsome juggernaut? Maybe, maybe not so much, According to Dr McDonnell. While China is being recognized as the “worlds factory,” they have a long way to go before they surpass or marginalize the economic giant that is the United States. That was my take on the talk given at this morning’s LIMBA breakfast.

China is growing at an unprecedented rate over the past 25 years, and with that rate of growth are numerous problems. Dr W. Edwards Deming introduced management techniques to Japan that made them a formidable competitor, China has not embraced the “quality” idea yet (pet food, toothpaste etc). More than that, they are not the great innovators that they consider the Americans to be. According to McDonnell they admire us. On the other hand America is treated with wariness, as are many western countries. They almost expect others to rake them over the coals (my words, not his). As a result the Chinese are difficult to deal with.

McDonnell went on to say that the Chinese desire to save, has made them small consumers. China being a low cost provider of goods is actually a double edge sword that tends to give them great growth. But there is not a lot of wages paid out to support a home grown demand for products. That fact will limit growth going forward. And now they are beginning to deal with pollution.

As we work to make trade with China, safer and fairer, we probably have perceived them as a bigger threat than they actually are.