On May 14, I posted an email I received from a friend of mine who moved last year from San Francisco to Chengdu. His message was about the earthquake “seen” from Chengdu. In a new email I just received, he describes his actions as a volunteer for the rescue campaign. I am sharing for all the wonderful synchronicities that happen in life!

I am but an instrument in life.

I decided to live in Chengdu because of the good vibes I got.
I was leading a mundane life when the quake happened.
Soon after that, I was contacted by Beijing Rotary and Shelter Box for advice.
They said I am the only known Rotarian in the area.
I said yes, but they did not tell me what to do.
In the ensuing 3 days I realized the enormity of the request – site visits, logistics, storage, transportation…
I panicked. I am a one-man Rotary club here.

On the 3rd day, a friend from Chongqing showed up in town with no prior notice,
She said she would only be in town for a few hours.
So I dropped everything and had lunch with her.
There I got re-acquainted with a magazine editor Wendy.
I had not seen her for two years.
Wendy said her boss Jason, in his late 30’s, might be willing to help.
Jason is a software developer turned magazine and nightclubs owner.
Jason is now paying for the hotel bills of 4 Shelter Box members from UK and Australia (note: Shelter Box is a UK based charity that provides emergency aid for victims of natural and other disasters anywhere in the world.)
Shelter Box has run into incredibly huge red tapes.

With a history of at least 1,000 years in civil service examinations, the Chinese bureaucracy is the mother of all bureaucracies.
It’s an amalgamation of all the phone companies in the world… multiplied by 1,000 times.
Jason was at the airport today problem solving and negotiating with the officials of at least 3 agencies on behalf of Shelter Box. He was there from 11 am to 10 pm, with no lunch.
Without Jason, the negotiation would have surely failed and the project detrimentally impacted.
The issues are so unnecessarily complex I am sure I could win an award if I write the story out.

At my request, two English language students from Chongqing are up here to volunteer for Shelter Box.
I became their trusted friend after they volunteered for Interplast (non profit providing free reconstructive surgery in developing nations) in Chongqing.
One of them, Tony, is staying in my apartment.
It’s a new experience for me.
He got up this morning and promptly consumed one extra-large packet of instant noodle.
He then asked me if he could have another one.

Tomorrow I am going into the disaster area again.
I am responsible for finding a site for rebuilding a school.
A Shanghai Rotarian friend wants to start a new project: building a pre-fab steel school in two months, something that has never been done before in China.

I am but an instrument in life and I am grateful for that.

Bill

P.S. WE ARE TOGETHER- the mantra of this rescue and relief campaign. It’s everywhere; on T-shirts, billboards, and large banners on buildings…there is even a song.

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

China | 4 Comments »

China receives a lot of criticism for the lack of civil rights, with Tibet being the most recent example. I am certainly not to take any repressing force’s side; however, I believe that it is always important to understand where people are coming from before formulating an opinion.

Let’s start by quoting the CIA’s world fact book, a goldmine and a source that cannot be accused of being anti-American!

“For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under Mao Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China’s sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor Deng Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.”

There is no doubt that China entered a new era of its long history under Mao, even if the Chinese population had to endure terror during the so-called “Cultural Revolution”.

Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaopeng, might have played a more important role in China’s renaissance than Chairman Mao. He is the one who opened the country to economic reforms (his sentence “being rich is glorious” is famous). The 80’s mark the re-emergence of a middle-class, which had totally disappeared, but also witnessed growing discrepancies between the East and the West of the country. Needless to say, the second generation of leaders did nothing on the individual freedom front; TiananMen occurred under Deng’s leadership.

The third generation of leaders, led by Deng’s successor Jiang Zemin basically continued what Deng Ziao Peng started, but did nothing to improve civil rights, or fight rampant corruption. In December 2001, China finally joined the WTO, after 10 years of negotiations.

The current generation of leaders (President Hu and Premier Wen) has witnessed the results of their predecessors’ actions, with an economy that continues to grow in double-digit numbers, as the development of rural areas became the major focus of government policy. China has also started to pay attention to pollution.

Little has been done at the human rights level, but let’s face it: the government is getting little pressure from the Chinese themselves on this matter. And let’s face it again: the International pressure is pretty mild too; the reactions of the world leaders to a possible boycott of the Olympics are a perfect example.

I think that what really matters for most Chinese nowadays is to join the emerging middle-class, a group of roughly 70 million people today, expected to grow to 100 million by 2010 (the US middle class represents roughly 45% of the households). A looser definition of middle-class would result in almost 200 million Chinese having reached this level.

That said, a fifth generation of leaders is to take over in 2012. By then, China will have a massive middle-class, and I have no doubt that the new country leaders will have to make human rights and personal freedom among their top priorities.

The good news for us in the US is that many of the Chinese leaders from the next generation have been educated in the USA, and are therefore more likely to consider individual freedom a basic human right. By the same token, they are also likely to consider the USA a natural partner of China.

I am not saying that China will open the door to democracy. I am just saying that China is likely to keep marching to its own drum, but will rethink its whole model to include more personal freedom and more human rights.

The realization of Hu’s project for a “Harmonious Society” could well be the greatest achievement of the next generation of leaders.

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

China | 4 Comments »

A few days ago, while in line at the grocery store, my attention was caught by the cover page of a magazine called Good: “don’t be scared of China”, said the main title.

I immediately bought a copy. First of all, it is refreshing to see that some writers focus on the positive side of things and do not always keep reporting on the things that go wrong. The magazine is well written and uplifting. In addition, most articles are available online at www.goodmagazine.com.

The entire issue is dedicated to China, and offers a non-partisan point of view. The main article offers 10 reasons why the USA should not be scared of China, and explains why a strong partnership between the two countries would benefit the whole planet.

This is an issue definitely worth reading for those of us wondering what could happen between China and the USA in the next 20 years.

There is also a fun article loaded with pictures of a suburb of Beijing, called Orange County, and which looks like our very own Orange County.

According to Wikipedia, all the units of this 143-unit housing development situated about one hour north of Beijing, and consisting entirely of expensive American-style townhouses and tract homes, decorated and furnished with American products sold within a month of going on sale.

One of the pictures shows a Hummer parked in front of a townhouse. Hey dude! Where is your Prius?

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

China | 1 Comment »

I am an avid reader of Yang Zhao’s blog (www.168.fr), a blog that reports on the latest Chinese Tech news. Since there is a lot going on in this country, it is an invaluable source of information for people who do not read Chinese.

A funny thing is that the blog is written in French, as Yang Zhao lives and works in Paris. Welcome to a flat world!

That said, the blog offers an automatic translation to English, which seems to work, as the English text makes sense.

Yang recently reported that most of the major Chinese sites were now in black and white, in remembrance of the recent earthquakes.

Examples include search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, online news sites like Xinhua and CCTV, video sharing , etc.

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

China | 3 Comments »

The media have been covering the earthquakes in China quite extensively. I just wanted to publish here an email I received from a friend of mine who relocated last year from San Francisco to Chengdu. He was sitting in his 19th floor’s apartment when it all happened.

Here it goes:

I have been sleeping very well in the last 2 nights. During the day, we were often told by building security to leave the building, in anticipation of major aftershocks at certain time of the day. Coming back, I had to climb 19 flights to reach my apartment. That plus a beer put me to wonderful sleep.

Chengdu has returned to normalcy. There is not much damage in the city. The unthinkable have happened in the towns near the epicenter. Seeing on TV the frantic mothers wailing over the bodies of their children wrapped in plastic bags, I can truly sense the vicissitudes of life. And I am counting my blessings. The real danger in a high rise is not the structure but fire.

I have received lots emails and phone calls from people. So far so good, I am surprised at all the good wishes; none of them expressed any desire for my demise.

Chinese may seem non-caring or even rude to strangers, but they respond otherwise in time of crisis. Yesterday, I was in the biggest walking mall near my apt building. There must have been hundreds of people lining up to donate blood. Mostly people in their 20’s and 30’s they patiently and quietly waited in line (yes, they do not have the habit of talking to strangers.) It’s the first “orderly” queue I have seen in China, – no shoving and cutting in line. What a refreshing scene – there is hope yet for China.

This 7.8 quake was strong and a bit too long. The Loma Prieta quake was only a 6.9 (Note: the last major earthquake in San Francisco). I kept thinking, while standing under my bedroom doorway, is it going to stop soon? Everything in my apartment is intact, except for a couple of bottles. I think now I like low houses better.

There are still aftershocks, but they are of much, much shorter duration. Yesterday we had a 6.1, but only briefly.

I love earthquake geologists; they seem to be able to hold to a good job even though their predictions hardly ever come true. The other profession I like, especially in times of recession, is the Economist: “on the one hand, this…., and on the other hand……” We need one-armed economists badly.

Did I tell you about my future visit trip to Qiqihaer, lanzhou and Yining, among others? Yining sounds wonderfully remote; it is practically in Kazakhstan. They said it is beautiful. A Chinglish travel book describes the favorite recreational activities of the Kazakh minority in China, “……horse racing, girl-chasing, sheep seizing, and playing an instrument when singing.” I am not sure whether they do all four at the same time.

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

China | 2 Comments »

On April 26, I wrote on the shake up that was awaiting giant outsourcing suppliers.

Here we go. HP announced today that they acquired EDS for $ 13.9 Billion.

Both HP and EDS taken separately were giants; their combination is a mega-giant. That said, the acquisition might make more sense from a shareholder’s point of view than from a customer’s perspective. This impression is confirmed by the structure of the official press release, which focuses first on the benefits for the shareholders, and in terms that are much more positive than for the benefits for the customers:

“First and foremost, this is a great transaction for our stockholders, providing tremendous value in the form of a significant premium to our stock price.”

The benefits for the customers look way less tremendous:

“It’s also beneficial to our customers, as the combination of our two global companies and the collective skills of our employees will drive innovation and enhance value for them in a wide range of industries.”

This merge comes at a time where US companies are spreading mega-deals from large single contracts over multiple, smaller providers. Customers are looking for better reactivity and responsiveness, not necessarily larger size.

I am willing to bet that the real winners in today’s market are not going to be the largest suppliers, but the ones that are focusing their efforts on their customer’s satisfaction.

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

Business | 2 Comments »

Business Week recently suggested that TCS (Tata Consulting Services) was somewhat a more American company than IBM. As per the author of the article, a comparison based on the percentage of sales in the USA for the last quarter shows that TCS generated 51% of its revenue in the USA, while IBM generated only 35%.

I have a couple of comments:

• First, percentages are OK, but they do not make much sense without the raw numbers. TCS’ total revenue for the year ending March 2008 was of $ 5.7 B, to be compared to over $ 36 B for IBM (services represented last year 37% of the overall $ 98.8 B revenue). Even if only 35% were generated in the USA, this is still more than twice as much as TCS’ entire worldwide revenue.

• And more importantly, I visited the “executive management” page on TCS’ WEB site. To me, the nationalities of the Executive Board members and corporate officers are an accurate indicator on how truly International a company is. All TCS executives are from India.

So, is TCS really more American than IBM?

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

Business | 3 Comments »

Rumor has it that China is a good outsourcing destination when quality, sophistication and complexity are not core, a rumor that circulates also in the software industry.

Nothing could be more inaccurate! Underestimating the capabilities of China to excel is the very last thing we should do in the Western world. China has a long tradition of manufacturing, engineering and craftsmanship.

Let me illustrate this with an example. The city of Prato in Italy has been recognized for centuries as an excellence center for the textile industry. Fashion companies like Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Armani, Prada, etc. are shopping there, since it was a common belief that no places in Italy or abroad could stand the test with the combination of creativity and quality available in Prato.

In the late 80’s, Prato saw a new wave of immigrants coming from China, mostly from Wenzhou, in the province of Zhejiang, known as a textile-manufacturing region. This Chinese community now represents a whopping 15% of the total population of Prato. While 15% might not seem impressive to a San Franciscan, it is an extremely high percentage for a European city.

Local factories were at first delighted to can tap into this pool of hard-working talents, who could deliver according to their quality standards. However, they did not realize that these low-wage workers were also entrepreneurs, many of whom are now CEOs of very successful companies, with operations in both Prato and Wenzhou. These new Italo-Chinese companies have changed the face of Prato.

The major mistake of the Italians was to rest on their laurels. They assumed that providing with the highest level of quality was enough to keep their business successful forever. The local Chinese entrepreneurs dared to blend traditions with modernity. Prato’s rude awakening is a tough lesson to learn for the whole industry.

Talking about Prato on the BBC, Rosie Goldsmith said, ”To succeed the industry must embrace China, restructure, innovate, downsize and outsource – but also stick to Italian quality and craftsmanship. “Made in Italy” but sometimes “Made in Italy by Chinese”.

Let’s face it: what we are witnessing today is the awakening of a giant. We can underestimate or ignore China, as did some factories in Prato, or we can take advantage of this almost unlimited source of opportunities to innovate more, better and faster.

As always, our choice.

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

Business, China | 1 Comment »