We're all eating Chinese business strategy

According to the Globe and Mail today, trying to avoid eating Chinese and thus contaminated foods or purchasing other products made in China is futile. This is because the label "Made in Canada" means 51% of the production costs are incurred in Canada. This basically means that no matter what you do, you're going to be eating contaminated food, just like the rest of us. My thought is, though, if most of the shortcuts are being taken on exports, does that mean it's safer to live in China than it is to live overseas and deal with Chinese products? Then I thought, no, they're just as likely to poison themselves, where there are no international scandals to stop them. Anything to make more money.

The thing that strikes me is how the Chinese have absolutely NO concept of return business or the value of a repeat customer. It makes me think of the McDonald's sign, "99 billion served". Since there are only 6 billion people in the world and a large number of them are too poor to buy McDonald's, that means a lot of repeat customers. Seems like a pretty good business policy for them. Yet, China, a country desperate to make money and build its economy, has no concept of this. Just screw the foreigner for as much as you can the first time. Then they won't come back and give you any more money. No forthought. No concept of the future. I try to explain this to my students, and they seem confused. Ten kuai now is always better than a hundred over a few months. Only if you're investing it... in the Chinese stock market... Some think that the Chinese economy is on the brink of collapse, fuelled by growing distrust as a result of fraud, debt and tax evasion, piracy and other consumer rip-off schemes.

I see plenty of empty stores on my way to and from every day. I think to myself, hey, that used to be a great restaurant, or looks like it would have sold some cool stuff, if only it hadn't gone out of business. Now I know that the chance of going out of business in your first year is high, but it's always the same story here. They spend lots of money making it look shiny and pretty. Get lots of people in and then overcharge them. Then when the novelty is starting to fade and the original winning concept has been choked and mutilated beyond recognition, they screw over the one person who could have made the business sucessful in an attempt to make a fast buck. The business chugs along for a few more months and then collapses, leaving the real estate empty and desolate looking. That's business in China. And we're all eating it...