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| Make China's Expansion Finger Lickin Good |
By:
Tom Watkins |
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Make China's Expansion, "Finger Licking Good" For Michigan
There it stands, my old friend, the three-story KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) behind Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China just as I remembered it from my first trip to China in 1989. KFC was one of the first American restaurants and businesses to enter China after it opened up to the world in the early 1980s.
One's love for Americanized Chinese food (which is quite different from typical Chinese fare at your local Chinese Restaurant) fades quickly after a few weeks of sea urchins, jelly fish, duck stomach, chicken feet and other Chinese delicacies. Seeing a familiar brand such as KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut or having a trusted cup of coffee at the local Starbucks can warm your heart while trekking through China.
American brands are quickly dotting the Chinese landscape. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, "Since its Chinese debut, when Frappucinos were still a mystery vocabulary word for most people in China, Starbucks has opened 62 stores with 1,000 employees in Beijing and Tinajin areas, and almost 200 stores throughout mainland China."
GM, even as it struggles here at home, has found a niche in China. GM sold 665,000 cars and trucks in China last year. The Chinese market is wide open, as only 1 in 100 Chinese owns a car today, compared to 9 in 10 in the US. Buick, viewed by many in the US as your grandpa's car, is a brand that is envied in China. It is the dream car for many Chinese drivers and the mini van is an elite status symbol. Buick was among the first foreign cars on Chinese roads where private ownership of an auto has only been allowed in the last two decades.
The Amway Corporation, which most Michigan citizens know as an outgrowth of the campaign for Governor, has a major presence in China. It's towering billboards that stand several stories high in the cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Xian are a testament to a Michigan Company that aggressively penetrated the Chinese market. At every stop in my most recent visit to China I talked to local citizens who not only knew about the company but had a favorable opinion of the quality of the products it produces. "They are more expensive than China brands, but the quality are superior and worth it" stated Lilly Wu, a local educator in Xian, China.
China is quickly becoming an economic life boat for many foreign companies looking for new markets for its products and services.
Businesses from across the globe have been seeking trade with China dating back centuries. The first Han emperors (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) built upon the foundations of the Qin Dynasties and expanded their influence and territory considerably. Unlike the Qin, they allowed the cultures of the new territories to remain intact and encouraged trade and commerce among the various parts of the empire.
With 1.3 billion potential customers and a rising middle class tapping the Chinese market is the mother lode of the 21st century global commerce. Over 300 million Chinese have risen from poverty in the last quarter of a century. China, once as distant and exotic land, is now a booming economic powerhouse. China is the fastest growing large economy in the world, and "is on course to surpass the U.S. as the world's largest economy within two decades," says Oded Shenkar, author of Chinese Century: The Rising Chinese Economy and Its Impact on the Global Economy, the Balance of Power, and Your Job.
China is on everyone's radar screen. The country that many of our parents evoked by saying, "eat your peas, there are children in China that are starving," has the potential to eat our lunch as they build and save and we spend and consume.
The campaign for Governor has placed China in the spotlight over the last few months. Governor Granholm has accused GOP challenger Dick Devos of eliminating Michigan jobs and outsourcing our jobs to the Chinese when he laid the family business, Amway, now Alticor. Devos counters that Granholm has her head in the sand when it comes to global opportunities and that Michigan needs an aggressive worldwide business expansion plan if we are to survive and thrive in the 21st century flattened world economy.
The rhetoric between the two political candidates over China and outsourcing of Michigan jobs has been as hot as a Chinese wok. The voters will decide what China vision they embrace on November 7th. However, China should remain on high and on the front burner of our national and state leaders’ agenda well after election day. There is a need for a coherent China economic, educational and cultural plan at the national and state level that will tap their economic emergence and make it benefit the people of America and Michigan. No such plan exists today.
Michigan Lacks a Unified China Plan
While other states and nations are aggressively pursuing the Chinese market, Michigan's efforts to date have been fragmented and duplicative at best.
Jim Epolito, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, was quoted in a recent Free Press articles saying he "thinks Michigan businesses are missing out on opportunities globally because the state lacks a plan to compete against companies in Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, which are better coordinated in their efforts." He went on to say, "With so many groups and companies from Michigan globe-trotting for new business on their own, there's a good chance that many of them will duplicate their efforts, especially in booming areas like China where companies meet with the same officials. That confuses decision makers in China."
Between October and November of this year at least seven education and economic trade missions from Michigan ventured off to China.
These efforts remind me of multiple spokes that are not firmly attached to either a hub or a wheel. Imagine the possibilities if Michigan had a detailed China strategy that connected the various spokes of activity that are swarming around China today. With the right leadership and focus, we have the opportunity to attract Chinese business and capital to Michigan and enable our companies to sell our products there.
After the dust of the Governor’s race settles, I encourage whoever is victorious to pull together a group of knowledgeable China experts from our universities, business, K-12 educational and cultural institutions to develop a" China Plan" that will make Michigan the primier state in the nation for tapping the rich China vein to benefit our people.
Imagine a plan that would:
* Allow Michigan to export our agricultural products; cherries, corn and sugar beets to China to help feed its 1.3 billion citizens
* Secure a pair of cute, cuddly Panda Bears for the Detroit Zoo that increases attendance at the Zoo and provides additional economic stimulation to the area
* Set a goal to have Chinese language taught at all Michigan schools. This would provide our students with competitive advantage as Chinese and English will be the dominant languages of the 21st century. Further, it would also serve as a magnet to Chinese business expanding in America.
* Establish additional academic, scientific, teacher and student exchanges between Michigan and China
* Make Michigan the epicenter for the inevitable China expansion into the auto market (much like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai). Out goal should be to have any future Chinese plants built in Michigan.
Imagine the possibilities that creative brainstorming could produce. Clearly, pulling together knowledgeable China experts could help develop a coordinated, coherent China plan that would help make China's emergence a benefit rather than a detriment to the people of Michigan. I stand ready to lend my experience to the common good.
As the good Colonel would say, "That would be finger licking good!"
Tom Watkins is a business and education consultant. He served as state superintendent of schools from 2001-05 and as president and CEO of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Fla., 1996-2001. Read his internationally recognized report: The New Education (R)evolution at http://www.nacol.org Tom can be reached at tdwatkins@aol.com
Watkins recently returned from leading a education delegation to China where he has been building educational and business bridges since 1989.
Dearborn Press and Guide Nov 22,2006 |
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