61–70 of 288 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is kind of ironic after what the US has done to people in Vietnam. But it's similar to what happened in Japan, only Japan was under US occupation, while Vietnam was not.
Apparently Vietnamese really like Americans, I literally can not fathom why. Heard it from Viets too. Time is weird.
I wonder if this will be the start of an Exodus of manufacturing away from China. Corporations are constantly under scrutiny with their brand messaging and signaling with respect to various conflicts involving China, Hong Kong and the unrest within the United States. India on the other hand, is a Democratic republic, might help alleviate some issues. If India plays its cards right, they may pave the way for a manufac…
Manufacturing is not just about cheap skilled labour it is about resources aswell. India lacks both cheap "skilled" labour and mineral resources. They do have low and unskilled labour in high numbers though. Also India is just about as democratic as Putins Russia.
This is first time hearing it.
However flawed the elected officials are in India, they do represent the popular sentiments of the population at that time.
I wonder if this will be the start of an Exodus of manufacturing away from China. Corporations are constantly under scrutiny with their brand messaging and signaling with respect to various conflicts involving China, Hong Kong and the unrest within the United States. India on the other hand, is a Democratic republic, might help alleviate some issues. If India plays its cards right, they may pave the way for a manufac…
Manufacturing is not just about cheap skilled labour it is about resources aswell. India lacks both cheap "skilled" labour and mineral resources. They do have low and unskilled labour in high numbers though. Also India is just about as democratic as Putins Russia.
Skills do not develop in a vacuum. You need to have requirements for a particular skill before you can spend resources to train workers in those skills.
And the lack of large resources is also not that big of a problem. Unlike some countries, India tends to start and maintain friendly relations with countries that have mineral wealth like Australia, etc. And the Indian navy has enough heft to open and secure those supply lines in case someone decides to start a war.
> Also India is just about as democratic as Putins Russia.
Um, no. India has democratic elections whose results are accepted by all the political parties involved. No political party has mounted an actual challenge against any result or vote count or claimed large scale election rigging.
You might not like Modi. That's acceptable. But to go around claiming that democracy does not exist because your favorite lost the elections is frankly disingenuous.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually I think, the most ideal countries to expand manufacturing to are African countries, they have some of the same advantages once china had. 1. Mineral Resources. 2. Cheap Labour. 3. High Density of Lanthanide and Actinide group minerals. China also has a fourth advantage which is a good mix of Production, Manufacturing and Electronics Engineers. Which Africa doesn't have. On the other hand India doesn't have t…
The main issue anywhere is the foresight and tenacity of the political (ruling) class. They have to do things which are long term by cutting back on short term and populist decisions. That is one thing that is holding even India back. In democratic setup it is very difficult to take a long term view particularly when that comes with short term pain - the govt would be out in next election. Africa should learn both fr…
What do you mean, become autocratic/centralized/...or whatever other word you want to choose. That's a quick one way ticket to getting invaded and thrown out by the US government.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is kind of ironic after what the US has done to people in Vietnam. But it's similar to what happened in Japan, only Japan was under US occupation, while Vietnam was not.
Apparently Vietnamese really like Americans, I literally can not fathom why. Heard it from Viets too. Time is weird.
> With India’s labour cheaper compared with China, and the gradual expansion of its supplier base here, Apple will be able to use the country as an export hub While there are negatives, I appreciate how globalization of manufacturing helps lift poorer economies (albeit it slowly and not always agreeing with the politics of the newly-built middle classes). One might expect manufacturing in mid-Africa in two decades.
> While there are negatives, I appreciate how globalization of manufacturing helps lift poorer economies Let's be real about those negatives. It seems as though it's always just the next country in line taking it's turn to provide subsistence-wage labor. The likes of Steve Pinker may argue that living standards continue to trend upwards across the board, but it seems like people are just becoming more and more time-p…
Hours per day Americans spent on leisure and sports is not trending down: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/TUU10101AA01013585
On average it's higher now than in the early 2000s (annual survey begins in 2003). Source: https://www.bls.gov/tus/ ("ATUS Tables")
As we increase the offshore footprint for manufacturing of devices consumed by Americans, we set ourselves up for a future where our national interests are far away, hard to defend, and subject to the whims of foreign nations. This is a strategic error. India seems like a good counterbalance to China -- it is, after all, an adversary of China in the region. But that could change in 10 years. Geography is important. I…
Serious question: Modern manufacturing, especially for things like electronics, is highly automated and increasingly so. That implies you don't need a lot of labor to do it and what you do need is skilled labor anyway. Lower unskilled labor costs don't seem like a huge advantage there. So what's still keeping it in countries like China and India and not e.g. Minnesota, which would yield a PR advantage and lower trans…
Foxconn employs about 1.2 million workers in China. In Shenzhen and Chengdu, a combined Foxconn workforce of 500,000 provides labour for Apple Inc. Daily wage is ~$5 per employee. [ https://www.facing-finance.org/en/database/cases/working-con... ] Napkin math if you were to move 500k workers to the US and paid them $100 a day instead of $5 a day it would cost you $17B a year. Would be interesting to see how labor per…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The main issue anywhere is the foresight and tenacity of the political (ruling) class. They have to do things which are long term by cutting back on short term and populist decisions. That is one thing that is holding even India back. In democratic setup it is very difficult to take a long term view particularly when that comes with short term pain - the govt would be out in next election. Africa should learn both fr…
> That is one thing that is holding even India back. In democratic setup it is very difficult to take a long term view particularly when that comes with short term pain - the govt would be out in next election. Africa should learn both from countries like China, Singapore... What do you mean, become autocratic/centralized/...or whatever other word you want to choose. That's a quick one way ticket to getting invaded a…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This assumes that low cost labor is the only necessary condition for an acceptable geography. Likely, it is not. Surely companies such as Apple, with their army of supply chain professionals, has given deep thought to many options, including and beyond what the armchair analysts here on HN can dream up in the 10 minutes this topic catches their fancy.
Absolutely, manufacturing requires 1. Cheap Skilled Labour (India has unskilled labour because skilled abour is expensive in India) 2. Mineral Resource (India doesn't even have anthracite deposits for steel production) leave alone oil and other minerals for manufacturing. 3. India does have a good mix of software and other Engineers. I think the best manufacturing countries for expansion out of china are African coun…