From: Phil Osborn (philosborn2001@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Jun 19 2002 - 19:35:08 MDT
Regarding the Chinese software market and the
purchases of Chinese Windows. I work for a mid-sized
Chinese manufacturer and have worked there for 11
years doing most - 90% - of the publishing operations
- manuals, brochures, flyers, ads, boxes, labels,
displays, and the 400+ page website (all hand-coded).
My stuff is used both by the American front operation
- which is theoretically a separate company - and the
real company back in Taiwan which marks everything up
about 300% when it sells to itself here in the U.S.,
in order to avoid any U.S. taxes.
When I started working there, I had NO manuals for
PageMaker - my primary tool - or Windows, or DOS, as
the company president always took the manuals and
copies of the latest release of whatever software back
to Taiwan with him. They would buy ONE copy of
whatever, and then get their money back by providing
it to people back home.
Then they allegedly - according to the general manager
- got busted big time and paid fines that were much
more than any amount they ever saved or made via
piracy. After that, they were VERY careful about
company policy. Here, in the U.S., that is. Probably
a lot of companies both here and abroad that support a
Chinese market in their products buy at least one
legit copy of Chinese Windows. On the mainland, I
would be surprised if they often bought more than that
one.
The funny thing is that the Chinese I have known and
worked with closely is that even though they don't
believe in intellectual property, they are the most
closed-mouth people I have ever met. It is like
pulling teeth to get enough information to do my job.
Often I will be handed a job to be published and have
no idea if it is supposed to be a flyer, part of the
new catalog, or go on the website, or whether it will
be black and white, two color or full color, and if I
try to get the info I need, they get angry.
Every job is handled like that - and it serves several
purposes. First, when the employee is given
inadequate instruction - or, often, completely wrong
instructions (but always verbally) - then he or she
will always fail on the first iteration. This gives
the boss a chance to demonstrate how worthless the
employee is - always in front of other employees.
Everyone pretends that the boss is correct in his or
her dressing down. They know the drill. FACE is what
matters. The Chinese do not believe in an objective
reality.
So the boss gains face at the employee's expense, and
if the failure is great or can be made to look so,
then THAT will be written up and the employee required
to sign the boss's version, which goes into his or her
permanent file.
Long-term employment is discouraged for various
reasons, one major one being that long-term employees
eventually realize how valuable they have become to
the company and try to cash in on it. Or they preempt
that by secreting key information to themselves,
making it very costly to fire them. The Chinese
employees know to do this from the start, but very few
non-Chinese realize what they are up against, which
makes them ideal employees to rip off.
For the years of the '90's recession, I worked for my
starting wage, never getting the wages that they
agreed to pay me when I started, even though I could
easily prove that I had increased production in my
department four-fold. This is also par for the
course. As far as I know, every employee that worked
there was offered one thing and then told - at the end
of their trial period - that their work was
UNSATISFACTORY! - and that they could continue to
work, but only at their starting wage.
I am still officially getting my starting wage from
1991. However, now I am getting a bonus that is about
half my paycheck each month. How did that happen?
Well, after years of getting the shaft, one day I had
enough and walked out. Immediately their whole
attitude changed. In my next pay envelope there was a
big bonus. I walked out several times since, and each
time they have increased the bonus.
Bottom line: unless you are a member of a Chinese
family, do not expect any contract with a Chinese
business to be honored if it is cheaper to renege at
some point. They assume that you would do the same
and if not, then you are simply a stupid barbarian.
It's not that they have evil intent as such. They are
not necessarily malign at all, and may genuinely like
you and enjoy your company.
However, business is business and they have manuals on
how to conduct business as war that make Machievelli
look like an amateur. Only a few of them have ever
been translated out of Chinese and some of them are
even banned in China (e.g., "Thick, Black Theory") -
which doesn't stop them from being best sellers there.
Given this general business culture, backed
historically by an empire that could send its people
in to corrupt and extort the whole wealth of their
neighbors - which is why their neighbors universally
hate them - it is hardly surprising that China is
known for piracy. Or that they will sue at the drop
of a hat over their own patents and trademarks
registered in the U.S.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:54 MST