Qualcomm signed on in October with a major Chinese telecommunications firm to provide satellite data services. Its executive director for overseas operations expects a WTO affiliation to expand China's great demand for wireless technology. A newly appointed general manager from Beijing is leading Qualcomm's breakthrough of the prior closed market. A new manufacturer, Farrar Golf Industries, Inc., presently manufacturing in Mexico, is negotiating a Chinese venture for its product. Its big competitors, Callaway and Taylor, have been there for years.
Labor cost is the hook.
San Diego businessmen say it's cheaper to produce in China than Mexico, even with a time lag in delivery and the red tape of doing business there. Defining China's global role, Barry Naughton told his UCSD audience how economic and social reforms impact the emerging nation. The meltdown of public enterprises cost 37 million jobs. They operate mostly out of Hong Kong but are spreading rapidly on the mainland especially in Shanghai. China-watchers predict that Shanghai will soon surpass Hong Kong as a major commercial center of Asia in the new millennium.