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Most people believe that trade and foreign direct investment directly translate into a competition between the high-wage workers of the already developed countries and the low-wage workers of poor countries. They think wages of the well-paid workers of the West will sink when goods and services similar to the ones they produce – or the components of these products – can be made at lesser cost abroad, imported, and sold at lower price.
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Managers … They reason that whenever they can relocate an activity currently carried out in a high-wage country to a low-wage country, they reduce their costs.
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reducing labor costs was almost always high on the list of motivations; sometimes it was the only rationale for the move.
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But what matters in the bottom line is not wage rates but unit labor costs.
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But there’s yet another reason all garment manufacturing will not move to China: Fast deliveries and replenishment are services that still command a highprice in well-to-do societies. People are willing to pay for having the latest best thing now, not a month from now. This factor privileges production in high-wage economies with large numbers of affluent consumers.
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The Italian and the German examples show, although in very different ways, that survival and prosperity are real possibilities, even for textiles and garments. Even though the industry is declining rapidly in most of Europe, in countries like Italy employment levels are quite stable, with good jobs and profits."
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Continua.
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Trechos retirados de "How We Compete" de Suzanne Berger
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