Another Advantage for China Manufacturers
USATODAY.com – How to stop a thief China
This editorial raises the issue that China not only has cheaper labor costs, but, thanks to rampant piracy, hardly any factories pay for ERP, CAD/CAM, etc.
“In a U.S. factory like mine where engineers spend their days on a sophisticated work station with advanced industrial design software, the yearly cost to run software at a single station can cost $60,000,” Hollis says. “It can add up to millions a year and be a shop's highest cost. Chinese factories pay nothing for that.”
The article takes the clant that it is tacit stealing by Chinese companies. I have read that it goes much deeper than that – there is a deeply ingrained culture in China of not believing in copyrights. Ancient Chinese artists did not sign their work, because art was meant to be “for the people.” This has extended to software, equipment design, etc.
Great Britain & the U.S, on the other hand, have a lengthy history of protecting intellectual property (copyright protection is in the U.S. Constitution!).
Has anyone else heard of this?