The China Connection
by Scott Paton
In 1972, President Richard Nixon played the China card,
meeting with Mao Zedong in Beijing and altering the global
balance of power. Despite Nixon’s checkered history,
his overtures to the Chinese may well have set the stage
for the end of the Cold War two decades later.
He may have also unwittingly helped set the Chinese on
the long road to capitalism, which Deng Xiaoping fully
embraced in the 1980s.
Nixon knew the West could no longer afford to ignore
China politically. Now, some 30 years later, U.S. business
can no longer afford to ignore China economically.
I just returned from my first trip to China, visiting
Shanghai at the invitation of the Shanghai Association
for Quality Management, the largest quality association
in China. The SAQM consists of a number of organizations,
including the Shanghai Academy for Quality, the Juran Institute
of Shanghai, the Shanghai Audit Center of Quality and the
Shanghai Quality Publishing House.
SAQM is similar to the American Society for Quality in
that it publishes magazines and books, conducts training
and has a large membership base of individuals and businesses.
However, unlike ASQ, SAQM is a quasi-governmental body
and subject to government control.
Led by the dynamic Tang Xiaofen, SAQM is actively growing
and expanding its relationships internationally. Madame
Tang intends for the SAQM to be a world-class quality organization,
leading Chinese manufacturing and service organizations
to the forefront of the global economy.
My visit, though minor in comparison to Nixon’s,
has set the stage for an exciting new partnership between
SAQM and Quality Digest. I’ll provide more details
next month, but we’ve agreed in principle to exchange
news, articles and other information between Quality Digest
and SAQM’s publication Shanghai Quality, which has
more than 20,000 readers in China. We’ve also agreed
to link our Web sites. And, we will co-host an annual U.S.-China
quality symposium that will alternate between Shanghai
and San Francisco.
Just as Japanese manufacturing radically altered the
business world in the 1970s and 1980s, I expect the Chinese
to begin exporting more than just manufactured products;
they will soon begin to export their unique methods for
designing and building quality products and services. Our
new partnership will help us ensure that our readers have
the latest news and information about Chinese quality initiatives.
It’s difficult to discuss China without addressing
U.S. employment numbers. It’s a stark reality that
many U.S. jobs are being lost to Chinese manufacturers.
However, unlike the jobs lost to many other nations--particularly
Japan--many of the Chinese manufacturers are U.S.-China
joint ventures. Although the job migration hurts U.S. workers
at present, as China’s economy expands and its purchasing
power grows, the Chinese consumer may help boost U.S. employment
numbers in the long term. Only time will tell.
I’m excited by our new partnership and our ability
to bring you the latest news and information from China.
I hope you enjoy our soon-to-be expanded coverage, and
I look forward to your comments about our partnership.
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