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(OT) ? for any international business minds


njsue

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Help me with some of my international business case ?

 

Thank you

 

What are the problems/troubles that Microsoft experienced in China?

 

1 How important is china to microsofts long term future?

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If I recall, one of the big problems is China's lax enforcement of int'l copyright law. Bootlegged Music, Movie and yes, Windows, are all easily available in China while the gov't looks the other way.

 

You'll have to do some research on the details. Good luck!

 

 

p.s. considering the growth potential of China, I'd say it is an enormously important market for MS and every other major global company.

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Microsoft in china

 

 

The threats underscore the stubborn obstacles to foreign competition in the vast, largely untapped market of 1.25 billion Chinese. Despite efforts in China to liberalize trade by lowering tariffs and allowing more foreign investment, suspicion of outside influence remains high, and the government is not averse to intervening in business markets against what it sees as risky foreign dominance.

 

In the instance of Microsoft, the government says it's backing an upstart rival to the company's Windows software program, which runs the vast majority of the world's personal computers. The fledgling software competitor--Linux--

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The actual ? I have to answer is Why is it so difficult to reduce software piracy in china?

 

Is the main reason China's stubborn government wont cooperate not to copy any of microsofts software products. To sell at a cheaper cost.

 

Am I right.

 

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Trying to get all my homework done, so I can play next weekend at Danny's and sunday's game.

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To add to what has already been said China's piracy issue isn't just a problem inside China. As a matter of fact China is the biggest supplier of pirated goods certainly in Asia and probably in the World. Most of the pirated digital materials in Thailand are purchased from factories owned by Generals in the Chinese P.L.A.

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So Microsoft wont take a chance of expanding there business in China because of the extreme piracy. :w00t:

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When I worked in Shanghai a few years ago, Microsoft was setting up a big shop in Shanghai. However, it pertained to software development and not as much as trying to set up a marketing/distribution organization.

However, this is a common practice with organizations trying to enter the Chinese market. They may choose to establish a part of the business that employs Chinese resources to demonstrate what a good employer and organization they are. They can use that further themselves in the Chinese market. Financial institutions are another example of this practice.

Many companies trying to enter the PRC will encounter and expect losses when entering this market. But with this market size, a company like Microsoft will not be easily deterred from leaving. In spite of the govt. support for Linux, there will still be plenty of $ for MS. And I have seen policies like this change over time.

I am not going to repeat the intellectual property issues that have already been discussed. Suffice to say I could purchase any CD/DVD I wanted for the equivalent of $1 or $2 US.

This is a very brief summary but this discussion could take much longer.

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There are several issues in entering the Chinese market.

 

1. Microsoft cannot get a premier price for their product in China. Prices are controlled by the government. The lower margins create a gray market for product, as product can be bought in China and then sold elsewhere. Additionally, since Hong Kong is now part of China, it allows greater access to Chinese goods.

 

2. The aforementioned copyright laws. Or lack thereof. The problem is that the government does not enfore the laws, and until China is part of the WTO, the are not held to international copyright laws.

 

3. Though there are 1.25 billion chinese, there are far less people who have computers. The market size for software to be used in China is probably 500 million, definitely important to their growth strategy, but I believe the Indian market is larger for such technology.

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The Chinese govenment is suspicious of Microsoft gaining a monopoly position in PC operating systems in China like they have in the rest of the world. As a result, they are officially backing a Chinese-character version of Linux (Chinese 2000 Midori) as an alternative to Windows.

 

Here's some more background reading:

 

Chinese Linux to topple MS Windows

 

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=3405

 

 

Chinese Linux snub to Microsoft: The countdown is on

 

http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39123223,00.htm

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From what I read and hear, the problems with piracy is just the tip of the iceberg because there are simply big problems make our pseudo-free market economic model (we call our model free-market, but it needs some significant restrictions on trading and commerce regulation in order to have the order our society wants- the US model of capitalism and free markets goes far beyond the caveat emptor model of a truly free market) match with a dictator controlled economy.

 

The fact that this dictator controlled economy is in fact the largest group of potential consumers in the world makes for contradictions which will not allow us to claim that we are a pure free market.

 

For example, China is not only the fastest growing economy in the world (and thus fastest froing consumer base) but it is the fastest growing consumer of oil products in what is essentially a two-stroke engine economy when you get out into the Chinese countryside where all these consumers are.

 

Oil prices have spiked at over $50 a barrel and the uncertainty in supplies which has come along with President Bush leading the US away from looking primarily for terrorists like OBL and into beating the heck out of Iraq. Once you invade a country (particularly if you disbamd ots army which kept security in the ham-handed totalitarian way that Saddam ran this country into the ground, you own it.

 

US occupation has made their oil supplies a targetin the ongoing war and not only resulted in it not reaching the market expected by an Administration which planned to be welcomed by dancing in the streets (unfortunately most of the dancers were killed when Bush-41 failed to support the Operation Desert Storm inspired rebellion against Saddam) but has destabilized access to much of the MidEast supply.

 

However, the price rise due to destabilization of the MidEast actually pales in significance to the price rise caused by supply and demand. Yhe ultimate cause of higer oil prices (and the reason it is doubtful they will ever go down) is that we are now consuming every bit of oil produced. it is the economic growth surrounding 1.25 billion Chinamen which is really driving upo oil prices as demand goes up and up while the supply of proven reserves goes down.

 

No one has figured out yet how to turn 1.25 billion victims of totalitarianism into 1.25 billion consumers.

 

It looks like the whole exonomic system seems quite likely to change drastically as we know it and MicroSoft (like everyone else) has not figured out yet what the new form will be and how best to exploit it.

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