On Thu, Apr 20, 2006 at 09:41:13PM +1000, Erle Pereira wrote: > On Thu, 2006-04-20 at 16:00 +0530, jtd wrote: > > IT is a cultural bias. Given the same amount of monetory inputs any > > one would produce quality, and has very little to do with location > > (and by implication people). > > > > I Agree totally, but the Implication is not really about Location or > People but about skewed company polices. > IBM has proven that it can get a good laptop out in the market. > It remains to be seen if the same can be achieved under lenovo > leadership.
I agree on this point. Its not about bias but a general reputation that goods manufactured in certain countries create. Bad export attitudes, corruption in the Govt., lax quality laws, local attitudes towards customers play an important role in quality. A company may be a global one but it will procure its raw material locally as much as possible to reduce costs. Raw material manufactured in the third world and in the developed nations may differ in quality. The very reason to set up production units in third world nations is to reduce costs otherwise what is wrong with USA or Europe for production? Another factor is the importance given to R&D. The developed nations are far ahead of the developing ones in research and innovation. One other factor that I will take a risk to mention is the attitude of managers in Indian companies and their response to suggestions and improvements. A firend of mine works for an MNC at the management level and he travels abroad on assignments to its international offices. He finds a big difference in attitudes of managers here and outside and very often gets frustrated by the local politics and stubborn attitudes. An example of local attitudes towards customers is our own country where even the MNCs from developed nations give sloppy service and the customers have to accept whatever is dished out to them. The mechanism to thrash them is not as strong as in the developed ones. So the country of manufacture does make a difference. Having said that, now practically everything is made in China, so it is the brand that will make the difference not region. Hope Lenovo lives up to IBM's quality or even better. Regards, Rony. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
