Business

In this article the author makes a thorough comparison of the most rapidly growing economies in the world and their future prospects of emerging as the superpowers. The urban development in Shanghai and the attempts of the government to formalize and regularize the entire metropolis according to urban planning by 2020. This is the clear indication that China is preparing vigorously to assume the status of the super power in the future. The same is also going on in India, as this highly populous country is also showing its strength in different sectors of high-tech industries. India s main strength is in the services sector primarily in research and development and software development for corporations like Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco and Google. Its prominent success is low-cost and high quality manufacturing of these high quality products.

Both China and India have the potential to transform the 21st century global economics, with could even dwarf the American emergence in the 19th century. Since most of the corporations depend on both China and India, China for large scale manufacturing and India for RD and software development, it is very much likely that both combine will take over the world tech industry. Soon the balance of power will move from West to East because of larger number of researchers produced by these two as compared to the US. The increasing growth has also led to the increase in the wealthy and tech-savvy middle class in both countries which also makes them the potential leader in defining consumer-electronic trends.

Despite all these huge advantages both countries lack many resources and skills necessary for making them a super power in the future. These include lack of infrastructure in India like expressways, subways, and airports and most importantly lack of the ability of heavy and large scale manufacturing in India. Bureaucracy red-tape is also a barrier in making quick decisions. China on the contrary lacks its supremacy in software development and services, which is the major plus point of India. Moreover rising standard of living will soon result in high wages demands and still both countries does not have multinational corporations like Nokia or Samsung. China needs to strengthen her innovation capability, while minimize waste of energy. The upheaval created by these countries will soon test America s commitment to the global trade system.

Summary of Article 2
In this article the author compares two plants of the same country in different regions, one operating in the United States while other operating in Shanghai China. The flow of jobs towards low-wage countries like China is perceived as a threat by high-wage countries like the United States. This is primarily because the flow of jobs and capital has been constantly from United States to China, primarily because companies and corporations want to take the advantage of cheap labor in China.

Though the Chinese plant of Tenneco, an auto parts maker, enjoys the plethora of cheap labor, but it is less sophisticated and automated as compared to its plant based on US. Moreover the overall outcome and profit of the American plant is three times more than the Chinese plant. The average worker on the Chinese plant is young, relatively poor and highly ambitious, while the average worker on the American plant is of middle age, well-off and matured. The Chinese workers are quite satisfied and happy with their current jobs, though they want to get a better job with better wages and working conditions. The American workers on the other hand have a feeling of insecurity and concern about their future as they can sense that more and more jobs are being outsourced to countries like China, thus making their future a bleak one.

Though China has the potential to outperform the US in many ways there are several problems, which should solved first, like law and order conditions, lack of enforcement of intellectual property rights are also a major concern. Despite these limitations companies like Tenneco are expanding their business in China and investing more and more money there, as they see that their investment will become profitable in the long run.