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Consultant tells Greater Akron Chamber group region sells what Chinese companies want to buy
By Paula Schleis Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Thursday, Aug 30, 2007
China's economy is merging with the world economy at a dizzying pace, opening new markets and seemingly unlimited opportunities for the West.
Encouraging Northeast Ohio businesses to get a piece of the action is a goal of World Trade Center Cleveland, a division of a local manufacturing group called MAGNET.
David Yen, a special consultant with MAGNET who recently returned from a three-week trip to China, spread the gospel to some 60 business representatives at a Greater Akron Chamber breakfast meeting Wednesday.
He spent an hour laying out facts meant to inspire ideas for new products and services that could serve a developing country with 1.3 billion people:
China has 500 million cars on the road. When Yen was in Beijing, he said he couldn't see beyond four blocks because of the smog. ''We have no concept here of what real pollution looks like,'' he said. He then asked: ''Can you be involved in the management of this?''
India is at work on a computer notebook that will sell for $100 and will give millions of people who are currently in the dark access to a global marketplace. What products and services will they be looking for?
China is looking for U.S. partners to produce and distribute its products. Northeast Ohio can reach half this country's population in one day. ''We're the perfect place for Please see China, C11
them to set up an office?'' Yen asked, touting the area's manufacturing history, work force and infrastructure. '' . . . Use this as a negotiating tool.''
Ohio already has well-established roads into the East.
Of the top 50 products that Ohio exports, 31 can be found on China's top 100 list of imports, Yen said.
From aerospace parts to electronic equipment, Northeast Ohio alone sent $182 million worth of products to China in 2006, according to a study by MAGNET.
''Why not your product? Why not your company?'' Yen asked the group.
Yen also encouraged business managers not to think of what they can do today, but what the world will need tomorrow. By 2015, 80 percent of the technology being used now will be obsolete, he said.
''Be adaptable. Keep your eyes and ears open to change and opportunity,'' he said.
China is an example of how fast evolution can be, he said. He remembered visiting his grandparents in Shanghai 30 years ago. They had no hot water and sporadic electricity.
Yen then showed a modern picture of Shanghai, a futuristic-looking city with shiny skyscrapers and revolutionary architecture.
Global economic integration can do to a developing country in 30 years what it used to take a century to accomplish, he said.
''If you haven't been to China in six months,'' he said, ''you don't know China.''
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
China's economy is merging with the world economy at a dizzying pace, opening new markets and seemingly unlimited opportunities for the West.
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