"Off-shoring" Manifesto/Rant: Sixteen Hard Truths (Tom Peters)

tompeters.com ^ | February 21, 2004 | Tom Peters

[AZLiberty]

Sounds about right.

[_Jim]

tag to watch ...

[dfwgator]

We are all dead...in the long haul.

[AreaMan]

14. National/global protection of intellectual capital-property is imperative.

I must not understand. Does this mean that, for example, American intellectual capital must be protected all around the world? Or does it mean that American intellectual capital is now "Global?"

[RKV]

It means that without enforceable patents, no technical advances can be sustained. Imagine a world where drug companies have significantly diminished incentives to develop new drugs because they cannot keep the rewards of their R&D?

[Revolting cat!]

in the long haul

That's a neat rhetorical trick, since "in the long haul" noone's going to remember your rosy predictions and noone's going to hold you responsible for them.

[AreaMan]

It means that without enforceable patents, no technical advances can be sustained.

Agreed.

I would like those patents be developed here in America.

[lelio]

Big companies are not "built to last;" they almost inexorably are "built to decline."

Without big companies would there be a Tom Peters?

[Pukin Dog]

It means that without enforceable patents, no technical advances can be sustained.

Sorry, but that is nuts.

Change it to "no company that patents technology can be sustained by it" and you would be right. The technology itself marches on, regardless of what country performs the advances.

[dark_lord]

It means that without enforceable patents, no technical advances can be sustained.

Sorry, but that is nuts. Change it to "no company that patents technology can be sustained by it" and you would be right. The technology itself marches on, regardless of what country performs the advances.

I suspect that what he means is, that without enforceable patents, companies will not invest in R&D. Why spend the money and give everyone else a free ride? If this occurs, then technology itself will slow waaay down in its "march".

[Lokibob]

I read y-day that off-shoring service jobs (customer service and coding) is basically limited to 4 countries, Ireland, Canada, Great Britain, and India. Of those 4, India is limited to 3,000,000 people with sufficient english skills to be effective customer service representatives.

[beebuster2000]

bump

[HiTech RedNeck]

Now the globaloons admit it. America is selling itself out (the so called "unearned wage advantage") in the relentless pursuit of bargains which in the long haul aren't bargains at all.

[Pukin Dog]

I understand, but that is wrong too.

Think about what Sony did when RCA decided that their patents were not worth enforcing. We still got WEGA, my man. If there are dollars to be made, SOMEBODY will pick up the technology and move it to profitability. The point is that the company that does this will not always be American, and we had better get used to that, and learn to compete more effectively unless we want the trickle to turn into a flood.

[Willie Green]

6. Americans' "unearned wage advantage" (Born in the U.S.A.) could be erased ... permanently.

Looks like the author forgot a quote "worth noting/quoting":

"People vote their pocketbooks"

The idiot politician who thinks that Americans recieve an "unearned wage advantage" is doomed.

[briant]

"The new organization of society implied by the triumph of individual autonomy and the true equalization of opportunity based upon merit will lead to very great rewards for merit and great individual autonomy. This will leave individuals far more responsible for themselves that they have been accustomed to being during the industrial period. It will also reduce the unearned advantage in living standards that has been enjoyed by residents of advanced industrial societies throughout the twentieth century." (Governor, Bank of England)

It's ironic that people who support "free trade" use quotes like this. I don't think freedom is what is giving places like China a wage advantage. I imagine the later part of the quote is true in that we may all be living in the third world. Except, of course for our masters.

[_Jim]

If there are dollars to be made, SOMEBODY will pick up the technology and move it to profitability.

GREAT.

So company A spends millions developing a new semiconductor manufacturing process (embodying a veritable ton of IP - intellectual property) and company B, located in the far east (YOU take a guess at which country) is 'free' (by your rules now) to reverse engineer those products (ICs) fabbed (fabricated) by company A and then begin production in company B's facilities - with company A receiving *no* payback for their R & D!

THAT is not right ...

[RKV]

Reduce the profit from inovation, and take away the incentive to innovate.

[Pukin Dog]

THAT is not right ...

No, it is just reality. I didn't defend it, I only described it.

[greenwolf]

That sounds like the kind of logic which could get John Kerry elected president...