UK Friends - Say it "aint" so
Dec 9th, 2009 | 08:54 PM
#22
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
"I would not jump to the conclusion that Wedgwood/Waterford'sprofits are necessarily higher due to outsourcing"
Since they've been trading at a loss for the past five years, WW's profits can ONLY get higher now they've stopped using inefficient factories and no longer have to deal with Ireland's bolshie unions.
Since they've been trading at a loss for the past five years, WW's profits can ONLY get higher now they've stopped using inefficient factories and no longer have to deal with Ireland's bolshie unions.
Dec 10th, 2009 | 04:42 AM
#23
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6,167
Likes: 1
I suppose there is also a matter of "validity". In yeaqrs to come, will thge Chinese Wedgewood, or the Hungarian Waterford be worth anything like the English or Irish versions? I suspect it is merely a matter of buying a name as I seem to remember the Italians doing with Axminster carpets - bought the factory, closed it within days but now have the right to the trademark.
I suspect that no matter how compliant or cooperative the unions in Ireland were, that the workers would not be able to surviver in Ireland on Hungarian wages.
I suspect that no matter how compliant or cooperative the unions in Ireland were, that the workers would not be able to surviver in Ireland on Hungarian wages.
Dec 10th, 2009 | 04:57 AM
#24
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 12,582
Likes: 0
I suppose there is also a matter of "validity". In yeaqrs to come, will thge Chinese Wedgewood, or the Hungarian Waterford be worth anything like the English or Irish versions?>>>
That’s how it works for guitars. You can buy (in order of desirability) an American Fender, Japanese fender, Mexican fender and Korean fender. There’s a big price difference between the first and the last.
That’s how it works for guitars. You can buy (in order of desirability) an American Fender, Japanese fender, Mexican fender and Korean fender. There’s a big price difference between the first and the last.
Dec 10th, 2009 | 05:16 AM
#25
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
"I suspect that no matter how compliant or cooperative the unions in Ireland were, that the workers would not be able to surviver in Ireland on Hungarian wages."
Not necessarily true. There ARE labour-intensive business still surviving in Western Europe, with largely Western workers - like the ateliers that supply the Paris high-end fashion market.
There are also a lot of similar businesses that depend on immigrant labour, like most Italian garment factories and the knitwear plants around Leicester. Though some are sweatshops, many aren't (the extreme example being America Apparel in LA)
What cooperative unions do is usually let the manufacturer move offshore in a controlled way, and not in the chaotic way involved in the WW collapse. Uncooperative unions often straightfowardly encourage management to bugger off to Asia as fast as possible.
Incidentally, the new Ashmolean in Oxford, and the new Renaissance galleries in the V&A, have a number of 16th and 17th century artefacts outsourced to Asia but marketed to Europeans. In every case, the outsourcing was done because high-grade skills were more available in Asia, and production was far higher quality as a result.
It's simply silly to say Asian-made goods are of lower quality than those made in the West. That's the kind of nonsense Detroit used to comfort itself with until its owners got to understand Americans were buying Japanese cars because they worked better.
If your M&S China-made socks don't last as long as they did when they were made in Peterlee, it's because M&S is specifying crappier fabric.
Not necessarily true. There ARE labour-intensive business still surviving in Western Europe, with largely Western workers - like the ateliers that supply the Paris high-end fashion market.
There are also a lot of similar businesses that depend on immigrant labour, like most Italian garment factories and the knitwear plants around Leicester. Though some are sweatshops, many aren't (the extreme example being America Apparel in LA)
What cooperative unions do is usually let the manufacturer move offshore in a controlled way, and not in the chaotic way involved in the WW collapse. Uncooperative unions often straightfowardly encourage management to bugger off to Asia as fast as possible.
Incidentally, the new Ashmolean in Oxford, and the new Renaissance galleries in the V&A, have a number of 16th and 17th century artefacts outsourced to Asia but marketed to Europeans. In every case, the outsourcing was done because high-grade skills were more available in Asia, and production was far higher quality as a result.
It's simply silly to say Asian-made goods are of lower quality than those made in the West. That's the kind of nonsense Detroit used to comfort itself with until its owners got to understand Americans were buying Japanese cars because they worked better.
If your M&S China-made socks don't last as long as they did when they were made in Peterlee, it's because M&S is specifying crappier fabric.
Dec 10th, 2009 | 06:12 AM
#26
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6,167
Likes: 1
"It's simply silly to say Asian-made goods are of lower quality than those made in the West."
I wasn't making a judgement on quality, but suggesting that, to collectors, a "Wedgewood" object made in China might not be "true wedgewood".
I wasn't making a judgement on quality, but suggesting that, to collectors, a "Wedgewood" object made in China might not be "true wedgewood".
Dec 10th, 2009 | 11:30 AM
#28
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 9,023
Likes: 0
Not necessarily true. There ARE labour-intensive business still surviving in Western Europe, with largely Western workers - like the ateliers that supply the Paris high-end fashion market.>
Yes indeedy - UnderWorld in Manchester, on Coronation Street, is still going strong using locals to make knickers.
Yes indeedy - UnderWorld in Manchester, on Coronation Street, is still going strong using locals to make knickers.
