[SI-LIST] Re: just curious
- From: "Clewell, Craig" <cclewell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'bill_hargin@xxxxxxxxxxx'" <bill_hargin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 08:10:23 -0400
Bill,
Here is a "micro-idea"....tax the imported cheese so that it is more
expensive to import than export. That would make it cheaper to process the
cheese here.
Craig
-----Original Message-----
From: Hargin, Bill [mailto:bill_hargin@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 11:52 PM
To: 'bdewitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'; si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [SI-LIST] Re: just curious
Hi Brent ...
> Has this list become the most popular technical list in India
> in the last
> few months???
Perhaps ... This is an interesting question. The Internet, jet travel, cell
phones, and commercial broadcasting have progressively shrunk the globe. As
the globe shrinks, things that used to happen one state away, now happen
countries and continents away. The underlying question surrounding
previously American jobs going to Asia or other regions parallels the
"protectionist" (import tariffs, etc.) vs. open market question. (A
difficult subject.)
I can't say I have a good feel for how an American engineer should respond.
The Indian and Chinese economies are growing faster than ours (in the U.S.).
They buy U.S. products, and we hire some of their engineers and call center
people to help develop and support some of those products. (Note: I'm not
driving this, and you're not ... it's being driven by immutable economic
forces.)
If I could make a book recommendation ... beyond some of the excellent SI
books that have been discussed on this list ... it would be "Who Moved My
Cheese?" by Ken Blanchard ($13 paperback; $10 Audio on Amazon). The point
he makes -- in about a 2-hour read (longer, if you read slowly like I do) --
is that change is going to happen. Jobs are going to move from America to
India, or wherever. Instead of trying to hold onto the past, though, he
recommends "following the cheese." The point is kind of obvious, but
sometimes the most obvious points are the ones that we habitually overlook.
The book covers a macro-level point that I believe applies here. I'm not
sure what the "micro-level" answer is. Better training and differentiation,
perhaps? Move to India? Start a hardware engineers' union? :-)
We see this in Seattle, where I live, all the time. Boeing employees (both
engineers and hourly workers) want to keep jobs and Boeing's headquarters in
Seattle. So, the company responds by moving the HQ to Chicago, and farming
out subassemblies to every part of the world.
I doubt that many people (Americans or otherwise) on this list have the
inertia or leverage to affect a trend of this magnitude ... Or to stop the
free flow of information over the Internet, for example ... So the best
thing you and I can do is decide what we're going to do now that the cheese
is moving. If I had specific (micro-level)ideas, I'd be happy to share them
... Maybe someone else does. I'm doing well just to keep enough cheese on
my table ... And it's moved a few times these last 5 years, requiring that I
change my approach, and keep my eye on the cheese supply!
Sorry if I'm raining on anyone's parade ... I just think that complaining
about this type of trend will only slow down a person's ability to respond
effectively.
Bill Hargin
Redmond, WA, USA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Brent DeWitt
> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 8:11 PM
> To: si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [SI-LIST] just curious
>
>
> Has this list become the most popular technical list in India
> in the last
> few months???
>
> Brent DeWitt
> Loveland, CO
>
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