What a strange place to find an isolationist!

I would've thought that I, of all people—having grown up overseas, traveling more before I was eight than many people travel in their entire lifetime—would not have become an isolationist. It wasn't intended, it wasn't planned, it wasn't even conscious—but I feel pretty confident that my approach him to the world was narrow and limited and, well, smacking of “isolationist”.

In the past two and a half years I've been in five countries – relishing a myriad of experiences and people. What a blessing it is to live in world far different and far bigger than me!

Hey, what's the hurry?

As the myriad of observations and experiences from China mellow and ferment in my mind, I wonder if the question, "Hey, what's the hurry?" lurks, unasked and unanswered. Certainly, eastern thought seems to pay far less homage to the "urgency" of time than the west. Could it be, then, that the ubiquitous measures of success in the west which are steeped in timelines and acceleration are irrelevant and perhaps preposterous from the Chinese point of view? Certainly, the emphasis on community has an intrinsically longer view than the individualistic approach spawned and bred by capitalism!

Perhaps the most disturbing observation that was put forward by more than one of our speakers and many casual conversations was this: The majority of the population does not have the training or ability to innovate. I winced every time I heard this... how can this be true? Aren't there some universal attributes to humankind that include this innovative spark, even if hidden?

So, back to the question: What is our hurry? Might our assessment of their innovative abilities be skewed by our western influence?

Intellectual Property Protection in China – the Practice

A Japanese manufacturer whom we visited, while in Shanghai, told this story when asked about IP infringement:

In 2005, we received a call from a client reporting a problem with one of our diagnostic kits. Upon investigation, we determined the kit was not created by our company. We sent the kit to Japan for testing. The test revealed that the chemical structure of the diagnostic kit contents was not even similar to the kit we sell to Chinese clients. We immediately had our lawyer write a letter to the rural manufacturer, telling them to cease and desist this activity. We then discussed this event with our distributor, warning them to watch for this problem. We added a barcode to our label on the product to make it more difficult to copy. And, we send our salespeople (with the distributor’s salespeople) out to the clients so that they can keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

Distinctly absent from this response and the retelling of the story, is any animosity or even legal action beyond the letter from the lawyer. My first inclination is that this is due to the absurdity of having success in the pursuit of justice; however, I’m not convinced of that rationale. My doubt was further strengthened by the sly grin which accompanied the recounting of the event. On the other hand, I don’t believe that the theft of the IP in this case was condoned either.

My conclusion is this: counterfeiting is currently best fought in China by innovating faster than the duplicators. If this pace of innovation is out of reach, then, the currency approach is helpful… make the duplication difficult and educate the maximum people (clients, distributors, stakeholders) on simple methods to detect and report counterfeit products. Incidentally, this will only work effectively if the client perceives significant additional value with the original vs. the copy. In this case, the test was not functional as duplicated.

Certainly, protection of IP is appropriate and desirable… in societal systems accustomed to this enforcement. However, common sense isn’t always common.