Word: raws
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...become the dominant form of business. Nationwide, though, more than 85,000 state-owned enterprises account for a heavy majority of jobs and four-fifths of China's industrial output. Until very recently they operated under a system that Mao had copied from Stalin: ministries in Peking assigned all raw materials and dictated all investments, told every factory manager what and how much to produce and where to sell it and at what price, set wages and assigned jobs, took all profits and subsidized any losses. As late as 1984, one factory manager in Shanghai says, he had a discretionary...
...time has come to take a much longer step toward a full-fledged market system. Under a plan that went into effect in late 1984, state industry is also run under a contract system. Central planners still set broad production goals, but they directly assign only a portion of raw materials and distribute at fixed prices only a set quota of a factory's output. Managers otherwise are allowed and even required to line up their own suppliers, decide for themselves what to make beyond the goods that must be sold to the state and find buyers for the merchandise...
...stated reason is to speed China's modernization by welcoming foreign capital, technology and management methods. To that end, China has set up four "special economic zones" where foreign investors get unusual privileges to import raw materials and semifinished goods and, to a certain degree, hire workers. But many other foreign investments are simply introducing the Chinese to some amenities, real or alleged, of life elsewhere: fast food, Coca-Cola, Pierre Cardin fashion shows, golf courses, amusement parks, even a Peking branch of Paris' famed Maxim's restaurant...
Imagine a city being built from scratch. Imagine a marshy coastal strip filled with paddy fields and fishing villages transformed into a megalopolis within a few short years. Shenzhen is just that place, a 126-sq.-mi. serpentine swath opposite Hong Kong that still has the raw look of a city halfway between blueprint and reality. Apartment high-rises border unpaved roads, while open trenches pose a hazard to the unwary. In the shadow of the International Trade Center, at 54 stories China's tallest building, are mounds of dirt coughed up by the excavation. Construction cranes scratch...
...hell out of kids." His manner is sparky, one part anger to two parts joy, like a more thoughtful, humble Lee lacocca. "Ninety-five per-cent of industrial designers don't design," he says. "They are essentially stylists under the aegis of the marketing department." Stumpf hates the raw, unfriendly interiors of the standard school bus. He hates dull, inexpressive Amtrak locomotives. He hates hermetic, inscrutable electronics. "Things should telegraph their ability to come apart. You can't tinker with things anymore...