Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/07/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Slobodan, I don't know enough about the maquiladoras to have a qualified opinion, but as far German and other Western investment in Eastern Europe, it is a resounding success. Take Skoda as an example. During Communist times it produced cars for the domestic market and the other E.European countries. Very few were exported to the West, mainly because the quality was on par with the late Yugo. But now Skoda is a division of Volkswagen, making excellent cars, and it is far more efficient that VW's factories in Germany. Of course VW made the investment not out of altruistic motives but to save on labor cost and enter new markets. Slovakia just secured a huge investment from Huyndai and is fast becoming one of the largest car producers in Europe. Sure, the Czech workers at Skoda make less than VW workers in Germany, but that is not a relevant comparison. What is relevant is whether they are better paid and better treated than other workers in the Czech economy, and that is undoubtedly the case. Direct foreign investment is almost always a good thing for the host country. Nathan Slobodan Dimitrov wrote: > When has a triviality such as 'illegal' ever stopped a corporation, if it > went against their self-interest. > While I don't have the info at my fingertips, didn't a number of German > corp. giants buy industries in Eastern Europe just for such reasons. That > is, to escape the homeland illegalities by going where it was 'legal'. At > times just a few miles away. > Ourselves, we have just such a fiasco here on the border with the > Maquiladoras. > S. Dimitrov > > > -- Nathan Wajsman Almere, The Netherlands Mobile: +31 6 30 868 671 General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com