> executives voluntarily transferred that to the (then) third world in order to maximize short term profits
They gave China their secret sauce (well, actually, China demanded it as a prerequisite) in return for access to one billion new customers.
China then cloned the tech and under-priced the foreign competition. See: High-speed rail, wind-turbines etc.
Can't say if it was the 'right' thing to do for Western companies. But it was brilliant for China, who are now, in turn, buying up Western manufacturing companies.
Those billion consumers had no money to buy anything. They gave away their secret sauce for cheap workers and bad ('good') labor laws, and lost all internal expertise, had their products cloned.
The Chinese market started becoming a thing a decade or two after Made in China became a thing.
They gave China their secret sauce (well, actually, China demanded it as a prerequisite) in return for access to one billion new customers.
China then cloned the tech and under-priced the foreign competition. See: High-speed rail, wind-turbines etc.
Can't say if it was the 'right' thing to do for Western companies. But it was brilliant for China, who are now, in turn, buying up Western manufacturing companies.