Case Studies

Report: “From the Rice Paddy to the Industrial Park” in Myanmar

Working conditions in Myanmar’s labour market faced decades of neglect under authoritarian governments, contributing to a laissez-faire system where employers unilaterally set the terms of employment for their workers and labour rights were neither adequately established under law or respected in practice. At the same time, underdevelopment caused by isolation from the international community and a regime of strict economic sanctions meant that there were insufficient decent job opportunities available. This Report Discussion is now over. However, the report can be read at the above address. Since a wide-ranging political and economic liberalization process was initiated in 2010, intensive efforts at reforming Myanmar’s outdated, contradictory and vague labour legislation were made. Among the key changes were the introduction of a minimum wage, legalisation of labour organisations, establishment of processes for dispute resolution, adopting higher standards for occupational safety and health and expansion of coverage by social security. However, government and private sector sensitivities about research related to working conditions meant that few rigorous large-scale studies were undertaken to determine the impact of the legislative changes on workers themselves. Ten years after the reforms began, the Livelihoods and Food Security Fund conducted a survey of more than 2,400 workers to help fill the knowledge gap by assessing how effective the improved labour governance framework has been in ensuring decent working conditions. In particular, it represents the first major study of the prevalence of forced labour in Myanmar since 2015. The report was launched in August 2020 and research was conducted mostly before the coup, but in the discussion speakers will also reflect on the present conditions. The actions of the Tatmadaw now suggest a return to more openly exploitative employment practices and suppression of worker organizing. Indications are that the return to military rule has already begun to roll back many […]

The Myth of Chinese Capitalism: The Worker, the Factory, and the Future of the World

-by Dexter Roberts The untold story of how restrictive policies are preventing China from becoming the world’s largest economy. Dexter Roberts lived in Beijing for two decades working as a reporter on economics, business and politics for Bloomberg Businessweek. In The Myth of Chinese Capitalism, Roberts explores the reality behind today’s financially-ascendant China and pulls the curtain back on how the Chinese manufacturing machine is actually powered. He focuses on two places: the village of Binghuacun in the province of Guizhou, one of China’s poorest regions that sends the highest proportion of its youth away to become migrants; and Dongguan, China’s most infamous factory town located in Guangdong, home to both the largest number of migrant workers and the country’s biggest manufacturing base. Within these two towns and the people that move between them, Roberts focuses on the story of the Mo family, former farmers-turned-migrant-workers who are struggling to make a living in a fast-changing country that relegates one-half of its people to second-class status via household registration, land tenure policies and inequality in education and health care systems. In The Myth of Chinese Capitalism, Dexter Roberts brings to life the problems that China and its people face today as they attempt to overcome a divisive system that poses a serious challenge to the country’s future development. In so doing, Roberts paints a boot-on-the-ground cautionary picture of China for a world now held in its financial thrall.

How much do robots affect jobs and productivity?

Robots’ capacity for autonomous movement and their ability to perform an expanding set of tasks have captured writers’ imaginations for almost a century. Recently robots have emerged from the pages of science fiction novels into the real world, and discussions of their possible economic effects have become ubiquitous (see e.g. The Economist 2014, Brynjolfsson and McAfee 2014). But a serious problem inhibits these discussions – there has so far been no systematic empirical analysis of the effects that robots are already having. Industrial robots increase labour productivity, total factor productivity, and wages. At the same time, while industrial robots had no significant effect on total hours worked, there is some evidence that they reduced the employment of low skilled workers, and to a lesser extent also middle skilled worker. A first glance What exactly are industrial robots? A machine is an industrial robot if it can be programmed to perform physical, production-related tasks without the need of a human controller. (The technical definition refers to a “manipulating industrial robot as defined by ISO 8373: An automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications”.) Industrial robots dramatically increase the scope for replacing human labour compared to older types of machines, since they reduce the need for human intervention in automated processes. Typical applications of industrial robots include assembling, dispensing, handling, processing (for instance, cutting), and welding – all of which are prevalent in manufacturing industries – as well as harvesting (in agriculture) and inspecting of equipment and structures (common in power plants). From 1993-2007, the ratio of the number of robots to hours worked increased on average by about 150%. The industries that increased robot use most rapidly were the producers of transportation […]

Reverse Engineering with 3D Measurement

Reverse engineering is the process of duplicating an existing product without the aid of drawings, documentation, or computer models. In ordinary engineering, the product designer creates a drawing showing how an object is to be built, and then the object is manufactured by following the design drawing. In reverse engineering, the steps are inverted. First, engineers identify the system components and their interrelationships. The object is taken apart to discover its structure, function, and operation. Duplication of the part is enabled by capturing physical dimensions, features, and material properties. Next, a CAD drawing or other representation of the system is created. Then a reproduction of the original system is accurately created based on that drawing. Why reverse engineering is needed A common scenario in which reverse engineering is needed is as follows: a company has a machine. A part fails and a replacement part is needed. But the manufacturer has discontinued the machine and no longer makes parts for it. The machine owner can reverse engineer a replacement part from the failed part, preventing the machine from going out of service. Reverse engineering can shortcut product development time. It quickly captures a product in 3D digital form and exports the data for rapid prototyping, tooling, or manufacturing. There are many other situations in which reverse engineering can be used: *Substituting an original part design that has inadequate or no documentation available. *Redesigning a part to eliminate a bad feature or to reinforce good features. *Analysing competitor products. *Supporting new modifications where original CAD models cannot. *Updating obsolete products with current technology. *Updating or creating as-built documentation. *Supplying a part with little downtime that is mission-critical to a system, reproduced in large quantities, or reflects a big investment. *Performing fine element analysis or computational fluid dynamics on parts for which no design […]

Manufacturing moving at the speed of business

Humans are terrible at gauging speed. Jets never seem to be going 550 mph in the sky and 20 miles per hour in a school zone. Sometimes this seems slower than walking. But, the speed of business in definitely accelerating and the implication of this on manufacturers is telling. Several manufacturer profiles have emerged in recent years. Some still yearn to run their firms in nostalgic, time-tested ways. Some have never snapped back from the 2008 recession and restricted credit days. Some, though, are possessing new forward looking views, processes and technologies that will enable them to match the speed of change in business and eclipse competitors. Look how quickly certain products have been embraced in the consumer world. The Apple iPod went from a simple product announcement to a runaway success in a matter of months. And, just as quickly, some products, like the Sony Walkman, can disappear almost overnight. Change, therefore is not linear and we do our businesses and employers no favours by pretending that it is. For many manufacturers, especially long-lived manufacturers, change has been something to assimilate on their own schedule for decades. If typical, your company possessed a straight line ability to change and adapt that was far in excess of the changes occurring within your business and competitive environment. You probably maintained this ability for decades and it represented a great opportunity for your company. Recently, you may have begun to notice that the industry, your competitors, customers and/or suppliers are changing and demanding changes that are faster than your firm has an ability to manage. This is becoming a growing problem and it won’t get any easier. For example, look at the growth in patent issuances over the last few decades. Patent grants act as a good proxy for understanding the overall growth and innovation within an economy. What’s even […]

Finding a good story for Google in China will be difficult

Finding a good story for Google in China is going to be tough, says Andreas Pouros, chief operating officer at Greenlight, a leading independent search specialist marketing and technology firm. His comments follow on the back of Baidu’s results. These show it continues to dominate the search engine landscape in China. Baidu also reported its advertiser numbers have increased by almost 26% on 2009 levels, reaching 272,000 – a clear sign of the deep chasm in the paid search arena between it and its nearest rival, Google. Since June, Google has curtailed its searchable Web index to comply with China’s censorship laws. According to Pouros, as it now provides fewer results, it cannot post as many advertisements as it had previously. Furthermore, research earlier this year from leading media-focused research, publishing and consulting company, Screen Digest, indicates almost two thirds of search users are happy to use Baidu or smaller Chinese search engines. According to Cyrine Amor, advertising analyst at Screen Digest, Google is losing market share with the problems it encountered lately with the government. Moreover, Google is also about to end its contracts with seven adwords resellers in China. No reason has been provided for this but Ms Amor says this will likely see Google’s share slashed by up to 10-12%. Screen Digest’s figures from earlier this year show Google accounted for 33% share of the Chinese search market, behind Baidu. In paid search, Baidu has been enjoying a healthy lead. In early 2010, Screen Digest estimated total online advertising revenues in China would reach almost 1.5 billion in 2010, with Baidu accounting for the lion’s share ($945 million), then Google with $472 million. By having over 60% share of the search market in China, has Baidu reached the tipping point much as Google had in western Europe, […]

Singapore most tax-friendly for entrepreneurs

A comparison of the taxes burden faced by start-ups in six economies reveals significant variation with Singapore coming out as the most tax-friendly jurisdiction. GuideMeSingapore.com released a report that compares the tax policies of six countries: UK, USA, India, Australia, Russia, and Singapore. Using the tax rates for the year 2009, the report performs a comparative analysis of the tax impact on a new firm incorporated in each of these countries. Among the six countries considered, the report finds that the tax burden imposed on new firms is the smallest in Singapore while it is the highest in India. If maximisation of take-home profits were the main objective, for an entrepreneur who has the flexibility to incorporate his or her business in any of these jurisdictions, Singapore offers the most rational choice — the report concludes. To illustrate its findings, the report considers the case of a hypothetical start-up firm that expects to make an annual income of US$300k. Such a firm will have a total tax bill of only US$34k in Singapore while it would face an approximate tax bill of US$60k in Russia, US$63k in UK, US$90k in Australia, US$100k in US, and US$102k in India. The authors of the study caution that each country’s tax policies differ from those of the others in the exemptions, incentives, and depreciation allowances that they permit. The major exemptions available to companies have been considered in this analysis but their esoteric nuances have been ignored. Jacqueline Low, the Director of Corporate Services at Janus Corporate Solutions — a leading Singapore corporate services firm that runs the GuideMeSingapore.com site — further emphasised the long-term attractiveness of the Singapore tax policies by adding, “The historical trend of corporate tax rates in Singapore over the last 5 years shows consistent reduction. Per government’s stated […]

Demand for motorcycles to approach 55 million units in 2014

Demand for motorcycles in China will increase 7.6 percent annually to 54.9 million units in 2014. Electric motorcycles are expected to surpass gas motorcycles to become the leading motorcycle type sold in China. These comparatively new products will account for over three-fourths of aggregate motorcycle market growth. Gas-powered internal combustion engine (ICE) motorcycles will also record solid growth, helping to strengthen China’s position as by far the world’s largest motorcycle market. ICE motorcycles and electric motorcycles, while collectively referred to as “motorcycles,” tend to appeal to different types of consumers. Different factors drive growth for each type of motorcycle. These and other trends are presented in Motorcycles in China, a new study from the Beijing office of The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm. Sales of traditional gas motorcycles will increase 3.9 percent annually to 23.3 million units in 2014. Gains will be driven by increasing economic activity and rising personal income levels in the country’s rural and semi-rural regions, which are and will remain the most important markets for these vehicles. Government rebates for purchases of ICE motorcycles by rural residents as part of the “Automobiles and Motorcycles to the Countryside” program will also stimulate demand. However, restrictions and even outright bans on ICE motorcycles in many Chinese cities will prevent sales from expanding at a faster pace. Cruisers are the most popular model type among Chinese consumers, representing 43 percent of gas motorcycle sales in 2009. However, their position in the ICE segment has been undermined in recent years by the diversification of motorcycle offerings in China. Going forward, trikes and sidecars will see demand expand at the fastest rate of any ICE motorcycle model type. The market for electric motorcycles in China is expected to grow 11.0 percent per annum through 2014 to 31.6 million […]

Cambodian Root Server to Speed Internet Access

MekongNet, Cambodia’s largest Internet Service Provider, in partnership with the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and the Internet Systems Consortium, launched an f-root server in August 2010.The nation’s first root server, deployed in Phnom Penh, has been operational since July. There are a total of 13 root servers in the world and the f-root server has 49 instances around the globe. As part of the root server launch in Phnom Penh, MekongNet and APNIC conducted a DNS and DNSSEC (DNS Security) workshop for interested community members. Mr Champika Wijayatunga, APNIC Training Manager said the workshop introduced the benefits of the new root server to the Cambodian community. “We would like to give the Cambodian community the opportunity to learn about the benefits of having a root server in Cambodia as well as best practices in DNS infrastructure management,” Mr. Wijayatunga said. Since 2007, APNIC and MekongNet have collaborated to provide APNIC Training courses to the Cambodian Internet community. Speaking at the launch, Mr. Wijayatunga explained the dynamics of root servers as well as their strategic benefits, saying, “Launching the first root server in Cambodia will bring significant improvements in both speed and reliability to Internet users in Cambodia. This is especially so in terms of faster domain resolution and increased resilience, which means an overall increase in the speed and reliability of Internet access for users.” APNIC Director General Paul Wilson added: “The deployment of this root server in Cambodia is a positive example of the way rapid development of the Internet in the Asia Pacific is being supported through collaborative work between APNIC as the Regional Internet Registry and members of the Asia Pacific Internet community. “APNIC aims to support these developing economies by meeting the increasing demands for training and other services,” Mr Wilson said. Root servers […]

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Case Studies