Wild Wild West

Microsoft heads for the Wild, Wild East

1) I don’t think that the ‘strict family planning” law and its subsequent smaller families will have any affect on the consumer purchasing patterns in the Chinese economy because even though the younger generation of 26 years and younger only equals 45 percent of the 1.2 billion population, they are already generating more consumer spending that its parents basically on all kinds of merchandise, including electronic products such as: color televisions, refrigerators, VCR’s, telephones and of course computers. The population of China is at an overwhelming amount but most of the elder population does not even really contribute to the consumer purchasing of electronic products, there fore when the numbers of the population shrink in the future because of the ‘family planning law’ it wont affect the consumer purchasing of electronic because it is the younger generation that does most of the buying. So, I feel it is a sure bet to say that the future of the Chinese economy is not at stake.

2) Yes I feel that the replacement of Microsoft’s Chinese management team after the

1992 business miscalculation was just a justifiable and a wise decision because

obviously this team did not their research on the Chinese history and their way of

life. They should have done an in-depth and thorough investigation into the

country and inquire as to what is and what is not acceptable because not only for

respect for the country but as well because it is the best way to conduct

business. Their error and misjudgment came at a costly price to Microsoft

because the product was banned for not meeting standards. Also they came close

to ruining the name of Microsoft in China and jeopardizing and perhaps possibly

elimination any further business with China.

3) Even though the average family income is very low in China, I think that

Microsoft wants to gets its foot in the door for a few reasons. One is power in the world, to be the top software company worldwide and to do this they need to be in China where even though they are poorer in income they generate many consumer products around the world. Also, they are not just aiming at family computers but they what to be the software suppliers for government and such computers. Another reason could be that because Microsoft is looking into the future, and they realize that the planned family law will shrink the population but in effect it will make the income rise for there will be less people and there fore possible making the job market become