Economic behavior of Asia, US and Europe
Thursday, March 27, 2008
When I joined my team here in Hyderabad, I was introduced by my supervisor to the team in a monthly town hall meeting. When I told about my MBA exchange program from France, he asked me why did I choose France/ Europe and why not US. There I just replied that I always loved Europe and had been longing to go over there, so when opportunity came I grabbed it (which was the true reason!); but it sparked a query inside me. America, having its past as a slave country, one of the greatest revolution and Civil war, its meteoric rise as the worlds largest economy post WWI and so many embellishments, still did not appear an embellishment as good as Europe. So there HAS to be an explanation. So here is my explanation:Now let’s see the reasons behind all this. Europe can be taken to be a land that cultivated the culture, the manners and protocols to much of its formal nature we have today. It started exploration of lands with purpose to exploit it for resources, for advancement and development. It was the region that gave the world the Industrial revolution and hence the base for the present. If you see them, you will see many innovations, advancements and explanations for supernatural. Europe has decent distribution of resources per capita. It gives every one the opportunity to sit, relax and ideate. The philosophy and the concept of gods in human form have made them go around the world and ‘enlighten’ the others. This makes them long for the ultimate truth, glory and prestige. So you will see many innovations that have been implemented, but still not commercially viable like Concorde, world’s fastest trains (TGV) etc. So I correlate Europe to Innovation and Art.
America on other hand has been the land of money, so all the people who migrated to US were having a commercial mindset. This made them to work had, use best of practices, keep cost lowest and earn more profit. Even a common man there thinks of the individual return and profitability. America, post American revolution, has been a land of green cash, opportunities, commerce, capitalism and growth. It has always promised that life of glitter, gold and glamour. If there has been an innovation worth its money, US has used it fully. If there is an optimization path available, they have achieved it. So I associate US to conceptual and commercial implementation.
Asian story is entirely different; it was more like a land with practical utility rather than concept innovation. If something doesn’t work then we have a way of making it work somehow, albeit for a shorter time, but saving us from throwing away the thing as useless anyhow. It had most fertile lands, climatic conditions for life to propagate in all seasons and high density of flora and fauna. All this resulted in high human density and hence higher fight for now limited resources. All this has resulted in Asians being street smart. We have a high degree of groupism, react more by emotions than plain commercial viability and the body language shouts much more than our words. This all makes us great at on the floor implementation. We excel in execution.
While my story is a plain fact here that am attracted to art, ideas and research; it also brings us to a great economic model. Wherein the innovative concept comes from Europe, US does the blueprint and develops a trimmed revenue and business model and Asia provides its high number labor available at low cost to attain a great immaculate product at attractive price. But ya, there is a lot of intricate details here which will change the dynamics; but then it’s the future concept we are listing here.
America on other hand has been the land of money, so all the people who migrated to US were having a commercial mindset. This made them to work had, use best of practices, keep cost lowest and earn more profit. Even a common man there thinks of the individual return and profitability. America, post American revolution, has been a land of green cash, opportunities, commerce, capitalism and growth. It has always promised that life of glitter, gold and glamour. If there has been an innovation worth its money, US has used it fully. If there is an optimization path available, they have achieved it. So I associate US to conceptual and commercial implementation.
Asian story is entirely different; it was more like a land with practical utility rather than concept innovation. If something doesn’t work then we have a way of making it work somehow, albeit for a shorter time, but saving us from throwing away the thing as useless anyhow. It had most fertile lands, climatic conditions for life to propagate in all seasons and high density of flora and fauna. All this resulted in high human density and hence higher fight for now limited resources. All this has resulted in Asians being street smart. We have a high degree of groupism, react more by emotions than plain commercial viability and the body language shouts much more than our words. This all makes us great at on the floor implementation. We excel in execution.
While my story is a plain fact here that am attracted to art, ideas and research; it also brings us to a great economic model. Wherein the innovative concept comes from Europe, US does the blueprint and develops a trimmed revenue and business model and Asia provides its high number labor available at low cost to attain a great immaculate product at attractive price. But ya, there is a lot of intricate details here which will change the dynamics; but then it’s the future concept we are listing here.
Labels: Experiences, Philosophy, Places
posted by Jas @ 11:26 PM,
2 Comments:
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At April 03, 2008 6:16 PM,
Pilot-Pooja said...
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Very true..
"Europe can be taken to be a land that cultivated the culture"
my 5/5 for this post of urs! -
At April 14, 2008 9:44 AM,
Jas said...
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Thanks Pooja for the 5 on 5!
