Supply Chain

China's Hard Landing

March 1, 2011

If they are to be believed, the ruling Communist Party of China has said it wants to slow down growth. Clearly, rising inflation has something to do with it

But might there be other reasons as well?

Could it be the meager 1.7% margins China earns on exports?

Or, maybe it's the looming banking crisis, where some credible estimates have the number of bad or underperforming loans as high as 60%, while a real estate bubble looks ready to burst at any moment?

Possibly it is the growing weight of the bloated, state-supported enterprises that, for decades now, have consumed greater amounts of resources with little to show for it.

For me, it seems they are trying to lower the expectations of their population, of which 60 million live like they do in France; 600 million live on between $2 - $6 a day; and, 400 million live on less than $2 a day.

With demands for reform, transparency, and open government on the move around the world, maybe the Communists are beginning to realize that their days may very well be numbered.

About the Author

Andrew R. Thomas Blog | Associate Professor of Marketing and International Business

Andrew R. Thomas, Ph.D., is associate professor of marketing and international business at the University of Akron; and, a member of the core faculty at the International School of Management in Paris, France.

He is a bestselling business author/editor, whose 23 books include, most recently, American Shale Energy and the Global Economy: Business and Geopolitical Implications of the Fracking Revolution, The Customer Trap: How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake in Business, Global Supply Chain Security, The Final Journey of the Saturn V, and Soft Landing: Airline Industry Strategy, Service and Safety.

His book The Distribution Trap was awarded the Berry-American Marketing Association Prize for the Best Marketing Book of 2010. Another work, Direct Marketing in Action, was a finalist for the same award in 2008.

Andrew is founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Security and a regularly featured analyst for media outlets around the world.

He has traveled to and conducted business in 120 countries on all seven continents.