Calidad de Vida

This section considers some of globalisation‘s impacts on businesses in China. Yip (1995) identified four major drivers of globalisation:

the global market with its consumer needs, wants and expectations; production and labour costs in different countries;

government rules and regulations regarding taxes, tariffs, quality control and import/export restrictions; and

competitors‘ actions

and Chen (2001) added a fifth - a cultural perspective. Chen (2001) suggests that ―As business becomes more genuinely globalised – as opposed to simply transnational – the notion of ‗global business standards‘ is unlikely to remain exclusively Western‖ (Chen 2001, p. 14). The standards are also unlikely to become wholly Confucian. Nevertheless, Chinese business networks can make decisions quickly, connect people and draw upon resources. Therefore ―it may be helpful to adopt a more integrative approach to global business practices, and Chinese business may serve as the basis

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for this rethinking‖ (Chen 2001, p. 14). The optimum arrangement might be a combination of Asian entrepreneurship and sense of family with the western practices of ―formal strategic planning, clear and consistent accounting and a focus on innovation, customer service and quality‖ (Chen 2001, p. 42).

Webber, Wang and Ying (2002a, p. 2) argue that to understand China‘s transition to a global economy requires an appreciation of the ―meaning and significance of globalization for people‘s lives; … the transition in some countries from socialism to capitalism; and about interrelations between

globalization and creation of place and region‖. They note that individual countries have adopted their own versions of liberalisation, deregulation and globalisation according to national interests, internal conditions, future expectations (Webber, Wang & Ying 2002a, p. 6). On this basis, institutional reform in China has been locally determined, gradual, cumulative, sometimes

spontaneous, sometimes driven by the government and has allowed for the ―coexistence of centralized political control and market-oriented firms, of state-owned enterprises and capitalist foreign-funded firms‖ (Webber, Wang & Ying 2002a, p. 8). For China economic transformation and open door policies have helped to legitimise the Party-State leadership and achieve economic development and social stability (Webber, Wang & Ying 2002a, p. 226).

The increasing globalisation of the Chinese economy is clear in Table 15 showing the inflow of foreign capital (Foreign Direct Investment, FDI) which from 1985 to 2004 had an average annual rate of growth exceeding 25 per cent. Factors in this growth were: the opening up of the Chinese

economy by Deng Xiaoping; the desire of foreign businesses to use low cost Chinese labour; and the opportunity to enter the largest consumer market in the world (Bryson & Sun 2008).

Table 15 China’s Utilization of Foreign Capital (100 million US dollars)

Year FDI Year FDI 1985 16.61 1995 375.21 1986 18.74 1996 417.26 1987 23.14 1997 452.57 1988 31.94 1998 454.63 1989 33.92 1999 403.19 1990 34.87 2000 407.15 1991 43.66 2001 468.78 1992 110.07 2002 527.43 1993 275.15 2003 535.05 1994 337.67 2004 606.3

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China (cited in Bryson and Sun 2008, p. 5).Table 2 China‘s Utilization of Foreign Capital (100 million US dollars)

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Table 16 details the levels of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in various sectors of the economy. The figures for the ―investment quantity‖ and the ―composition rate‖, which is the percentage of total FDI in a particular sector as a percentage of the country total, show clearly that manufacturing is

dominating.

Table 16 FDI Investment by Main Sector: 2005 (USD 100 millions)

Year 2003 2004 2005

Sector IQ CR (%) IQ CR (%) IQ CR (%)

Manufacturing 369.4 69.04% 430.2 70.96% 424.5 70.38% Production and Distribution of

Electricity, Gas and Water

- - 11.4 1.88% 13.9 2.30%

Transport, Storage and Post 8.7 1.63% 12.7 2.10% 18.1 3.00% Information Transmission, Computer

Service, Software

- - 9.2 1.52% 10.1 1.67%

Wholesale and Retail Trade 11.2 2.09% 7.4 1.22% 10.4 1.72% Real Estate 52.4 9.79% 59.5 9.81% 54.2 8.99% Leasing & Business Services 31.6 5.91% 28.5 4.70% 37.5 6.22% Sum of the sectors 473.3 88.45% 558.9 92.18% 568.7 94.28% Total 535.1 100% 606.3 100% 603.2 100% Note: IQ=Investment Quantity, CR (%) = Composition Rate (%)

Source: Statistical Communiqué on the national economy and development of Chinese society: 2003- 5 (cited in Bryson and Sun 2008, p. 6).Table 3 FDI Investment by Main Sector: 2005 (USD 100 millions)

Globalisation has increased the number and range of China‘s international partners of which Australia is but one. In addition to primary resources, Australia has a large investment in transnational

educational programs with China, often as contractual joint ventures. The role of the China –

Australia Chamber of Commerce is to maximise business opportunities between the two countries. It regularly publishes advice to existing and potential clients and the tone is often cautionary: ―There are great opportunities in the Chinese market but also significant risks. To succeed, Australian businesses will need to be committed, well prepared, well resourced, and very vigilant‖ (AustCham Beijing 2004, p. 11). Then later, ―China is still affected by the legacy of the state-owned enterprises, which often are still major players in the economy. The finance and distribution sectors are still heavily influenced by government participation‖ (AustCham Beijing 2007a, p. 1). The implication is that there are historic reasons to be concerned about contemporary transparency and bureaucratic efficiency. Graduate attributes with a cultural focus might be valuable here.

The terminology and the way globalisation is nuanced through supporting statements, official elaboration and actions are critical if the Chinese government wants to keep control of its socialist

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market economy. For some Chinese people ‗globalisation‘ carries historically linked, colonial connotations (Chen 2001, p. 158), whereas ‗modernisation‘ is thought to be a process that can be controlled by the Chinese. In this light, a Chinese graduate in preference to an overseas non-Chinese graduate has the advantages of a cultural ―understanding of face issues, may be able to interpret confusing signals from the government and put seemingly incoherent or inconsistent policies in perspective‖ (Chen 2001, p.175). In addition they understand the ―complex mix of feelings of inferiority (linked to the colonial past and relative inexperience with global business practice) and superiority (born out of cultural heritage and national pride, including recent economic successes and market potential)‖ (Chen 2001, p. 175).

In 2006 Vice-Premier Wu Yi opened discussions about how foreign firms might tender for

government contracts (2006a; Toy 2006b). From the perspective of this thesis: What will happen to the Chinese employment market, to new graduates‘ employment prospects, if and when the Chinese government allows foreign firms to tender for government contracts? If there is a stipulation that the foreign firms must employ a percentage of local people, will the local employees have the skills needed? If there is a perception that the local graduates do not have the requisite skills, will this mean an authentic, national, broadening of the higher education curriculum that legitimises more than anything else the process rather than content skills? Generic graduate skills continue to be the area that teachers and students consider to be the least teachable. Even when there is agreement on relevance, the conflict with teaching discipline knowledge, the practicalities of the classroom

environment and expectations of some students, parents and teachers, mean there has been little focus on them. Consequently, because of the emphasis in Australian curriculum on graduate skills beyond simply textbook knowledge, the incorporation of graduate skills particularly without

contextualisation, has led to tension when Australian higher education teaching programs have been delivered in China.