Perhaps this is because I don't have the hard facts and figures right in front of me, but I have a hard time believing that foreign tech investments in China really pay off. The Chinese strategy seems to be to woo big foreign companies, build a critical mass of local users who want the product, ban or otherwise limit the foreign company's influence in China, then develop a home-grown Chinese version of the foreign company's product with state support and the newly acquired domestic talent.
If Google accomplishes anything worthwhile at this research center, won't China just shut it down and re-employ those researchers at a domestic company? Why do high-tech companies even continue to try to break into China?
If Google accomplishes anything worthwhile at this research center, won't China just shut it down and re-employ those researchers at a domestic company? Why do high-tech companies even continue to try to break into China?