When Jobs Move Overseas (to South Carolina)

Why would a Chinese refrigerator company move to America, where wages are ten times higher than at home? Prestige, argues Yilu Zhao, and political benefits back home. The Chinese government is pushing to put 50 of its companies on the Fortune Global 500 list and sees foreign investment and a greater share of the US market as the surest way. Thus state-owned companies, like the refrigerator manufacturer Haier, have enough support from their government to make some economically questionable business moves. The decision to reduce shipping costs by moving a plant to America has earned Haier's chief executive, Zhang Ruimin, his own biographical movie and a place in the elite Communist Party central committee. With such rewards, there is ample incentive for other Chinese companies to move abroad – even as far away as Camden, South Carolina. – YaleGlobal