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Taiwanese target China at CeBIT

An acrobat performs in a promotion for a Swiss manufacturer of Inkjet cartridges, at CeBIT Asia 2002 on Wednesday. Some Taiwanese companies are also bending over backwards to get their brand names recognized in China. PHOTO: AP

Byron Chang knows exactly why he spent four days manning a booth at CeBIT Asia, and it's got nothing to do with international markets or prestigious trade shows. "The reason why we're here is the local market," said the sales manager for Taiwanese electronics vendor ArtDio Co (金葉科技).

Despite the low foreign exhibitor and visitor turnout, Chang and hundreds of other Taiwanese sales representatives don't seem to mind too much. They've been plugging away at the China market for years. Two-thirds of the exhibitors are from the "greater China" region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan. At least 75 percent of visitors -- mostly looking to source goods -- are from Shanghai or other parts of China.

"Business for me is okay, but others are saying it's pretty slow," Chang said.

ArtDio went to the show to find buyers and distributors for its range of CD and MP3 players, the end market being China and not the dozens of other potential markets the company could chase. The comparison between CeBIT Asia and Taipei's Computex is inevitable.

"Taiwan is the IT hub, so of course foreign buyers visit Computex," Chang said.

But at the Shanghai show, there's no confusion about who they're targeting.

"For us its about public relations," said Bill Lu, a sales manager for Taiwan communications equipment maker DBTel Inc (大霸電子).

"Because our brand is not strong here, we want to build up our image here," he said.

Despite a host of advantages, Lu said that Taiwanese are also at some disadvantage.

"In building brands, Taiwanese are worse than Western companies -- but when it comes to cutting costs, they are the best," said Lu, a native Chinese.

"I have gained a lot of management wisdom from the Taiwanese," he said.

"The Taiwanese management system is better suited for us than Western management systems -- Taiwanese know how to deal with the tricky problems."

"Taiwanese are better versed in information-technology systems than the Chinese," said ArtDio's Chang.

The superiority of Taiwanese technology and management, however, is overshadowed by the general dislike that those from Shanghai have for Taiwanese.

"They don't like Taiwanese people much," he said. People from Shanghai often have an image of Taiwanese businessmen as being stingy and arrogant.

"Taiwanese have created an image of being rich -- they go and spend 200 yuan a day on cigarettes. Most Chinese can't afford that," he said.

Taiwanese are also at the bottom rung of companies that Chinese want to work for, because the pay is among the lowest and working hours are often the longest.

"In our eyes, Taiwanese are stingy and low-class," said Diane Yi, a 24-year-old Shanghai woman who left a Taiwan company after two years to work for a German employer.

"They like KTV and chasing women -- but we also admit that they are hard-working," she said.

Ken Lee, sales manager for Taiwan's CPU cooling specialist Cooler Master Ltd (訊凱科技), said that Taiwanese take a long-term approach to business.

"The Taiwanese are very different from Hong Kong businessmen," he said.

Lee is a native of Hong Kong

"They take the time to train staff. Their vision is longer than in Hong Kong," he said.

Despite a lack of new or innovative products, the Taiwanese companies at the show are still confident of getting a return on their investment.

"The China market is still very attractive to us, so of course we will keep coming here," said DBTel's Lu.
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