All the people I know who have dealt first hand with having products produced in China have not had the most favorable experiences.  Yes, you do see some very high quality products coming out of China, such as the newer Apple products are supposed to be.  Many people mistake this as a sign of China improving their quality standards, when in reality it is because the overseeing company has the production facilities on a leash so short you couldn't measure the distance between their hand and the collar.  Say for example you say to your production facility that you want them to produce a steel enclosure using a certain method and a certain grade and type of steel, and that you'll pay them x amount of dollars for the finished enclosure.  The production facility will then pay for the cost of the raw materials.  They may find however, that a certain cheaper grade of steel costs 40% less than the steel you specified, and after determining that it won't make a noticeable difference they'll buy that cheaper steel and use it.  Since the material cost them less, but you're still paying them a fixed amount for the finished enclosure, they pocket the difference.  So you're left with an enclosure that you think has been made to your specifications, only to find out later that it wasn't.  And you can only hope you discover it soon enough.  In cases where the product quality is very high, its because companies keep a careful eye over all aspects of production, so things like this don't happen.

 So in short, yes, I think seeing some more affordable B&O products coming out of China would be ok, provided B&O has the capacity to manage the production successfully and avoid such issues.

Austin
 

I would be very upset if B&O started manufacturing in China, because that would mean they are stealing us even more than today! The high prices for B&O products are often justified by the fact that they are made in Denmark, so if B&O keep the same price & produce in China, it would mean they simply increase their gross margin, because they will never drop the retail prices.

Look at B&W's subwoofer, the PV1, often competing with B&O's BeoLab 2: it has a less powerful ICE amplifier, no magnetic shielding, 2 woofers instead of 3, no audio outputs, only inputs, and costs EUR 1,500, whereas the BL2 is around 2,600.The first is made in China, the second in Denmark: which company do you think is making more profit? I don't think it is B&O in that case..

By the way, I just bought a new Siemens cooking induction hotplate, and the label says "made in Spain"... like some Peugeot cars or Michelin tyres..Globalization again..🙁

Medogsfat:

..... 

Do you also care about how these Chinese companies manage to undercut traditional Western manufacturers? Trust me it has nothing to do with being more streamlined or better at the task, it is all about exploitation somewhere down the line.

Chris.

Right, I couldn't agree more with you.

One of my relative is still working in China since the year 2000. His feedback concerning the work condition could be illustrated by one or fiew words :
- Exploitation
- a Chinese citizen has not a lot of value in term of human being. This is more true when we are speaking about blue collar workers.

He told me when he was visiting the coal factories that many of them where living in some sort of dormitory or "farm". These places where located in the firm's area, in a way they could be reachable most of the time. The conditions of living there**, mean having to leave with your family in a small bedroom (ie. 15 m2) or to share a small space with your colleagues.
** there (in the areas far from the big cities)

Human exploitation is a reality and has been there for a long time in China.

Now the question is :
- With the increase of the cost of living in my country, the B&O's hefty prices tag and the weak inflation of our income, will we still like to buy those products made in China, at a better price knowing the human exploitation there ?

This is an example of the single (divorced) mother of three children. Her income does not allow her to buy sufficient average quality garments for them (not made in China, Malaysia, Macao, India). Those ones remain quite expensive.
Meantime, she knows she can use an alternative solution to provide to her children what they need :
- Products that cost much less but are manufactured in China. She is fully aware of the exploitation somewhere down the line.
- Will this mother buy those garments ? I can bet you that... YES.

IMHO, in her situation, I would have done the same, why ? Because I recognize that I will prioritize my family first, regarding my financial situation. Life is not easy with those factors like divorce, unemployment and weak income.
Some could say it's a customer's selfish point of view, I think they could be right indeed, but I fully assume that.

Let's face it, without those products made in China, India or Malaysia, many of the down and even middle class couldn't buy what they need and at a better price.
IMHO, I would be hypocrite to judge the Chinese government** that "minimize" the human exploitation knowing the fact that, as a customer, I indirectly encourage this by purchasing Chinese manufactured items.

 **even if I recognize the lack of transparency regarding the human rights in this country

Concerning buying B&O products, I will still buy them at better price, with the company's quality standards if they were made in China.

Just my two cents,

Guy 

Well this debate is like a two edged sword.

Exploitation?  well its true that the factories making for many high end electronics companies have miserable conditions they all live on the factory site in tower blocks - many sleeping in one room and 12 hour shifts.

It is no different to the indistrial revolution in GB- in fact the conditions then were worse.

Of course the Chinese workers are happy, they have jobs that pay more than working on the land and in a country with  1,321,851,888 population human rights, pollution matter little.

If the real issue was to do something about global warming the correct way would be to impose a levy on eevrything made in China that did not conform to the standards of EU- and of course not one factory would!

The problem is the management and buyers need cheaper pricing- thats what kept the technology market afloat over the past few years- our manufacturing basses have dissapeared and now there is nowhere else to go. Despite rising commoditiy prices, China will  be the source of choice for many years and they have become wealthy- at the expense of the west- In the west we will have to accept less from now on. The only way the situation can truly sustain itself is if the chinese workers earn enough money to buy the product that they produce otherwise in the longer term one will have 'on the floor pricing' of all products- in fact this has already arrived.

Most electronics companies are already in China and any that choose not to will not survive, as B&O are aware

One day in the operating theatre my supervising surgeon told me a story about a trip he made to China which gave a fascinating insight into Chinese thinking.

He was at a conference giving lectures and hands on instruction in the use of a new design of retractor used for certain operations.  The design was rather innovative, and he joked with the local Chinese doctors "Now don't go copying this..."

One of the doctors replied, as deadpan as he possibly could:

"Oh no!  We don't copy.  Copying is illegal.  We improve."