Editor’s note: Ahmet Sağlam is a specialist in business development, sales and marketing, B2B collaboration, and corporate communication. Most recently, he served as Business Development and International Relations Coordinator at the Hacettepe University Technology Development Zone. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of News.Az.
The rise of Japan and China is grounded not in a romantic success story, but in the ruthless reality of production discipline. Today, people associate Japanese and Chinese brands with technology. These brands have also earned a considerable degree of public trust. However, the production journey of these countries was not as brilliant in the beginning as it is today.
There was a time when the phrase “Made in Japan” meant cheap products. In Türkiye, for many years, stores selling inexpensive imported goods were popularly known as “Japanese Markets.” These shops, which sold a wide variety of products ranging from needles to thread, toys of every kind, stationery supplies in particular, numerous electronic devices, and decorative items, were inexpensive shopping destinations where even children could buy toys or school supplies with their pocket money, offering products to suit every budget.
They did not represent high quality, but they stood out for making the technology of the time accessible at affordable prices. Likewise, Chinese products were also characterized for many years as imitations, unreliable, and short-lived goods, while standing out for being inexpensive and easily accessible.
However, the two countries shared one common characteristic: they never gave up on production. Japan first studied Western technology, copied it, improved it, and gradually developed its own engineering culture. Today, brands such as Toyota, Sony, and Panasonic have become global brands not only because of their marketing success but also because of their production capability. This is because production is not merely about manufacturing products; it is about educating engineers, developing supplier industries, learning technology, designing brands, and gaining competitiveness.
Source: TASS
China followed a similar path. It first manufactured for the world through low-cost labor. Subsequently, it developed an industrial culture through small workshops and imitation products. It even extended many forms of small-scale manufacturing, such as watch production in the basement of nearly every household, to individual families across the country. This process was ethically controversial; nevertheless, China learned several critical lessons. It absorbed and placed at the center of its production system the knowledge of how to establish production chains, reduce costs, and transfer technology. In this way, it gradually ceased to be a country that merely copied the products of others and began producing its own brands. Today, Huawei, BYD, and Xiaomi have become central players in global competition. This eventually transformed China from being merely a “low-cost manufacturer” into a manufacturing country that develops technology. In addition, China significantly enhanced its production capacity by attracting foreign investment, establishing Special Economic Zones, implementing an export-oriented industrialization model, and benefiting from technology transfer.
When examining these success stories, one fact becomes evident: a country cannot survive for long solely through marketing and an intermediary economy. Selling products after making minor modifications to them may enrich certain individuals in the short term. However, when a production infrastructure is absent, the country becomes dependent on external sources. An economy that does not produce is ultimately condemned to foreign exchange crises, unemployment, and technological backwardness.
Source: independent
This is because real power lies in factories, laboratories, and production lines. Today, through the Belt and Road Initiative, China aims to open all its regions to the outside world, spread development across the entire country, and reduce economic disparities between the eastern and western regions as well as between inland and coastal areas by improving land and maritime trade.
In doing so, it seeks to integrate its production capacity into the global economy through diverse logistics routes and increase its share of the global market. In other words, it sees the market not merely as its immediate surroundings but as the entire world.
In summary, technology, production, and marketing should be regarded as complementary pillars for building a prosperous society. Simply put, for a country to achieve its sustainable development goals, it is important to accurately assess its existing production capacity, promote high value-added production, and spread the culture of production to broader segments of society and to different regions of the country.
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