Beijing -
Monday, March
20, 2006
Lenovo Discussion
While the Briarcliff contingent stayed at the school, the County
contingent went to meet up with Mr. Jerome Ma, Vice President for Government
Relations (a much more important position in a country like China than it might be here). He is well connected at high levels in the Chinese government and
was responsible for arranging our visits with the Science/Technology Ministry,
the Commerce Ministry, the Information Ministry (IT), and, later in the week,
the Pudong District of Shanghai. Clearly, no matter what the location of
Lenovo, the company was quite willing to be helpful to us.
Nevertheless, we had a frank discussion about Lenovo’s
announcement. Mr. Ma said the decision to move around a dozen or two executive
positions was driven by the short-term need for management to have more direct
oversight and to consolidate operations that IBM had placed in North Carolina. Lenovo will continue to maintain its Westchester presence for sales and
marketing, including a sizable staff.
Mr. Ma said the company understands Westchester’s competitive
advantage as the ideal staging point for financial, marketing and public
relations activities and, after its current consolidation, as it grows and
reconsiders its needs, Lenovo will certainly keep Westchester in mind.
He also said that the company will continue to work with us and
be helpful in our efforts to develop trade with China, as evidenced by the
meetings he had set up for us this week.
We learned later that the city of Raleigh, North Carolina
provided $11 million in incentives to Lenovo for a net increase of 50 jobs
(from around the US). That’s not economically justifiable by Westchester’s
more prudent standards, but it does demonstrate how fiercely competitive the
global economy – even the American economy – has become.
Yes, it’s disappointing when your team is thrown out running to
home plate, but you just don’t decide to quit the game at that point. Clearly
no one who participates in this game is going to win 100% of the time, but not
playing at all is a 100% guarantee of failure and a diminished economic
future.
continue
March 2006 Report
by Norm Jacknis, Westchester
County Chief Information Officer
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