Improvements in quality also depend on countering other tendencies in Chinese industry, including rampant counterfeiting. While making knock-off products that look genuine takes a certain amount of skill, notes Midler, manufacturers cutting corners, adulterating products and other sleights of hand abound. He argues that without a change in attitude across the board, among managers, factory workers and consumers, little is likely to change. Even if domestic companies were to sell good-quality products on par with foreign brands, Chinese consumers -- increasingly wedded to brands -- might not buy them. "Chinese engineers and companies are capable of making high-quality goods, but will the market reward them for making them? This is the biggest issue," says Clendenin of RedTech Advisors. "Why should I waste 5% or 10% of my company's R&D resources on creating super products that probably only a few people would buy? I am better off dropping lower end products and focusing on better mid-range products, which are still affordable and which people would buy." Until recently, China's long-suffering consumers mostly put up with the poor quality of local goods, especially if they felt a bargain was to be had. But as income levels rise, their tastes -- and patience -- are changing. Consumer expectations may prove the most powerful inducement for China's consumer manufacturers to improve quality. With a market of around 800 million low-income Chinese who accept poor quality for low prices, manufacturers can afford to cut corners. "When the majority becomes middle class, aware of quality and prefer quality to low prices, I think the Chinese market will change," predicts Suzuki of Hokkaido University. Give it 10 or 20 years, he says, and "the Chinese will not buy poor quality goods even if the price is low."
