Industria Argentina , Is There Anything That Doesnt Break?

[jeff1234]

Actually, Argentina had to impose trade barriers against Brazilian made products (in open violation to the Mercosul treaty) because Argentinian companies could compete in quality and price with their Brazilian counter parts. I am not talking about cheap Chinese products here. I am talking about products made in Brazil by unionized workers with social benefits and working under one of the most rigid labor laws in the world.

Appliances, electronics, heavy machinery, medical equipment and many other items were either taxed or outright banned because the Argentinian industry was unable to compete on both quality and price. The quality difference between a product MADE IN BRAZIl vs.MADE IN ARGENTINA is very noticeable and evident.

Every country in the world has seen upstart competitors take away their longtime products.
England lost its textile manufacturing to New England in the USA. New England lost it to the Southern US. They in turn lost it to lower priced China. China is now losing it to Indonesia and Vietnam.
Each one replaced the loss with new products that played to their current advantages such as more skilled labor, innovative new products, or proximity to markets. Thats how the worlds economy works.
Those that were afraid to compete, who blocked imports and forced their people to buy crap, always end badly.
Anybody remember the Yugo?

 

[John.St]

I'm a moderate socialist at heart and it's great that they look after local jobs, but they have certainly got the balance wrong in Argentina IMO.

Reminds me of Egypt some 25 years ago. One shovel, one man to control the shovel, two men pulling a rope attached to it.

To me it looked insane, but the explanation was rational.
It was either one man and one shovel + two unemployed sitting in the bazar planning a riot, or three man and one shovel.

 

[John.St]

duplicate - deleted

 

[arlean]

You sure are bringing up things I wonder about. I am one who reads about Argentina's past and mourns to see the country be all that I believe it was meant to be. I've heard Argentinians criticized for that (hearkening back to earlier times I mean) and I'm as bad as any of them. There are some people here who stand out and rate Five Star Respect from me. I've discussed this with one of them and he says he can tell me, no problem, they don't take pride in their work. That's the whole thing. It's a national condition, he says, to not care about the quality of your work, that work is down the list in importance from many other things.

I said well YOU take pride in your work and he said, "I'm not Argentine, I'm German." No kidding. His grandparents were born in Argentina and live in Argentina. But they ARE German with a little bit of Argie mixed in on his mother's side but she is typical German. A piece of dust would not DARE lie on her floor. I don't know if that's it, but his opinion sure would fit what you're all saying.

 

[Rich One]

Why do the Nescafe vending machines at Kioskos are always out of service.....? Answer because the immigrant operators are inept.? Or the power surges break the systems?

 

[arlean]

I have had two blenders here, First I had an "Atma." I knew someone in Uruguay having a really hard time financially, I was going over there and I had thought of getting them a blender because she used to make peanut butter and now had no blender. Since I was lazy and did not manage to get to the store in time, I looked at my Atma blender and thought, I'll just give them mind and I'll buy another one.

I took the Atma over there and later bought a Phillips. They used the Atma for about a year and then were going back to the states. I had mentioned that the Phillips had died an early death. She said "We are leaving and I'm going to give your blender back, it's still working fine." That was perhaps a year and a half ago and my broken Phillips sits on a shelf (hoping my son might fix it when he returns) and I make smoothies all the time with the Atma. Never heard of Atma brand, frankly, but this one is still working. I don't like all the little crevices that are hard to feel like it's really clean but still . . . . it works.

 

[johnw100]

You sure are bringing up things I wonder about. I am one who reads about Argentina's past and mourns to see the country be all that I believe it was meant to be. I've heard Argentinians criticized for that (hearkening back to earlier times I mean) and I'm as bad as any of them. There are some people here who stand out and rate Five Star Respect from me. I've discussed this with one of them and he says he can tell me, no problem, they don't take pride in their work. That's the whole thing. It's a national condition, he says, to not care about the quality of your work, that work is down the list in importance from many other things.

I said well YOU take pride in your work and he said, "I'm not Argentine, I'm German." No kidding. His grandparents were born in Argentina and live in Argentina. But they ARE German with a little bit of Argie mixed in on his mother's side but she is typical German. A piece of dust would not DARE lie on her floor. I don't know if that's it, but his opinion sure would fit what you're all saying.

I think alot do care about their work but are just overworked. So many times here we gone have somewhere and thought they need more staff. I`ve spoken to people who work for the goverment offices or banks and they are so tired and stressed because theyre overworked. Owners just dont want to spend out on extra wages to give that customer satisfaction.
The only place I know if fravega,musimundo,etc the big electrical places that staff seem to queue up to help you.

Another thing, why are leather sofas so expensive in Argentina considering they have one of the highest cattle stocks in the world? We had to settle for an eco-leather sofa that cost
more than our real leather sofa in the uk? Again, is it just greedy company bosses or is it transportation again?

 

[camberiu]

Again, is it just greedy company bosses or is it transportation again?

I'd be very careful when throwing terms like "greedy company bosses" around. There are ruthless and short sighted business people in Argentina for sure. But I think we also must consider the environment that any entrepreneur in Argentina must operate under. The level of business uncertainty in the country is extreme. What will the dollar rate look like in 6 months or a year? Will there be more import restrictions? If so, what if one of the machines critical for my production breaks down and I have to wait for months to get a replacement part, because it needs to be imported? What if a slacking employee decides to take me to the labor court because I caught him stealing and fired him?
Remember that any business person does a risk vs. reward analysis before investing. Considering the risks in Argentina, think about what the reward needs to look like for the business endeavor to make sense.

Matias keeps claiming that the Brazilian entrepreneurs are more "patriotic" and that is why they keep investing in the country. There is no such thing. They are as "patriotic" and rational as their Argentinian counterparts. They just have a better environment in which to operate, which alters the risk vs. reward equation that they operate under.

 

[Matiasba]

Matias keeps claiming that the Brazilian entrepreneurs are more "patriotic" and that is why they keep investing in the country. There is no such thing. They are as "patriotic" and rational as their Argentinian counterparts. They just have a better environment in which to operate, which alters the risk vs. reward equation that they operate under.

No, when the argentina productive classes had eveything in their favour, they sold out EVERYTHING to multinationals, to brazilians, chileans, etc. We used to have a pretty decent national industry, but today we have it in foreigners hands. Google "extranjerizacion del capital".

 

[syngirl]

through his shop. When a friends enquired a few weeks later he was asking 5 times the price we paid for the same worktop.

Also, I heard that because most of the manufacturing of goods is done in the south of Argentina where wages are low it means that transporting them to the rest of the country is expensive. No rail network means that the lorry drivers rule, and theyre asking crazy money to transport goods , thus pushing up the cost to the consumer.

Wages actually aren't low in the South! They make a lot more money than their counterparts in Mendoza or Buenos Aires province. The costs of food and other goods are extremely high in Rio Gallegos and the like so they compensate with high paying salaries. The only reason things are produced in the South is because the good old K's are from there and they and all their cronies own the factories and are getting hugely wealthy from the whole deal.