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Unfortunately, I believe due to lack of competition, North American
car manufacturers made some pretty low quality vehicles in the past.
When the only manufacturers that appear in Consumer Reports (a
presumably unbiased publication) list of used cars it recommends you
do not buy are North American, this sends a strong signal as to the
durability of their product. It may be that the vehicles
manufactured today are of equal or better quality than that of
foreign makes. But for my investment (gamble), I'm going to go with
the company with the proven track record.
I'm all for supporting our country. However the issue is far to
complex to simply say "buy American". What does that mean? Buy a
Honda that my neighbor helped make at the local Honda plant? or buy
a Chrysler that was made in Mexico with parts manufactured all over
the world?
Granted this is anecdotal, but I remember working in a barber shop
frequented by both GM workers and Honda workers and was constantly
amazed at the stories told... Hiding places, card games, sleeping,
reading magazines... working hard, pride, cleaning, long hours but
good pay.
I do not believe in charity. You get what you earn.
Back to Tech Writing :-)
I believe, perhaps naively, that if you consistently produce value
and quality, and do not rest on your laurels, there will be a place
for you in the global economy.
What you say about your writing is true. I, too, believe quality
and
professionalism will win out in the end. However, the comparison
with cars goes further. You mention customer satisfaction; that
applies to us, too.
However, this is very subjective and susceptible to advertising
pressure.
For example, I've driven North American vehicles exclusively for
close to fifty years. I drive them hard. Some were on maintenance
leases and I really abused them. I never had any problems. I've been
to Cuba where they're driving positively ancient North American
vehicles and they're still going strong.
However, because of the strong publicity--"Ninety percent--or some
such number--of Volvo's are still on the road eleven years after
they're made." Nobody bothered with the fact, well more than 90% of
North American cars were still on the road as well! As a result of
this anti-North American bias, when there's a problem with a North
American car, it's considered junk, when there's a problem with a
Japanese car, for instance, the owner praises the wonderful
service.
For this reason, we've got to counter any unfounded suggestions
that there are major benefits in outsourcing technical writing
offshore. As I mentioned in my first post, the thought that sending
jobs abroad eventually helps the economy is ludicrous. However, such
statments are circulated. We've got to push our own cases. We're
better and we're better for the companies that employ us.
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