海外生産はwin-winとはいえない

近頃あまり聞かなくなったけど、法人税を上げると出ていくぞーとか原発再稼働しないと出ていくぞーとか、そういう意見が製造業から聞かれてたことがあったよね。Appleは主力製品を全部中国で生産してるんだけど、そのやり方への批判が出てたのが興味深かった。Apple: why doesn't it employ more US workers? | Technology | The Guardian

As Cameron knows, Apple is a byword of everyday sleekness. Yet there is another way of viewing the company. Focus instead on the way it does business, and all those iPhones, iPods and iPads aren't just exemplars of design and user-friendliness: they are devices that destroy western jobs. And they do so needlessly, because if the California-based giant manufactured its goods in America rather than China, it could still make profits that would be the envy of every other US business.

This is, I know, an unorthodox position. When journalists or politicians discuss the way that western companies make goods in China, or anywhere else in Asia, they almost always start from the premise that this is how business is done nowadays. This is the commonly accepted logic of globalisation, which enables companies to keep their costs down, which allows the ordinary American or Briton to spend less money shopping, and which also offers poorer nations in the east to develop their economies. Expensive shirts might still be made in Italy; high-end kitchens might be assembled in Germany – but the future of mass production inevitably lies in China.

Appleはカッコよさの代名詞だ。一方で、ほかの見方もある。彼らのビジネスのやり方、とくにiPhoneやiPodやiPadはデザインや使いやすさの見本というだけでなく、先進国の雇用の破壊者なのだ。そしてこの企業はアメリカ国内で生産したとしても、他の企業がうらやむような収益をあげられるのに、そうしないのだ。こういう言い方は変だと思われるかもしれない。中国で生産する西側企業のことをジャーナリストや政治家が取り上げるとき、今どきのビジネスはそういうものだという前提で始まる。これはグローバル化の当然の理屈として受け入れられ、企業は経費を安く抑え、平均的なアメリカ人や英国人は安く物が買え、アジアの貧しい国々は経済発展できるというのだ。高級なシャツはイタリアで、高級なキッチンはドイツで作られるかもしれないが、大量生産の未来は中国にあるに違いないのだ。
ところが：

And according to new research given exclusively to the Guardian by the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (Cresc), it's clear that it would not only be affordable for Apple still to make its goods in America, it would remain hugely profitable.

Using a mix of Apple's own filings and industry data, the academics broke down the cost of making one product in particular: the wildly popular 4G iPhone. Assembled in China, the total cost of putting together just one phone was $178.45. Compare that with a sale price (including downloads) of $630 and Apple makes $452 on each phone: a whacking gross margin of 72%.

Chinese labour accounts for a tiny proportion of the company's costs: $7.10 for each phone, which accounts for about eight hours of assembly. So what would it cost to make the same iPhone in America? The Cresc team took the average wage in the US electronics industry of $21 per hour and calculated that the total production cost would increase to $337.01. That is a big jump – but it still leaves Apple with a gross margin of 46.5% on each iPhone – a level that Cresc's Sukhdev Johal estimates would probably still make it the most profitable phone in the world.

ガーディアン紙がCentre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (Cresc)から得た報告書によると、Appleは国内生産しても十分な収益があげられる。研究者らはAppleの公開データから、4G iPhoneを中国で組み立てるのに１台 $178.45と推定した。ダウンロードを含めて販売価格は$630 なので、なんと72％もの収益を出している。中国の労賃は1台あたりたったの$7.10で、これは8時間に相当する。同じものを米国で生産したらどうなるか？米国の電機産業の平均時給を$21とすると、1台あたり$337.01かかることになる。それでも46.5％もの収益だと推定できる。
おいおい、Appleもうけすぎじゃね？しかも、もうけた分は株主への配当に回すから、結局経営陣が儲かるってわけ。また、Appleの製品を作ってる中国人労働者のためにもなっていないんだって。

This division of labour has certainly not helped China very much. Foxconn, which makes those iPhones, has to work to an incredibly tough contract with Apple that forces it to keep all costs to a minimum. This surely helps account for why Foxconn, whose client list is almost a Who's Who of the smartphone sector, has had repeated troubles with its workforce, including at least 18 suicide attempts by workers in 2010 alone. After that, and the terrible publicity that followed, Apple put pressure on its subcontractor to raise workers' pay and improve conditions. But it didn't take the most obvious route of doing so, which would be: pay more to Foxconn, and direct it to use that surplus to increase wages.

こうした労働の分配は中国のためにもなっていない。iPhoneを生産しているFoxconnは、Appleと大変厳しい契約関係を結ばされており、最低限のコストに抑えるよう求められている。Foxconnの顧客リストはスマートフォン業界の名簿ともいえるが、たびたび労働者とトラブルを起こしており、2010年だけで少なくとも18名の自殺者を出している。その後の報道で、Appleは下請けに賃上げと労働条件の改善をするよう圧力をかけた。しかし、Appleはもっとも当たり前の、Foxconnへの支払いを増やし、それを賃金に回すという方法をとらなかった。
感想：Appleマジ蟹工船。