Does the Sun rise over Nepal, not India, China & Japan

Once manufacturing skills brought economic success, the global market now offers other routes
Everybody knows about the great historic trends driving economic globalization: the end of communism, which has united the world for the first time in history under one economic system; the emergence of china, India and other developing countries that brought three billion new worker and consumers into this global trade for the first time; and the virtual elimination of transport and communications costs, which has made it possible for the whole world economy to function as one. But many of the consequences that follow logically from this process are still not understood.
Particularly relevant to the contrast between Nepal; India, China and Japan. First manufactured goods, whose production is readily transferable to low cost economies such as China, are falling relentlessly in price. Secondly, this process of outsourcing has created a new type of business called “the platform company” by Charles Gave, the French economist.
Platform companies sell everywhere but produce nowhere – business such as Dell, Nokia, Ikea, Glaxo, Apple or L’Oreal. Where, for example, are the factories owned by Ikea or Dell? They do not exist, because these companies subcontract almost all their manufacturing to other businesses, mostly in developing countries. Any business process can be divided into three stages – design, production and marketing – and platform companies have perceived that the relative value of these stages – and platform companies have perceived that the relative value of these stages has fundamentally changed. In the 20^th century, control over production was the key to business success. Today the other two stages add most value, because production can be shifted to subcontractors in developing countries that compete intensely to reduce costs.