BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 5, 2000 ISSUE
INTERNATIONAL -- ASIAN COVER STORY Faking It in China How the counterfeiting industry works LOW END Workshops, often run as mom-and-pop operations, churn out basic knockoffs of Western consumer goods. It's the slick packaging that counts; what's in the bottle may be cheap. Targets: soap, shampoo, soft drinks, and beer. MIDRANGE The counterfeiters move up the food chain. More ambitious plants, often run and financed by Hong Kong and Taiwan pirates, can produce passable imitations of U.S., European, and Japanese batteries, film, and mobile-phone accessories. Again, the packaging can be quite deceptive. HIGH END This is where counterfeiters, often state-owned enterprises, sometimes steal technology from joint ventures with Western companies and use it to produce knockoffs. Or joint-venture partners sell it. Categories: Pharmaceuticals, motorcycles, car parts. TOP OF THE MARKET This is the most profitable part of the industry, but the cost of entry is high. Counterfeiters need to acquire the most sophisticated production gear possible, especially the stamping machinery needed to make compact disks. The result is quality good enough for export. DATA: Business Week _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS China's Pirates (int'l edition) ASIAN COVER IMAGE: China's Pirates TABLE: Faking It in China TABLE: The Pirates' Growing List of Victims INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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