China's X Factor

In one of the talks I gave in 2005 and again in a talk I gave in 2009 I predicted that the outsourcing of basic IT services to India and outsourcing of manufacturing to China would be followed by significant migration of R&D efforts to these countries. The announcement by GE is one more data point in this direction.

GE moving X-ray leadership team from US to China - Yahoo! Finance: "GE Healthcare, a maker of diagnostic imaging equipment, said Monday it is moving its X-ray global headquarters from the United States to Beijing as it seeks to tap China and other emerging markets.

The General Electric Co. unit is the first business of the industrial and financial giant to relocate to China.

Anne LeGrand, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare Global X-Ray, told a news conference that the decision to move from Waukesha, Wisconsin, was made two years ago and will be completed by early fall.

She said 'there is certainly the opportunity' to move other GE Healthcare units to China, but that is 'something that we will continue to evaluate.'

The move involves LeGrand and a handful of her top managers. In an interview, she said they will add other people to the team as they expand in China, but no jobs will be lost.

The move follows an announcement last year that GE plans to invest $2 billion in China, including $500 million in six research centers, one of which GE X-ray is developing in Chengdu in central China. The company has already hired 'close to 100 engineers' for the center in Chengdu, LeGrand said."