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This very morning in Shenzhen, China, a young design engineer will rise from his bed, have a quick breakfast and get dressed in clothes that might be the very ones he wore yesterday.  He'll jump on his bike or scooter, zip through the streets for 20 minutes, jump off and head into his company's manufacturing plant office to begin the day.  He'll put his things away, join another engineer in their "Reverse Engineering Department", and sit down around an existing product selling successfully on the market in Europe, Canada, and the United States.  He'll begin to pull piece after piece of it away and log notes on it's assembly, materials, dimensions, etc., with the intent of giving this information to his bosses, who will create 10,000 exact replicas at the factory to sell into the Chinese market with a new label on it.  Why?

This morning I read a post asking the question "Why Does China Copy Designs" at DesignSojourn blog, written by D.T., Design Translator, a product designer who works out of Sydney and Singapore.  His analysis largely focused on cultural and socioeconomic factors regarding the motivation of chinese companies to replicate, build-off-of, tweak, and steal existing product designs.  I usually get the question of "how does one prevent a product, invention, idea, or design from being stolen?"  Rarely do I get the question of "why do they steal?".  As D.T. points out, giving an explanation does not equal defense of the practice.  It's just a bloody interesting question.  It's a very complex issue.  But, to discuss it in a blog requires simplification.  I've consolidated D.T.'s points into two themes that struck me.

• Culture and Education:  "Fast forward to today, this is also similar to (i dare say) most design schools in China where students come from a rote learning high school background and are tought to follow instead of think. At school they look to famous designers and architects as examples, and their work naturally becomes very thematic or contain the safest forms of expression. Furthermore it is expected that Schools focus on technical skills instead of thinking skills, as learning about creativity is about following a set way of doing things."   

A few years ago, I was part of a program which brought professionals, educators, and politicians from 14 different countries around the PacRim for 6 months to discuss and interact on issues of culture, leadership, and more.  We discussed this phenomenon with our Chinese teammates and their responses were the same.  Today in Chinese culture, you are frowned upon heavily if you take a risk and are wrong.  New/different ideas and practices that deviate from the norm are shunned.  Conformity is praised.  Some might say the foundation for this cultural theme was laid by the teachings of Confucius.  Thus, the typical chinese person learns throughout their educational experience and upbringing that it's better to replicate something already proven than try and develop something new.

• Socioeconomic situation:  "When you grow up in a country where life is cheap, things do get brutal and money talks. There is no area for the softer aspects of the business, like branding, experience and emotive products etc." 
  

Competition amongst companies and factories over there can be very intense and many individuals will do whatever they can to beat out the next guy and build financial security for their family.  When I wrote my little story at the beginning of this post, I purposefully included the fact that my fairytale engineer might wear the same clothes day after day.  This is because he really might only have a few decent shirts, pants, and two pairs of shoes.  Many of these people have seen dramatic changes in their lifetimes, scarcity, and total government control.  Life can be very tough in China, and only recently since the early 90's, has there been a window opened for a new and better way of living.  When opportunity to flourish arises, many will take it.

A few points of note... 

• The situation is improving. 
• It is likely that they will begin protecting IP more when they have their own IP to protect (which they will someday). 
• This is why it's absolutely necessary to know who you're doing business with and visit their factory.