Chile Forum

oregon woodsmoke wrote:[[[.....exactly how I feel about people in North America who complain about China and their path to industrialization....]]]]

Since China's air pollution is quite literally blowing across the Pacific and infecting the air in Oregon, I think that gives us Oregonians at least a partial right to complain about how China is industrializing. What they do in China might be China's business, but what they do that affects their neighbors becomes the neighbors' business.

Little things like selling poisoned food and toothpaste do tend to get the neighbors a bit riled up.

On the flip side, I agree with Patagoniax. Oregon is a beautiful state because we have always taken good care of it. But the tree huggers from the East coast who have destroyed their own ecology have destroyed the economy in Oregon with lawsuit after lawsuit, because they think they know better how to take care of our state than we do. Never mind that our track record is exceedingly better than theirs. I gotta tell you, I wouldn't want them in control of the Patagonia if I lived there.

Unfortunately, being realistic, what happens to Patagonia is going to be determined by Santiago. So a bit of education about ecology to the voters and government in Santiago can't be such a bad thing. The more information available before making a major decision, the better. Then, their informed decision is probably going to be whatever benefits themselves the most, so it would be nice if they could understand how they might benefit from NOT despoiling the area before they start weighing the options.

So North America and Europe get to go through an industrial revolution, live in a 4000 square foot house (as we do in Canada), drive Hummers and now we are going to tell 1 billion chinese that they should not live like we do? A lot of the pollution is thanks to a lot of the disposable crap that we in the west buy. The reality is that in North America we use resources and pollute on a per capita basis much more than the Chinese. I am not making apologies for the Chinese btw as i find the way they are polluting their rivers obscene.

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Clerk: Where is Punta Arenas? Is that in Chile?

Customer: Yes, in the XIIa Región.

Clerk: Let me check ...

[5 minutes of absence for phone calls]

Clerk: I am sorry. We can only ship to places in Chile.

So Punta Arenas is kind of like the Saipan of Chile?

More like the Tinian. At least some people can find Saipan. =8-)

Are there some expats working in the areas of innovation or more specifically management of innovation here?

the19trier wrote:Are there some expats working in the areas of innovation or more specifically management of innovation here?

Not sure this question makes sense. I don't think there is any such thing as "management of innovation" here. Innovation is usually thought of as a characteristic rather than a product or service or business function to be managed. So it would be unlikely to see "manager of doing stuff in a significantly new and better way." If anyone does hear of something similar, by all means let us know. There may be a better way to phrase the question and the concept you were trying to describe.

I think some of the most obvious examples of lack of product development and product inovation are in b/c2c internet sites - portalinmobiliario, laborum (and other job sites), and worst of all chileautos.
Chileautos is THE place to sell a car online in Chile, but it is obvious that the owners have not done anything in terms of product development since they launched the site many years ago. Plastered with banners, poor search options, very high price (1% of sales value), terrible website design and lack of ad upselling opportunities. My only guess is that, the guys who made that site prefers to cash in as long as possible, without lifting a finger, instead of improving their product.
Searching for a 3 bedroom flat in Las Condes on Portalinmobiliario is also a nightmare, for example. No option of searching on map, on year of construction, pool y/n, and soforth. Again, I guess that the owners are not really interested in improving the product, because there is no competition...
Job searching online is the same thing - however, there are lots of different sites.

Is that a cultural thing, to settle with what you've got? Or is it due to the lack of competition (price competition) that I think is a general problem in Chile (in telco, retail, Isapres, banking) - a lack of competition that also is reflected in the customer service issues that many expats complain about? (not me, I am from Denmark - customer service is an unknown concept back home).

Yes, I am aware that the whole internet thing is still less mature in Chile than in US or Europe, but I don't think that it explains the near complete lack of product development that is evident.

Ps. I have noticed that zoomautomotriz have been trying to catch up and I much prefer their site, but they still only have about a 1/10 of the volume that chileautos has.

Here's an innovation. Serious "perros de ropa" .... Not world-class but these serve the domestic need. Or at least a regional need.

Anybody who has tried to hang out laundry in the prevailing southern Patagonian winds knows that using a standard Chinese clothes-pin (foreground, insert) will result in finding their knickers flying past the Azores before long. So there is a tiny industry in the Punta Arenas area that produces substantial Magellanic Clothes-pins.

No, sorry, I don't sell them.

The wood is rough lenga, and it weathers well. The spring-steel appears to be taken from old Lada taxis and early-model Citronetas, both known for their elegance and mechanical refinement.

You can also use these pins to anchor a tether for a small child or domestic animal.

Just one of those Magellanic innovations. Anyone seen these in other than the patagonia?



last image belongs to Carlitosway