H ardworking I sn't Everything

By Wei Xin

H ardworking I sn't Everything

By Wei Xin

I’ve been living in East America for a long time.Oscillating between the tranquility of the erudite Boston and the pragmatism of the bustling New York,I found myself a great contributor to the ticket boxes of bus companies commuting between the two cities.

In the early years when I first came to America for study,the bus line from Boston to New York was mainly run by Greyhound,an American bus company,whose the ticket fare was over 40 dollars.Yet with the advent of the Chinese company Fung Wah,many bus takers shifted to the new comer, because its ticket price was only$10, and later$15 after the price increased. Like most of the price-sensitive Chinese,Black and Latin American immigrants,I,too,switched to Fung Wah for a limited budget.

However,Fung Wah was eventually defeated by itself.A series of severe accidents happened to Fung Wah buses,either car crashes because of fa-tigue driving or over speeding,or tire bursts on the freeway due to lack of vehicle maintenance.Another time,a blind man with a guide dog was rejected for the company rule that pets were not allowed on the bus.The blind man sued Fung Wah for disability discrimination.Fung Wah was fined millions of dollars,and closed by the traffic control department.

If we take a careful look at Fung Wah,we will find problems hidden among their competitive advantages.

First of all,their employees were mainly Chinese immigrants hard working yet without a legal identity.With wages much lower and working time much longer than the average,fatigue driving seemed inevitable for Fung Wah drivers.Secondly,to keep the fares low,the company naturally had to put less money in vehicle maintenance and insurance,which made it more prone to frequent accidents.Finally,unfamiliar with local customs, unwilling to spend money on lawyers to avoid legal risks,the Chinese traditional diligent and thrift management of Fung Wah made it unaccustomed to the American passengers with deeply rooted awareness of legal rights,and thus became a frequent defendant in law suits.

From the fierce competition between the two companies on this bus line,many investors smelt the promising profit and joined in the market.

At South Station Boston,bus companies like Mega Bus and Bolt Bus run by the American,and Lucky Star run by the Chinese emerged in succession.They took the$15 ticket fare of Fung Wah as the industry standard, and offered us commuters more op tions.

Despite its higher ticket fee,Mega Bus seemed more appealing than Chinese buses.

They use a double deck bus driven by one driver,which lowered the cost ondrivers’wages.Inaddition, through online ticket sales and fares adjustable according to the sales volume,more passengers were attracted to Mega Bus.

In a few years,Mega Bus with its distinctoperatingfeaturespromptly seized the market space left by Fung Wah’s closure,while Lucky Star,another Chinese bus company,could no longer get a greater advantage on the fares due to the then more strict gov ernment security control.After a lapse of years,Mega Bus now charges$34 for a ticket,and Lucky Star$28.But passengers no longer care much aboutthe$6 difference.

Americans are more vigilant about safety and legal boundaries.They are more apt to reduce costs and increase revenue by the means of large-scale production,accurate operation control through statistical algorithms and differential pricing.In this way,they earn the profit and satisfy both customers and employees,forming a positive cycle.

Fung Wah surely has its own merits, though the Chinese diligence somehow seemed a disturbance in the free competition of the American market.

From the ups and downs of these companies,we see not just the Chinese immigrants’life abroad,or the businesscompetitioninAmerica. While China tries to get immersed into the global economy in depth and relocate mass capacity abroad today,Fung Wah’s experience might have shown the challenge many Chinese companies will have to face landing in European and American markets.

Diligence is obviously an important virtue.Yet the diligence of manpower is no longer a competitive advantage of the modern society,especially in the United States,a place with a well-establishedlegalsystemand high-tech industries replacing intensive labor industries.(FromVista Vol.12, 2015.Translation:Jessie White.Illustration:Liu Hong)