Your overseas job: China or India?

If you're an American technie and you expect to be working overseas in the next few years, there are several reasons to think you are far more likely to be in China than India. Just today General Motors said it would build an R and D center in China to work on hyrbid auto tech. GM already has a joint venture in Shanghai that operates a 1300-employee R and D center. GM sells more vehicles in China than any other country outside the U.S. Last year GM sold 50 times more cars in China than back in 1999 which was another economic era altogether.

You probably know that smaller consumer items have already pushed China to #1 in national sales. Mobile devices are a clear indicator of where consumer marketing will go if China continues to grow and maintain political stability. Nokia's largest single market is China, and they're now embarked on direct retail marketing there as they are in New York. Here's info on Nokia's new stand-alone store in Shanghai.

There are already over 1200 R & D centers in China, funded by global corporations based elsewhere. On the surface it would seem India would also benefit from this current rush to globalism. And it has, but to much less extent than China. This piece on current talks between U.S. and Indian government officials lays out some of the barriers to investment in India.

In GreenTech specifially, there are ventures already well underway in China. Like, say, Greentech. Or Guanghui for solar, and I won't ask you to say that. And if you're job shopping or just curious, here's a list of solar firms in China. And here's a list of green tech manufacturing firms in China. Already many of the GreenTech consumer products available in the U.S. are made in China. From LED night-lights and flashlights to solar powered garden lights to solar-powered attic fans: Made in China.