NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- This week's Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition centerpiece will focus on how Terry Gou, founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., has turned his company into China's biggest exporter and the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics.
A decade ago, Hon Hai was a modest producer of computer parts. Now it makes nearly all the pieces in many of the computers, cellphones and digital cameras that it turns out for companies, including Dell Inc., Nokia Corp., Motorola Inc. and Sony Corp. The company is also the exclusive supplier of Apple's iPhones and one of only a few makers of iPods.
"Hon Hai, and its massive Shenzhen plant, provides a window into the sometimes-secretive world of manufacturing in China," writes Journal reporter Jason Dean in this week's Weekend Edition. "Confidentiality is a selling point for contract manufacturers, whose customers count on them to shield their products and plans from outsiders. Secrecy has also been a central issue in China's recent tainted-product scandal, with the often-quiet relationship between U.S. companies and their suppliers complicating regulators' hunt for the source of defective goods."
In 1974, Mr. Gou started Hon Hai in a facility near Taipei, making plastic channel-changing knobs for black-and-white televisions. In the early 1980s, he expanded into the PC industry and by 1988, Mr. Gou set up his first factory in Shenzhen, China. Today, the Shenzhen plant employs a workforce of some 270,000, covers 1.4 square miles and contains assembly lines, dormitories, a fire brigade, a hospital and an employee swimming pool. In all, more than 450,000 workers are now employed at Mr. Gou's plants across about a dozen provinces of China. Thousands more work in facilities run by Hon Hai and its affiliates across the globe -- including Hungary, Mexico and Brazil -- as the company sets up plants closer to its customers' operations.
Mr. Dean adds, "Hon Hai's $43 billion market capitalization is equal to that of its 10 biggest global rivals combined." Competitors are struggling to keep up.
Additional stories appearing in this week's Weekend Edition of The Wall Street Journal include the following:
Money & Investing:
* Are Blue-Chip Stocks Relatively Cheap?: After seven years in
the doghouse and three weeks of stock-market turmoil, the big,
blue-chip stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500-index may not be
bargains -- but their price-to-earnings ratio are now at
levels not regularly seen since 1994 and 1995
* Savviest Stock-Pickers Caught Off Guard: A number of highly
regarded stock-mutual-fund managers are seeing their returns
pinched by mortgage- and housing-related holdings. The troubles
illustrate that even some of the savviest stock-pickers may have
been caught off guard by the extent of the housing slowdown and
mortgage-market woes
* U.S. Dollar Remains Surprisingly Calm, but Vulnerable: As
turmoil sweeps through stock and credit markets, the U.S.
Dollar is surprisingly calm. That's unlike past crises. However,
the dollar is also the big vulnerability so we'll explain what's
different this time and why the situation could get worse
* Are Stocks Going Haywire?: Stock markets are behaving in really
weird ways. Weak stocks are rising while blue-chips are falling.
Europe is down more than the U.S., even though the center of
financial problems is in the U.S. One important reason behind it:
so-called "quant" funds -- the ones that make investment
decisions based on complex computer calculations and formulas
are being forced to sell their best stuff in order to raise cash
Pursuits:
* The Annual "Suicide Race" Continues to Draw Huge Crowds: For
more than 70 years, cowboys and Indians have gathered in the
rolling sagebrush hills of central Washington every August for
the annual Omak Stampede and the rodeo's biggest draw, the Suicide
Race. The event, in which at least 21 horses have died in the last
25 years, is one of a handful of tourist attractions around the
world that draw crowds primarily because of dangers that athletes
and their animals face
* Trunk Shows Move Online, Offering the Once-Exclusive Events to
a Broader Audience: First there were trunk shows, where stores
gave their best customers a chance to preview high-end designer
collections and place orders, while sipping wine or Champagne.
Now the shows are going online, opening up the once-exclusive
events to a broad audience
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The Wall Street Journal, the flagship publication of Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) (www.dowjones.com), is the world's leading business publication. Founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal has a print and online circulation of nearly 2.1 million, reaching the nation's top business and political leaders, as well as investors across the country. Holding 33 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism, The Wall Street Journal provides readers with trusted information and knowledge to make better decisions. The Wall Street Journal print franchise has more than 750 journalists world-wide, part of the Dow Jones network of nearly 1,800 business and financial news staff. Other publications that are part of The Wall Street Journal franchise, with total circulation of 2.6 million, include The Wall Street Journal Asia, The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the largest paid subscription news site on the Web. In 2007, the Journal was ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the eighth consecutive year. The Wall Street Journal Radio Network services news and information to more than 280 radio stations in the U.S.
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Editor's Note: WSJ reporters are available to discuss these topics.