First, the need to hold stocks of parts, partially finished and finished goods falls sharply: inventories at Dell have fallen from 31 days of parts at the end of the 1996 financial year to only six days today, says Paul Bell, who runs Dell's operations in Europe.

ECONOMIST: All yours | The

As my colleague Connie Guglielmo has noted, Apple actually buys some of the manufacturing gear used by some of the firms that make parts and finished goods for the company.

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First and foremost economics: China already is or will in time become that largest and fastest growing market for a range of Japanese exports, a key production base for its industrial companies, and a source of important imports, from finished goods, to parts, to primary materials and food.

FORBES: More on the Future Japan-China (and Japan--U.S. ) Relationship

The recklessness of that action sent shock waves through the boardrooms of every Japanese company that has come to rely upon China not just for raw materials, but for intermediate parts and, of course, for finished goods.

FORBES: Managing China Risk