Brexit Metaphor No 126.
Japanese investors are pulling out of the UK: Nissan, Honda, Panasonic. That's no surprise given that the Japanese prize certainty and stability.
When real estate developers plan major investments, the metro/underground railway lines in a city are a major consideration where to invest. In many megacities in emerging markets, however, the metrobus is a cheaper and equally efficient public transport alternative to the underground. Yet, metrobus lines are no good for a real estate developer because these are built on roads and the road can be re-purposed easily, so a commitment by a local government to maintaining the metrobus line in its current location cannot be taken for granted. While an underground line of railway tracks is unlikely to be moved anywhere else.
The EU provides the certainty of an underground railway network to a foreign investor while Britain is suggesting it wants to operate as a cheaper metrobus line after Brexit. Britain wants to emulate the dynamism of emerging markets, so a metrobus sounds about right, right? But guess which of the two a real estate developer would prefer to deal with? Or a Japanese carmaker?
 |
| Metrobus Istanbul (Source: Wikipedia) |
Notes:
1. Timeline: This article is part of a series of original #BrexitMetaphors published daily. A total of 126 have been posted so far and another 35 Brexit Metaphors will be published every day until the planned Brexit date of March 29, 2019.
2. Disclosure: The author has a master's degree in European Integration. He also thinks he knows a bit about business, economics, entrepreneurship, China, history, geography, nature, science and Rubik Cubes.
3. Invitation: If you'd like to contribute to the debate, please leave a comment below or re-tweet the blogpost link.
4. Sign-up: I would be thrilled if you signed up to receive my blog daily by entering your email address in the blank in the top right-hand corner of this page.
5. Thank you for being here!
No comments:
Post a Comment