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Originally Posted by prsita
How to explain this difference?
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I wonder actually. One of the things that never paid attention to, but now know is that money isn't exactly liquid and the cost of business on a global scale is not always the same in every country.
For example, for a company like Sony to sell a device in the EU, there is more than just production and shipping costs. Any international trade comes under tariffs. These tariffs are normally done to encourage local goods over foreign, and I know the EU has been getting into hot water latey over tariffs with electronics they see as 'consumer goods' rather than 'electronics' as defined by a 1990s trade agreement.
So, there may actually be a different set of tariffs on Chinese goods being imported to the US vs the EU. It wouldn't surprise me if the tariffs are higher in Europe. The US is kinda known for allowing Chinese goods at the behest of US companies, and that might include lenient tariffs or even waived tariffs if the goods are being brought in for a company with a US presence. Not sure.
Also, when a company sells in a foreign country, that money isn't exactly easy to convert back into their native one as there are fees to do so. Plus tax codes in some nations make it such that you get taxed once the money enters the nation, rather than on your 'global income'. This creates wierd situations where they are encouraged to leave the money in that nation where it is of limited value, or needs to be invested in local labor/etc which may be more expensive than in a different nation and may cause the price to be adjusted (the per-unit cost of the warranty/customer service and so on).
Now, that all said, I don't know how much would actually be applied in this case... but having worked at large companies not unlike Sony, I find the reality is quite mundane most of the time. They aren't really turning around and saying "Let's screw Italy today! France will be next time around." But what they are doing is counting their pennies carefully when they plan price points with small margins like mass-produced consumer electronics.