1. Global manufacturing and supply chain management allows companies to manufacture abroad in countries with lower costs while still maintaining quality. 2. Successful examples include HP in Mexico and Motorola in Singapore, which established manufacturing facilities alongside R&D, IT, finance, and other operations. 3. However, labor costs are increasing in countries like China and wages in India rose 7.2% last year, so companies must carefully consider total costs when deciding where to locate factories. 4. Germany has highly successful export companies but may need to improve education and integration to ensure continued competitiveness in the future.