Now how do you counter that...?

"What new innovations are coming out of India? What new innovations are coming out of China?" asked Bill Barney, chief executive of Hong Kong-based Asia Netcom, whose deep-sea fiber-optic cable network serves companies throughout Asia and in Silicon Valley.

One roadblock, Barney and others say, is that Asian societies tend to embrace strong corporate hierarchy and workers don't voice opinions.

"In Silicon Valley, you can chit-chat and share your views with your boss," said Alfred Kwok, a long-time Silicon Valley entrepreneur in the semiconductor industry who splits his time between San Jose and Suzhou, China. "In Asia, this is considered bad protocol."

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