Still racing to the middle

MARKETPLACE: "Retailers Still Expanding in China: Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco See Long-Term Opportunity Despite Recent Slackening Sales Growth Rate," by Mei Fong, Wall Street Journal, 22 January 2009.

Retail is such a cut-throat business that the classic bottom-of-the-pyramid feeders in the West who expect to do okay or well in tight times are still aggressively moving into rising Asia's future-center-of-consumer-gravity, China.

As one expert puts it, retailers "look stupid if they open in Europe or the U.S., so emerging markets [like China] look more attractive."

Any logic that holds up so strongly through this global recession must certainly impress, yes?