While the Brics have grown from low-cost to manufacturing sites to more sophisticated manufacturing locations, the real concern surrounds the amount of R&D that's being transferred there, said one German analyst interviewed in the BBC's report.

“Companies like Siemens, for example, are already not only manufacturing all their standard phones in China, but have as well put all R&D into China. The standards set will be set there, and the consumers will decide on what applications they want to have-the Chinese consumers, not the Germans,” he said, adding that Western countries need to “open their minds up and open their borders up” and move on to other industries.