Pourquoi le paiement de plus est de bonnes affaires de la Chine
Par Dan Harris
Mon ami Chris Carr, doyen du programme de CalPoly MBA et des cerveaux derrière le blog international d'excursion d'affaires fait autoriser un poteau très pensif, « En payant plus de comportement de changement et rendre quelqu'un plus moral ? » Pensif, mais faux.
Le poteau centre dessus si le paiement de plus t'obtient une meilleure exécution et/ou une meilleure éthique, et Chris joli indique beaucoup qu'il pas :
« Certains ont suggéré que nous pourrions résoudre le problème de trop de produits défectueux venant de Chine en payant plus aux fournisseurs chinois qui font cette substance. J'ai remis en cause cette prétention, et toujours.
Un example I a donné du fait le fil conducteur était que si le paiement des personnes davantage a résolu le problème, puis pourquoi payant toujours la plupart de bon résultat des employés dans la bonne exécution, mais exécution non supérieure ? (Voir le No. de commentaire. 29.) Et pourquoi payant à la plupart des mauvais employés plus d'argent distillateur obtient-ils te la mauvaise exécution, et à exécution non bonne ? (Si vous estimez que plus d'argent se corrèle avec un rendement plus élevé, venu voyez-moi après que vous ayez loué, contrôlé et mis le feu plus que peu de gens, et comparons les notes.) »
Permettez-moi au deconstruct. Si vous sous-payez votre fournisseur chinois, vous obtiendrez le mauvais produit. Il est celui simple. En sous-payant, je veux dire que si vous payez votre yuan 1000 de fournisseur pour faire la tuyauterie de cuivre qui exige le yuan 1000 en cuivre, vous obtiendrez la mauvaise tuyauterie. Garanti. Vos pipes n'auront pas la valeur 1000 de yuan du cuivre dans eux. Ils pas juste. Le paiement du yuan 2000 la tuyauterie ne vous garantira pas qu'obtenez le yuan 1000 du cuivre dans eux, mais il certainement améliore votre chance. Does anyone disagree with me on this?
Paying employees more does improve performance, and it does it in at least two ways. If you pay your good employees more, they are more likely to stay with your company and forsake all others. This allows you to retain good employees and overall company performance rises. The second way is more direct and, presumably, more what Chris had in mind. If you pay people well, they will be enthused about their job, like the company for which they work, and be more willing to give their all. I have seen this in my company’s employees and those of my clients and I have felt this myself.
Many years ago, my firm had two good sized vessel owning companies as clients. Both would have their vessels repaired mostly in China and Korea. One would bargain the shipyard down to its “absolute lowest price” and then be an incredibly slow pay and the other would not negotiate quite so hard and would always pay on time. My firm handled countless shipyard disputes for both of these companies over the years and I can tell you it was very clear to me that the better paying client was getting much faster and better (and I think, in the end, cheaper) service from the same shipyards. When we would call the shipyard on behalf of the better paying client, our calls would be returned promptly. Not so with the other client. At one point, both clients needed a vessel repaired quickly from the same shipyard and both were told it would take about a month. The shipyard was hugely busy and the better paying client got its vessel back in a month while it took two months for the other client. Is anyone surprised by any of this?
And what does “paying more” in the context of China manufacturing really mean, anyway? If it meant just willy-nilly raising the price paid to Chinese factories, I would completely agree with Chris. But I think it also means a willingness to pay more for such things as due diligence, good contracts, and quality control monitoring and nobody will ever convince me that these three things do not greatly increase the likelihood of good product from China.
Choose your side.
UPDATE: Just saw this post over at Time’s China Blog. May help prove my point.
Dan Harris is a founding member of Harris & Moure, an international boutique law firm. He is also co-editor of China Law Blog.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Your last points need emphasizing. “Paying more” should not simply refer to paying the Chinese supplier/manufacturer more but should also refer (as you said) to spending more money on quality control, vendor training and other associated, “hands-on” activities. One area little explored is training Western staff back at HQ, especially executives (so they have a more realistic view of what to expect and ask for from China operations) and back office staff (so deals don’t go sideways during the order fulfillment stages).
February 11th, 2008 at 3:44 am
From my own purchasing experiences with Chinese factories, “Paying More” means better parts, better quality of products. Chinese factories could supply the same model of consumer electronics to various U.S. chain stores, however the level of quality for the same product may vary. It all depends on how much you pay the factory, the more you pay, the better parts they use!
February 12th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
As a Chinese, I agree Chinese factories can provide the same product with various quality. But in fact Chinese are easy to cooperate with when you know the Chinese culture.
Paying more is one good way to get good products and on time delivery, however, strong and positive attitude towards cooperation and a representative in China are also needed.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:54 am
That is not always the case. The more you pay, the better product or performance you will get. Normally that’s true.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:48 am
The characteristics of Chinese manufacturing capabilities and performance differ in two respects only to the rest of the world. Firstly, the capacity is huge on a global scale. Secondly, within that capacity there will be many hundreds of manufacturers who will offer to produce your product. The competition is fantastic. You must accept responsibility for specifying what you want in your product, including quality, packaging and delivery. Having specified very carefully, you must then continuously evaluate the supplied product against your product specification. This is simple stuff, but too often overlooked by consumers and importers. Criticising Chinese manufacturers is nonsense.