رخيصة أو [فلو-دّد]
بريتشارد [ك]
يجعل الغلطة كثير الناس عندما يشبك صاحب مصنع أو يشتري منتوجات في الصين يكون أن يفكّر بثمن زهيد. سعر منخفضة [كست-لووست], خصوم خصوم خصوم. هناك كثير خيار جيّدة وواحدة أنّ تجار يكون لا حاليّا يستغلّون.
مثلا يترك لقطة [ا] زوج الأحذية. باع تقريبا 50% من [ألّ ث] أحذية في ال [أوك] يتكوّن في الصين. الآن تضمّن التكاليف في يصنع زوج الأحذية يتضمّن التكلفة ال [متريلس], [إي]. يصنّف جلد, التكلفة من يعبّئ, التكلفة من العلويّة… إيجار [إتك] كهربائيّة, التكلفة من عمل & إدارة و [أف كورس] التكلفة الشحن. فكّرت مهما, من هذا… المظهر عمّاليّة من ال يضمّ تكاليف يكون على الأرجح بعض من 10%.
هكذا تخيّلت £10 لكلّ من أحذية حيث ال [لبوور كست] يكون بعض من £1. ماذا إن أنت ضاعفت ال يجوز [لبوور كست] وشجّع الناس أن ينفق مرّتين الوقت على ينتج بشكل ملحوظ [ولّ قوليتي برودوكت]. تخيّلت البراعة وكبرياء [تك ين] الناس عملهم وتخيّل عودتك على إستثمار ل أنّ £1 إضافيّة ينفق. ال كثير عمل أنت يستطيع أضفت إلى منتوج صينيّة مصنوعة ال كثير قيمة أنت يستطيع أضفت إلى الأعين من المستهلكة. الصين يمكن لا بعد كنت يشبع من حرفيات وحرفيات دقيقة, غير أنّ سيكون واحدة يوم بما أنّ هذا مقاربة يصبح أكثر سائدة. شركات سيبدأون أن يستثمر [هوجلي] في مهارات يمكّن قوّت عاملةهم أن يضيف النوعية أنّ مستهلكات غربيّة يقدّمون. الصين سيغيّر سمعة كمنخفضة تكلفة منتج من منتوجات [مسّ برودوسد] إلى واحدة من [لبوور فورس] ضخمة من جدّا يمهر نوعية صاحب مصنع. Western luxury goods producers should beware and take action now and for those of you in highly skilled low volume production jobs, beware also as the move of manufacture of these products is inevitable.
A similar principle can be applied to almost any product currently manufactured in China. However the principle does not apply to western manufactured products where the labour aspect of costs can often be as high as 30%.
So whether buying or manufacturing in China the rule should be go for expensive, better produced, quality goods with a huge amount of added value. This is where your opportunity for profit will come from and is also likely to differentiate you from the many other operators in China who are still thinking Cheap.
Richard Kaye, For Sale in China
March 17th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Is there a formula you can apply to working out how much to spend on labour?
Is this something that can be taught, or something that can only be learnt?
Would be really interesting to see some real life examples…
Paul
March 18th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I agree. There’s far too much emphasis on just getting the job done these days. What happened to taking a pride in the workmanship of what we do or own? Would be nice to see things made to last again.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Definitely a different view to take on the whole situation, but I think the idea of products designed cheaply so that they’d break quickly (and for this to be considered acceptable by the general public) is probably one of the biggest success stories of the industry today, spending that extra £1 could mean losing a further £8 in a years time.
However it would be great for a few new players to come in and do things right again.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I guess most of European entrepreneurs expect Chinese labour to be dirt cheap, and most Chinese manufacturers know this is what we expect and fulfill our expectations. I wonder why nobody wants to aim higher…
March 20th, 2008 at 11:05 am
You make a very good point. I think the reason is many years of indoctrination and obedience has led to a propensity to acquiesce to others expectations.
An entrepreneurial spirit is beginning to surface among modern Chinese and this will gather pace quickly. As markets open and Chinese entrepreneurs become aware of the opportunities out there in the wider world, greed and desire, two important commodities in driving success, will prevail, expectations will rise, and this will filter through to the very structure of the current business establishment. The commercial world had better beware because this changing state is only years and not decades away.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Is there a formula you can apply to working out how much to spend on labour? Is this something that can be taught, or something that can only be learnt?
Yes. Absolutely yes! There are several formulas that can be used to calculate labour costs - what they are in terms of business profitability and what they should be to manage the business properly. You can use the same formulas in reverse to calculate a basis for what your labor costs “should be.”
Cost of Labor $
This is the total cost of labor.
Cost of Labor %
Here we divide the COL dollars into gross sales to achieve the COL percentage. Again we want to understand the percentage and total dollar amounts.
Cost of Labor Target of 25% with Variance in %
In this column we take the actual COL percentage against a targeted 25% COL (or goal). The actual COL percentage will change due to many variables such as, vacations, holidays and your shop’s labor efficiency.
Cost of Labor Target of 25% with Variance in $
You will want to understand not only the percentage variance but also the dollar variance. These numbers should be reviewed over a period of time to watch for trends.
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Richard - I am an entrepreneur considering importing goods from China for sale in the UK. You seem to know your stuff (an excellent article) so is there any general advise you can give? I have also seen your website (www.forsaleinchina.co.uk) where you mention the importance of Guanxi. How important is this?
March 25th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
As a Chinese girl, I know the Guanxi is very important. Just for an example, you want to get a special license for exporting wood,then you know some right people in right dept of government, you don’t need to wait ten days to get but several hours. There is a saying in China,You have guanxi, you can make everything go smoothy.