Bon marché ou à valeur ajoutée
Par Richard Kaye
L'erreur beaucoup de gens font quand engager des fabricants ou des produits achetants en Chine est de penser bon marché. Le plus bas coût-bas prix, escompte d'escompte d'escompte. Il y a une alternative et bien meilleures que les commerçants n'exploitent pas actuellement.
Par exemple laisse la prise par paire de chaussures. Presque 50% de toutes chaussures s'est vendu au R-U provient de la Chine. Maintenant les coûts ont impliqué en fabriquant une paire de chaussures incluent le coût de matériaux, IE. le cuir, le coût d'empaquetage, le coût… du loyer aérien évalue etc. électrique, le coût du travail et de la gestion et naturellement le coût d'expédition. Cependant, pensez à ceci… que l'aspect de travail des coûts combinés est probablement moins de 10%.
Imaginez ainsi un £10 par de chaussures où le coût de la main-d'oeuvre est moins que £1. Ce qui si vous doubliez le coût de la main-d'oeuvre permis et encouragiez des personnes à passer deux fois le temps sur produire un produit de qualité sensiblement meilleure. Imaginez que les personnes d'art et de fierté rentreraient leur travail et imaginer votre retour sur l'investissement pour cela £1 supplémentaire a dépensé. Plus vous pouvez ajouter à un produit manufacturé chinois plus travail de valeur que vous pouvez s'ajouter aux yeux du consommateur. La Chine peut encore ne pas être pleine des artisans et des bons artisans, mais sera d'un jour pendant que cette approche devient plus répandue. Les compagnies commenceront à investir énormement dans les qualifications permettant à leur main d'oeuvre d'ajouter la qualité que les consommateurs occidentaux évaluent. La réputation de la Chine en tant que producteur à prix réduit des produits produits en série changera en un d'une main-d'oeuvre énorme des fabricants fortement habiles de qualité. 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.