By Klaus-Dieter Hanke

The good news for all importers is, there is no substitute to importing from China. Products at more economic prices have become part of our daily life. Most of these products are made in China and have replaced locally made products that could not compete with them for various reasons.

The bad news is that China as the so called “Factory of the World” is seriously affected by the lower demand of the main import countries like the USA and the EC member states.

To counter the effects of the global financial crises, China has announced a US$ 586 billion rescue package to finance programs in 10 major areas like rural infrastructure, social welfare, etc. The amount will be spent until 2010. Read the rest of “How does the present economic turmoil affect imports from China?” or post a comment

The 10 best read articles of last year, together with the 10 most commented on articles. Here we go!

10 Most Read Articles 2008

1. Luxury Brands in China
Nick Debnam & George Svinos

2. Starting a Business in China
The Worldbank Group

3. The impact of cultural difference when entering the Chinese market
Mona Chung Read the rest of “China Business Success Articles, Top 2008″ or post a comment

By Jack LeBlanc 

Jan’s standing orders were not to talk price under any circumstances, but to make sure that the visit in Europe would be light on formal meetings and heavy on visits to exotic locales. It was best that he not join the group, but give Smile one week’s travel money and let them enjoy the experience in their own way.

It was better this way because although Jan insisted on meeting the group, he quickly realized that they were out of his league. He arranged a memorable dinner in an expensive Japanese restaurant, probably thinking that the whole delegation would enjoy a hearty home-style meal away from home. Afterwards I got an ear-full about one of the delegates trying to sit on the tatami in a nicely decorated private room, losing his balance and accidentally smashing through the rice paper wall, disturbing a Japanese party in the adjacent room. Read the rest of “The great glass curtain walls of China. Part 8″ or post a comment

By Ryan Zhao 

Have you heard about L10N, G11N and i18n?

L10N is abbreviation of “Localization” (or spell as Localisation); there are 10 characters between first L and the last N. In similar, G11N refers to Globalization – 11 characters between G and N, and i18n for internationalization.

It is said these slangs firstly appear among software engineers. Internationalization (i18n) is the process of designing a software application so that it can be adapted to various languages and regions without engineering changes. Read the rest of “Mind The Gap – Localization in China” or post a comment

By Milad Nouri

Find the right manufacturer, perform a network-based sourcing

The starting point of each manufacturing project is to find the right factory. This part of the project is the most important one because it will affect the following stage of the process. The choice of the manufacturer highly depends on the type of product and the size of your business.
 
For instance, if your orders, in terms of quantity, do not fits the production capacity of the factory you would have problematic situations. If your quantity is much less than their usual orders, you may have commitment problem to your project. Read the rest of “Manufacturing in China, main challenges and practical tips for SMEs Part 2″ or post a comment