Learn lessons from some of the leading companies in China

By Russel Beron

Innovation is a word we are hearing a lot more of in China these days. The consensus is that as manufacturing costs in China continue to rise and supply chain complexity increases, so companies have to innovate both to save money and to increase efficiency.

In this story we take a deeper look into what a few companies and individuals in China, both foreign and Chinese are doing to lead the way in service, supplier management, IT implementation, as well as cost and process efficiency. These companies and individuals were all winners of awards at the November 2007 CHaINA Summit.

Advances across the supply chain in China are taking the form of new IT implementations, greater levels of service through 3PL’s, better supplier management, strategic location of operations and an increased focus on domestic R&D and development of local human and other resources. Read the rest of “China’s Supply Chain raises the bar - Part I” or post a comment

By Richard Kaye

The mistake many people make when engaging manufacturers or buying products in China is to think cheap. Lowest cost-lowest price, discount discount discount. There is a much better alternative and one that traders are not currently exploiting.

For example lets take a pair of shoes. Almost 50% of all the shoes sold in the UK originate in China. Now the costs involved in manufacturing a pair of shoes include the cost of materials, ie. leather, the cost of packaging, the cost of the overhead…rent rates electric etc, the cost of labour & management and of course the cost of shipping. However, think of this… the labour aspect of the combined costs is probably less than 10%. Read the rest of “Cheap or value added” or post a comment

Hello,
I know of a Chinese cement manufacturer that’s looking for funding to
replace their old standing kilns with new “dry” rotary kilns that will
increase efficiency and reduce pollution and is as a matter of fact,
mandated by the government.

Would you Read the rest of “Chinese cement manufacturers” or post a comment

Much thought and effort goes into the selection of vendors, but how much effort do you put into selecting an audit provider? Many potential clients begin their conversations with “We have tried third party auditors in the past…”

Does that sound familiar? I can’t tell you how to pick one company over another. Your particular industry and needs will determine who is right for you. What I can do, is give you some advice about audits in general.

Read the rest of “Evaluating your Audit Provider” or post a comment >>

By Dan Harris

My friend Chris Carr, dean of the CalPoly MBA program and the brains behind the International Business Tour blog has a very thoughtful post, entitled, “Will Paying More Change Behavior And Make Someone More Ethical?” Thoughtful, but wrong.

The post centers on whether paying more gets you better performance and/or better ethics, and Chris pretty much says it does not:

“Some suggested that we could solve the problem of too many defective products coming from China by paying more to the Chinese suppliers that make this stuff. I questioned that assumption, and still do.

One example I gave in that discussion thread was that if paying people more solved the problem, then why does paying most good employees more still result in good performance, but not superior performance? (See Comment No. 29.) And why does paying most bad employees more money still get you bad performance, and not good performance? (If you feel that more money correlates to higher performance, come see me after you have hired, managed and fired more than a few people, and let’s compare notes.)”

Read the rest of “Why Paying More Is Good China Business” or post a comment