I have been in contact with an Indonesian importer who is in the following situation: He buys standard products, The supplier requests 100% payment before shipment, The factory has shown in the past that it can't be trusted at … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2012
A couple of housekeeping notes
1. Disqus I finally decided to install Disqus for managing comments. By providing more options, I hope to get more comments from readers. For example, some people don't comment because they don't want to reveal anything about themselves … [Read more...]
How to manage Chinese staff: 3 steps to empowerment
After 5 years working full time in China (and a lot of trial-and-error), I start to understand how to manage Chinese staff for best results. I think one can distinguish three levels, from micro-management (everybody hates it) all the way … [Read more...]
How Chinese manufacturers reduce their costs: “the sub-supply chain”
Last week I described a few ways Chinese manufacturers differentiate their products, based on an article from Global Sources. Now let's have a look at how they cut their operating costs. It is pretty ugly, as described by … [Read more...]