In my last article, I explained how an importer can confirm his product's quality while paying by bank wire. The other very widespread mode of payment is the letter of credit (L/C), or documentary credit. Generally speaking, buyers should … [Read more...]
Confirming quality when paying by bank wire (T/T)
This article will detail how an importer can confirm his product's quality while paying by bank wire (let's say the deposit is 30%). Important note: what I wrote below is relevant primarily for sea shipments. For air shipping, the … [Read more...]
Tie payments to quality acceptance, for each shipment
I'm catching up here on a good post entitled When Sourcing in China. Cash = Control on the All Roads blog. I wanted to write something about the relationship between payments and quality, but I don't think I can write it more clearly than … [Read more...]
An inappropriate example about China sourcing
Very good post, over at Evolving Excellence, entitled How Do You Like Them Apples?. Bill Waddell, a consultant with strong experience in operations management, analyzes Apple’s procurement of iPods. He tries to demonstrate that Apple … [Read more...]
Resolving conflicts in China
I finished reading Mr. China by Tim Clissold and I found it quite interesting. It is the story of an investment fund that lost hundreds of millions of dollars in China in the 1990s. The author describes in great details the traps his … [Read more...]
Chinese suppliers and subcontracting
I just came across an interesting post ("6 conversations and a couple of cultural lessons") on the SRI blog. In the last paragraphs, David Dayton evokes the sub-contracting habits of Chinese manufacturers: Chinese factories ALWAYS sub work … [Read more...]
Lack of quality control: impact on consumers
The general shareholders meeting at Carrefour (2nd largest retailer in the world) recently took place. Many newspapers wrote about the complaint from a small shareholder, speaking in public to the CEO (see this article from Le Monde, 10th … [Read more...]
How can importers renew their product line regularly?
A few weeks ago, I was asked what a small importer can do to "keep his pipeline full". Many importers of general consumer goods need to renew their products regularly, for many reasons. But how to get new product ideas and develop them on … [Read more...]
Who is responsible for China quality problems?
In a recent post, I was wondering whether many importers calculated the fully-burdened cost of imports. Today, I came upon an interesting article on Knowledge@Wharton (Can China Meet the Quality Challenge?) where Mr. Pinney, from BCG … [Read more...]
Western importers in China, forced to compromise on quality
I am reading Poorly Made In China, and it is a real treat. Paul Midler, the author, does a great job at analyzing the psychology of oversea buyers. He gives examples where the importer got himself locked into a relationship with a given … [Read more...]