Shanghai

New Life and China Sourcing

by Gary Young December 13, 2011

Usually I am writing detailed blogs about China Sourcing. But not this time. It is time to take a break from China Sourcing and celebrate life. One of the perks of being in China for over 10 years now is having the privilege of participating, in a small way, in the lives of my staff [...]

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China Sourcing and Protecting Intellectual Property- Part Two

by Gary Young December 13, 2011

                                                      China Sourcing: My personal experience.   To sum up part one briefly, China has a conundrum when it comes to intellectual property. On the one hand, they are the [...]

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China Sourcing and Protecting Intellectual Property- Part One

by Gary Young April 21, 2011

China Sourcing seems precarious.   China has a reputation for knocking off or copying products. This reputation is well deserved. If you look at it from a neutral point of view, it is kind of amazing. I say amazing because, not only are the accuracy of knock-offs impressive, but the speed of copying a product is [...]

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Being safe is risky: How China Sourcing helps manage risk.

by Gary Young February 28, 2011

On the surface, China Sourcing sounds risky. Working half way around the world, with a completely different culture and system, with a very difficult language sets off flags in many a CEOs mind. But we all know that if you are stagnant and not expanding you are at risk in todays business environment. We also know that China in not only the quality manufacturer to the world, but now the second largest market. So where is China in your business plan? I said it before; China is either a place to cut your manufacturing or distribution cost, an emerging market or a direct competitor. Sometimes all three.

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China Sourcing Uses Mergers or Acquisition Skills

by Gary Young January 22, 2011

At my Vistage meeting last week, we listened to a speaker about mergers and acquisitions. And as usual with me, I was trying to imagine how this great information would pertain China sourcing. He said that 65 percent of mergers and acquisitions fail because parties spent time putting out fires and not planning properly. That

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China Sourcing and Accountability.

by Gary Young November 15, 2010

I get asked quite often; “How can you guarantee that my order from China will be perfect?” I usually say that we have procedures and a process to work through quality issues. There is a whole list of things we do including the development of a check lists, photos and video confirmation and third party materials testing just to name a few. But what I don’t talk too much about is what else we are doing behind the scenes to increase accountability on the China side and both sides for that matter. It is something we do to make our job so much easier in China but it dawns on me that maybe I should be bragging (just a little) about our accountability effort and how it saves time, money and benefits all three parties. (Our client, the factory in China and us- Avela Corporation

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I am not the Hammer and you are not the Nail- Relationship Sourcing in China

by Gary Young October 16, 2010

There are tons of articles and books on the do’s and don’t of etiquette and culture in China. Everyone who wants to do business in China should have this basic understanding. But once you are past these formalities and want to develop a long term relationship, the foundation I like to build on is “I am not the hammer and you are not the nail”

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Transparency and the Why in my China Sourcing Business

by Gary Young September 7, 2010

So what does business transparency have to do with Sourcing in China? I will get to that in a minute, but let me set the stage.

As the transparency movement drives businesses to be more open about their products and services, it is becoming routine to expect full disclosure on the who, what, when, where and how our products and services offered. It has gone way beyond “features and benefits”, and now with instant tools like FaceBook and Twitter just to name a few, we are at the instantaneous mercy of the fingertips of our customers.

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