david dayton - Silk Road International (Page 4)

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david dayton

Chinese, Masters of the No-Look Pass!

10 more reasons why driving in China is like doing business in China. While some don’t like this analogy, the more I drive the more appropriate I find the analogy. My first installment of Driving and Business is here. And more on driving tests in China here.My theory

Q & A about Importing, Part II

READER QUESTION: I have been approached by some Chinese businessman who are requesting that I source and import some items from Europe. I do not have a registered company, but I am able to orchestrate the affair. I am currently in China, but I would really appreciate some insight into

Trade show wrap-up, useful links and a big THANKS!

Over the past three weeks I've had the opportunity to speak to hundreds of people at 8 different shows in Guangzhou and Hong Kong--that's significant because it means that even over Passover/Easter weekend there are more buyers coming to the HK shows than we&

Who's responsible for a container full of worthless product?

Who's responsible for a container full of worthless product?

As I’ve meet buyers at the recent tradeshows I’ve been hearing some stories about buyers being shocked at containers showing up with bad product from their supplier in China. In addition to the truth that each has a sad story and they all have indeed been lied to,

Video & Notes from The Global Sources Hong Kong Electronics Show

Video & Notes from The Global Sources Hong Kong Electronics Show

For those of you not able to attend the HK show, here is my presentation from the Buying From China: What New Buyers Need to Know show last week.What New Buyers Need to Know (video link). Once I get out of China, I'll post it on Youtube

SRI, Live and in Person!

Once again, it's time for our bi-annual shameless self promotion event, otherwise know as the SRI Spring Public Speaking Schedule. Below are links to where you can find me and also new SRI content over the next 30 days.First, the latest issue of the CISC China

Same Story, Different Day

Just this last week we’ve had a few events that I considered fairly typical for China but that each shocked our clients and sent them panicking (the price for telling the truth is the “damage control” necessary afterwards). Heres what happened and what we did.First, The factory totally

You Think China's Weathered The Storm? Wait for it...

A factory owner related to me the reality of the current situation in China--we were complaining about quality, nothing new here. They were complaining about how strict our QC was, also nothing new. But what was new was the request from the owner--he said: "you need to

“Don’t ever be famous person in China”

23/02/2011 UPDATE:Full text of article that I wrote about Alibaba-Gate for Global Sources can be read here. Excerpts from my article and others' articles about the issue are here.And another piece by my friend and partner at CSIC, Mike Bellamy can be seen here

Best of the Year, 2010--Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!Yup, Chinese New Year is now officially over, but no not everyone is back to work yet. We still have multiple suppliers that have seen less than 1/2 their previous staff return to their jobs (in Guangdong Province, mostly). So while you're waiting

Then and Now, a China Watcher’s Tale, John Pomfret.

These are my notes from a speech by John Pomfret today. I got just a moment afterwards to talk...so many more questions that I wanted to ask. It was a nice talk but I wanted more on his book and more on his personal experiences in China. I tried

Cold War 2.0

I meet with one of the speech writers for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld on Saturday. We had a nice lunch and good discussion about China.One of the things that we both shared in common was the idea that China, at least militarily, is not really a threat. Yet. He

Answers You Don't Really Want

“You know you don’t want the answers, so why do you keep asking the questions?” That was the question that I was asked last week. These are some of the questions that I was asking: 1. Why did you sign the contract if you didn’t agree with it

Working with China, Tim Stratford's Ideas/Experience (and some of my own thoughts too)

At the request of the Office of the President, I work with a local university in Utah as they implement a new Chinese program. As part of that, I had the opportunity to listen to and then chat with Tim Stratford for a few minutes this week as he spoke

Illegal vs. Unavailable

Skype is now technically illegal in China. Read here for more details. But that, like just about everything else from religion to prostitution that is also technically illegal in China, doesn’t mean that it’s not still available.The two lines from the article that can be applies to

SRI: Live at the Kempinski Nanshan!

Tomorrow in Shenzhen, I'll be the Keynote speaker for the Chief Executive China annual forum: New Export Strategies, sponsored by PayPal. The audience is expected to be 300-400 major suppliers from all over China and will be held in the afternoon at the Kempinski hotel in the

Leverage, if you don't have it, it doesn't matter what else you do have.

Two great articles on the Chinese Economy. 1. NYT 2. Blog Two new clients came to SRI this week requesting help with basically the same problem.First was a company that had contracted out for some custom manufacturing of a stitched bag. They had done a bit of due diligence

Living in China

This is the third posting from SRI's current Intern, Eric Luker, from BYU's Kennedy Center for International Studies.Living in ChinaHaving been here in china for several months, I now feel that I am getting used to some of the cultural differences that make living in

"This Project Is More Difficult Than We Originally Thought..."

One of the most frustrating things that I hear on a regular basis from suppliers in China is some version of this: “This project is really difficult.” I agree. Most things of value in life are. What’s the point behind the words, though is the real issue? It’s

"Hug a Vet! Yea, I said it!"*

"Hug a Vet! Yea, I said it!"*

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m addicted to Asia--I love the people, the history, the art and architecture ,the languages, the beaches, the massages, the food, the religions, the hustle and bustle of huge cities, the calm countrysides, beautiful mountains. But even though I’ve

Some times nothing is better than something.

Sometimes getting something is just not better than getting nothing. For example, 60% of your order on time and the rest weeks later not only isn’t helpful if you have to deliver 80-90% on-time to a single distributor, it can be downright disastrous for your future business.

What to do when there is no incentive to continue

No matter what the reason, when your factory has officially passed the we’re-losing-money-on-this-project point, expect to see product laying around, no more QC, no managers, and expect no one to answer your calls.This is what happened to us last month.We had a

Always Check Yourself

This is the second posting from SRI's current Intern, Eric Luker, from BYU's Kennedy Center for International Studies.Quality, quality, quality. Quality equals money, which is most likely why it is the hardest thing to get. Over the last few weeks I have learned that you

A little goes a long way.

No matter how well you plan, there are almost always problems that arise prior to shipping quality product from China. It’s debatable whether China itself is inherently problematic or not, but sourcing, managing production and doing quality control from 5000 miles away (more or less) certainly is.Problems typically

Guanxi, Tradeshows, Free Stuff and the China Law Blog

First, if you're not reading The China Sourcer Magazine already, please do--it's free! The China Sourcer Magazine is part of the new China Sourcing Information Center. If you’re sourcing from China, then you’ll want to check it out. Yea, I’m involved in