david dayton - Silk Road International (Page 5)

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david dayton

First Three Weeks

One might think that business is business no matter where you are. That might be true to an extent, but culture and monetary circumstances have a big impact on how business is done. I’ve been in China now for three weeks working with factories on quality control and also

“Doing business in China you always play the games or they will eat your weakness.”

I was told in once in a sales course that if you can name the game you don’t have to play it. It’s just as true in China as it is in the US, although the Chinese version I was told this week “Doing business in China you

Ok, so it doesn’t meet your standards….so what?

“Sorry it is not the same as the sample. We hope that you’ll accept it anyway.”“Your QC is too strict. No one can expect to be 100%.”“This is still within tolerance levels.” (No tolerance levels were ever given.)All three of these comments were said to me

Face? What?

I’ll be the first one to admit that I just don’t get face. My wife would certainly confirm that as well. After I graduated and for my first few years working in Asia, I thought I knew what was up. But as the years have passed and I&

Product Testing—Are You Sure That You Didn’t Pass? Are You Sure That You Did? How Do You Really Know?

We’ve been involved in the sample and testing processes for 4 different clients and about 18 different SKU’s of product for the last year and a half. Why has it taken so long to get the testing done? you might ask. And I’d be glad to tell

China is different now? Really? How?

It’s be more than 20 years now since my first work experience in Asia, 15 years this month since I first came to China. So much is different, so much is so new, so much is much more developed. Buildings are new, technology has not just made it here,

Chinese Culture for the Frustrated Foreign Buyer, Part II

Part I is here.6. You will never know when you’ve gone “too far.”Once, back in ’95 in Chongqing, people were gathering on the street and huddling around me yelling advice at me crowding around me and staring at me while I was trying to take care of

Chinese Culture for the Frustrated Foreign Buyer

First a quick Healthy Department update:I just had my annual “health check” for my new visa and my hospital experience was surprisingly good. “Not really news,” you may be saying. But the last time I was in a hospital in China I was quarantined for (not) having swine flu.

Chinese "education"

If you've got kids at home, you're probably worried about, or at least interested in the decisions made by your local school board, PTA and teacher's unions. You may even be involved to some extent in the process (kudo's to you if

Sometimes there just isn’t a second chance.

It seems to me that one of the hardest lessons that we are constantly teaching factories in China is the sometimes there just isn’t another chance.Chinese factories certainly know that they usually only have once chance to get a client with a bid or a sample (hence underbidding

Working in China: Where to go, what to expect, and how to do it.

First, Whither Shanghai? As I've been saying for years now--Shanghai, smanghai. Who really needs 18 million people all in one place and all those overpriced-buildings and traffic jams?! It's not like the mag-lev is really helping out your daily commute, is it? Now,

What you don't know you don't know can be dangerous

It goes without saying that there is more than one version of China. The view of the English teacher, the foreign expat working for a large MNC, the foreign entrepreneur. There's rural China, East Coast China, rich and poor China, white collar vs blue collar, etc. I’m

Story Time

Once upon a time in a magical land of history, culture, riches, eunuchs, opportunity, etc., etc.Story #1. As I was returning from a factory for a US client on Saturday I met another foreign guy that was also returning from a factory visit in Guangzhou. We started talking on

Questions, Comments and Stories from a Week of China Tradeshows

Here is the best quote from the shows so far. In talking with a Chinese industry consultant about the status of sourcing electronics in China, he told us: “I think that many foreigners have some serious problems here.” This is from a guy whose job it is to promote the

Red Shirts and Business as Usual

Red Shirts and Business as Usual

The protests in BKK have put the Thai government and the Thai people in an awkward position. The protests are no longer about if the government will change. Rather they are about when will the govt step down, how will it come about, and what will Thailand do afterward.The

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in China

As anyone who has ever had an experience with Chinese courts can attest to, they can be difficult.Chinese culture is not the same as in the US, we all know that, but that does not mean that by learning a few words in Mandarin and showing off your Panda

SRI Spring Tradeshow Speaking Schedule

I’ll be speaking at 3 different shows in April. Topics range from Problems Solving to Sourcing Basics and an extended version of the bi-annual China for New Buyers. Like I've done with previous shows, I'll be posting Q&A as well as some

Labor, Sub-suppliers and Time--3 other ways to lose money in China

A quick story before I get to the issues at hand.An interesting thing happened on the way home from church… I was picking strawberries with my boys at a small farm yesterday when I overheard the workers talking about us. Now, hearing people talk about foreign kids isn’t

Reasons why a factory doesn’t want you to come see things.

Before I get to the post today, everyone working in China should read this great article on corrupt QC (h/t China Law Blog).----------------We’ve been extremely busy both before and after the CNY break. As we get back into factories to do QC and project management some factories

Reading the (Western) Media on China

Reading the (Western) Media on China

UPDATE, 01/03/10: Apple Admits Child labour was Used to Build iPods and iPhones in Chinese Factories.This is at best an (educated) guess but at worse a lie--Apple did not admit this. From the article: The exact location of the factories has not been identified. Apple has

Under-promise, Over-deliver, Part II, Vietnam

So I’m sitting in a factory office outside of HCM city as the factory General Manager is talking with another client. The inevitable discussion about product quality and how the production doesn’t match the samples comes up and the conversation starts to get heated. The client is arguing

Even if it's not your fault...

On of the things that I’ve learned, the hard way, about doing business in China is that as a (foreign) buyer when there are problems, even if they’re not my fault, I’m going to be asked to pay for them.For me, this is the single most

Famous Chinese Brands and other things you've never heard of

This article started a discussion on the China Law Blog LinkedIn group. Since I participated a bit (and I thought I summed it up nicely, "if I do say so my damn self") I thought I'd share my comments here.Interesting article. Convoluted point. My ten

Yea, but I'm not a Billion Dollar Global Giant

While the Google controversy is truly fascinating, unless it’s directly impacting your ability to do business it really doesn’t matter exactly why Google says they might be leaving China. For most people it doesn’t even matter if they leave China or not. (For the rest of us

Foreign Mental Blocks

While working in China is a completely new experience for most foreigners—and a completely foreign experience at that—there are some things that are, well, pretty easy to understand, I think, but that many new-to-China foreigners just don’t seem to get. I’ve put together a