China - Silk Road International (Page 5)

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China

A collection of 213 posts

Read very very carefully

Sometimes the details that really kill you are not in the printed text but in the white spaces--what's not said. Here are four examples of how careful reading gives a completely different story than what was originally reported.1. Retail sales are NOT good in China. Unless,

“What you must do, what you should do and what would be nice to do.”

Do you know the difference?Johnny Sandhu of BV does and he presents a great PP on it at the Global Sources Trade Show Seminar, Buying from China: What new buyers need to know.First, what you must do includes anything that is mandated by either the Chinese government of

The City of *#$&ing Yes.

Questions from Buyers at the Global Sources Electronics Show in Hong Kong this past week.1. Buyer Question: So where do you live in Cina?My Answer: Shenzhen.Buyer Response: “Ah… the (beeping) city of (beeping) ‘Yes.’ To bad I’ve never found a (beeping) factory that can actually do

Hangzhou, Hainan and Hong Kong

Hangzhou, Hainan and Hong Kong

I spent a week last month working with a factory in Hangzhou. The factory was great but I'm sure that I lost a week of my life due to the pollution (lucky I didn't lose my life due to the traffic). Hangzhou was so polluted that

Being a "Boss" in China

Last week I had the opportunity to eat dinner with three bosses from four factories that we were doing a couple projects with this last month. One owns a large-box printing factory with 200+ employees. Another was the owner of a plastics stamping factory with about 150-200 people.

Some Quick Numbers in China

Following on the last post, here are some more interesting numbers coming out of China.Unless Madoff-style or Enron-style accounting is taught in school, I believe that “Accounting in China” should probably be taught as at least as an anthropology class in International MBA schools: this is just

When Good News is Bad

The news out of China is surprisingly upbeat. Production numbers are up, domestic consumption is up, the housing and stock markets are still rising and car purchases are up too. If you go to any shopping mall in Shenzhen you’d really be forced to ask yourself “what recession?!” It

Three Book Recommendations.

Three Book Recommendations.

First, I have completely loved reading Yasheng Huang's “Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics.” This is easily the best book that I have ever read on the development (or regression?) of capitalism in China. Just wonderful in it’s explanations of detailed economic events in the context of the very

UK Telegraph's Peter Foster on SRI's blog

Had a friend send me a link to a nice writeup about the SRI blog in the UK Telegraph. "If you’re interested in the nuts-n-bolts of doing business in China (and even if you’re not) I recommend checking out the excellent blog run by David

Huntsman, IP security and two different worlds colliding

First, Why I think that Huntsman will work as Ambassador to ChinaBasically, all the things that people disliked about him in Utah will be great assets in China. Just another page in the It’s-not-the-same-over-here manual. 1. Most of his critics say that he'

Over-Promise, Under-Deliver and the realities of the Chinese Market

Everyone that’s ever had a job in the West learned very early on the value of Under-promise and Over-deliver, especially if you wanted to get ahead, keep clients happy and make a name for yourself. But since I've been in China, I've been

Rio Tinto and Urumqi as Corporate Culture Lessons

22/08/09 UPDATEThis is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. What you see in public you're bound to see at lower levels too--it's just that only the Microsofts of the world get the press. "China's efforts to stop intellectual property

It's not just me saying this

China is headed for a melt-down of historic proportions. The only question is when it will happen.The only way that it will not happen is if the laws economics do not apply to China. (Warning: massive over-generalization coming up....) And many Chinese already will tell you that

Remind me again, when exactly does the Asian Century start?

I’m firmly ensconced on the fence when it comes to China and it’s future—I love my family and my friends here but can’t imaging a more amoral environment to work in. I am so grateful to be here and to still have business in the current

How business is (often) done in China.

All of these experiences happened to me this last month.First, If you don’t make it, fake it. This is different from the same old “China just copies everything.” Well, sort of different.We are working for a client that is buying deli products in China for the US

6 conversations and a couple of cultural lessons

I had some very interesting conversations with friends recently about the economy and what they are seeing. Despite the very different industries and even the direction of business they all had the same conclusions—things were bad but are looking up. Cautiously to optimistically up. First, a friend from an

Stay classy, Dongguan.

Stay classy, Dongguan.

Some things never change. As nice as that may sound for continuity, this week it’s a bad thing. After visiting two factories, I was riding the bus from Changan back to Shenzhen last Friday night when I came upon another knife attack/fight. It was right at the bus

China, the NBA and some soccer/business thoughts

China, the NBA and some soccer/business thoughts

China and the NBA, two of my favorite things, are both in the news a lot more than usual this month. First, I’m really not understanding the logic of the purchase of part of the Cleveland Cavilers by a Chinese group. One of the reasons that the Chinese investment

Poorly Made in China, Paul Midler—BOOK REVIEW

Poorly Made in China, Paul Midler—BOOK REVIEW

Like a couple other of my favorite books on China, River Town and Mr. China specifically, I’m admitting to you now that the reason that I like this book so much is that this is my life in print. This is what I’ve done for the past 7

SRI on NPR

I did an interview with NPR last week about the shift in status of American buyers in China. We're seeing that Chinese suppliers are doing much more due diligence prior to accepting orders and have much less trust in foreign buyers since, in the last 18 months, they&

Quarantined! AKA: "Never tell the truth to anyone but your parents."

Quarantined! AKA: "Never tell the truth to anyone but your parents."

When I was teaching at a university in Chongqing in '95 I had a student say something to me that I will never forget, "at least, well, I haven't forgotten it yet." She told me that when she was young she had the bad habit

Notes from around China

Had a couple of really interesting discussions about working with Chinese factories today. One was with a Purchasing Manager from the States that buys for his company in China. He says that almost as difficult as dealing with all the unknowns and changes in China is convincing Americans that have

04/06/2009

Have a nice day.

Chinese Sausages

May 30 Update:"China is a fat, unhealthy kid. Its ignorant friends in the west encourage it to keep eating the same stuff in order to "maintain growth". Sadly, this encouragement might mean that China will stick to its non-viable development model and never grow up.

Chinese Branding and Perception

This is a collection of random thoughts about the Perception of China through Chinese Brands from both inside and outside of China.First, China as a final destination. This is about business opportunities, or maybe it isn't. If you had less than 30% of your foreign exchange students