Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the China Production Game Kindle Edition

I have done business in China since 1986. I know from experience how tricky and dangerous it is, especially for the newcomer. Curiously Mr. Midler refers to suppliers in Shantou (Canton Province) and I too have many suppliers there. Apparently this behavior amongst the Chinese is across the board no matter what product you work with. And they don't care no matter what threats or promises you make. I actually had one supplier who told me he would no longer sell to me because "you complain too much"! No loss to me, easily replaced you can be sure. Communists or not, the almighty greenback is king in China but as Mr. Midler makes very clear, it is not going to get you what you think you contracted for. Something close, maybe, but not right on target. The Chinese screwed up so many of my shipments that I got the distinct impression that the translaters were interpreting my directions, not translating them. So I spent years learning to speak Mandarin. I am totally fluent now, have often been mistaken for being Chinese on the telephone by those who had not yet met me. No matter, I told them straight out what I wanted in their own language and STILL they basically did it wrong to shave off a few bucks to their advantage. I could never understand that way of thinking, in America we keep the customers happy to perpetuate our business with them, we do not consistently antagonize them. This book will open your eyes if you want to do business in China and if you are already there you cannot help but agree with everything he says. Pay close attention, he knows what he is talking about. They will go behind your back and try to deal directly with your customer, they will yes you to death and then do whatever they please without any regard for you or your customer. I can offer dozens of examples but the one that most illustrates this is the supplier who sent the advance samples for approval, they were perfect. He then went and made the million piece order to his own liking. It was a Halloween item to be made in Orange and Black, the 1000 piece advance samples were right on the money. When the order came in, it was made in Red and Blue. They told us the factory boss thought Orange and Black was a terrible color combination so he made what he thought was pretty. Hence we had a million red and blue product with ghosts and goblins and all printed on them, in red and blue and the words "Happy Halloween". THAT is when we transferred half our entire production of all products to India. We still do some business in China but had I read this book twenty years ago I never would have gotten involved in China at all!
I highly recommend this book, it is all true and frightening so use it well and be aware. Be very aware.

Well written book that explains the (grimy) undercurrents of the China's small and medium business. The cost pressures exerted by n-layered sourcing models that promises "Cheap and High Quality" Made in China products that can be pedaled to very customers whose jobs were made obsolete. The so called explanation is that outsourcing helps the business focus on activities that generates higher value.

A quick read of the book will give the reader some amount of understanding why most businesses are taking back manufacturing to their respective countries - growing risks of doing business in China.

China is becoming a country with increasing levels of education, leading to increasing ambitions, increasing leverages, increasing shortcuts and increasing workarounds - all with one outcome more wannabe entrepreneurs who will take money from anyone and promise anything for personal gain.

This generation is way ahead of the cultural revolution generation who was so denounced by Stanley Chao in his book about China. This is the post 80's and post 90's generation who grew up in the oxymoronic dynamic of getting everything they want and being under constant competitive pressures. This is generation who wants to be the next Jack Ma or Pony Ma. This is the entitled generation.

The government's reluctance to enforce regulations, especially when it comes to cross border trades and transactions encourages proliferation of such "entrepreneurs" and seeding of such behavior.

Having said all this, there are certain good things about the businesses here and the spirit to get things done. One thing I personally would have like to see would have been some of the positive sides of maturing China business (may be, the author might be writing a book called "nicely made in china: the insider reviews the better side of China")

In time Chinese manufactures may equal Germany's, Japan's or Switzerland's, but that will be an enormous stretch.

Book by an American consultant with Wharton MBA,

Chinese culture lacks German or Swiss culture's dutiful attention to detail and reliability. It lacks Japanese culture's extreme shame at not measuring up. to the point of seppuku, though that Japanese custom has atrophied somewhat since 1945.

The Chinese thought is "We have the money. You have the product, so now it is your worry." This book explores a longer term relationship, but what made it long-term was only an American outsourcer's continued usability.

The book details how at length this married Chinese couple promised a US customer anything to get his order. They delivered, but began gradually raising price explaining no more than "Price go up." At length the American found that they had begun at the very start, subcontracting whole orders, making very little. In time they had bought a site, built a factory, and equipped it with the most up-date equipment. He had financed them 100%. They had to think he was terminally stupid, which is how he also felt. The guy was anything but a dummy, but could not resist the thought of low cost (to him) manufacturing.

To learn the surprise ending where the US customer evens the score, buy the book. Very good book.

It's not remotely perfect, but it's very readable with well chosen anecdotes that drive the point home. Ideally there would have been more data to drive the author's point home, however, I think it's effective nonetheless. I found this is valuable if for no other reason than understanding cultural differences when doing business with Chinese manufacturing business.

Final point I was shocked how well this reaffirmed my own personal experiences working for a particular Chinese run computer hardware company. I had assumed the negotiating style was an isolated case to that particular ownership group, but I found the same tactics and behavior in this book.

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