All Roads Lead to China:

News of a 25 year old committing suicide at Apple’s primary China supplier (Foxconn) has once again brought to the front burner the difficulties of managing outsourced operations, and the risk to the brand that these arrangements bring when improperly managed. It is a situation that sadly I believe could have been avoided, and that [...]

The summer and fall of 2007 should have been a wake up call for anyone and everyone whose supply chain involved China.  The risks of doing business outside of one’s four walls smacked importing firms across the face as their products failed.  Lead paint barbie, tainted dog food, and others. It was a time when [...]

The scenario is always the same. An executive team is in China assessing the opportunities for China based manufacturing.  they want to meet potential partners, understand the environment, see what the conditions on the ground are, etc. They have heard from others, and seen in the media (blogs inlcuded), that China can save them money… [...]

Going along on a topic I have covered quite a bit in the past, responsible sourcing, Ethical Corporation has written a painfully detailed article on Adidas’s recent supply chain woes and how they are handling them. You may remember my post on their labor issues earlier this year, and as you will remember I have [...]

Focusing on the difficulties of transparency within the supply chain, Melissa Brown of Association for Responsible and Sustainable Investment in Asia (ASRiA) sat down for an interview covering a lot of the angles surrounding the integrity of supply chains in China. I highly suggest taking your lunch break to watch the 15 minute clip, and [...]