All Roads Lead to China: Business News, Analysis, and Insights from China

Over the last couple of years, one of the firms that has popped up on the radar of firms whose labor conditions I felt were at some point going to come back to haunt them… and I think we have come a bit closer with the above CCTV report, an 11 and a half minute […]

This afternoon I was asked by someone why I am involved in CSR and sustainability.  It is a question that I seem to asked frequently, but one that I am not sure I ever answer with any measure of clarity as I have worked in a very wide range of issues related to these big […]

Earlier this week I received an email titled Five Pitfalls of Metals-Based Sourcing from old friend Lisa Reisman of Metalminer (her husband Jason writes Spendmatters) where she laid out what she sees are the five essential mistakes people make when sourcing metals in commodity form. Misreading the supply market can result in the placement of […]

While it has been 2 years since Lead Paint Barbie hit the store shelves, I have seen a flurry of related activity over the last two weeks. From books on “Made in China”, to two Posts at China Law Blog The Six (Not Five) Keys To China Quality and Six More Keys To Quality Product […]

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 […]

Good friend Pierig Vezin of Wethica has written the piece below as part of his regular newsletter series, and he has graciously allowed me to report it in full. It is about a subject, the impact of factory audits on suppliers, that I think many people really need to take more time to understand – […]

Earlier this week, old friend Dane Chamorro (General Manager of Control Risks Asia) sat down to discuss how business risks are changing/ increasing in China as the ripples of the economic crisis come ashore. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ywVVkO5Rg[/youtube] One of the most important issues he addresses is how employees can be impacted by the economic downturn, and how […]

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 […]