I recently read Poorly Made in China by Paul Midler on the advice of a friend. It was selected as the best book of 2009 by The Economist, and with good reason. Not only is it informative, but also a highly entertaining read.
When this book came out, I was living in Hong Kong for a semester abroad. When I first got there, I was very reluctant to buy from the street markets. I was both learning how to negotiate prices for the first time, and having to be much more careful about quality. As the semester progressed I got better at negotiating and somewhat better at checking quality. But the key trick I learned was to buy things that were easy to assess the quality of (tea, toys with non-movable parts, etc.).
The main lesson I learned, which is reiterated in the book, is that appearance is put first in China. One of my favorite examples of this was a watch which I bought without examining it closely enough. I thought I was getting a 3-function watch (which showed the time, date, and if it was night or day) which I expected to break within a few months. Instead, I found after I bought it that only the time actually changed and it always said it was half day-half night and the 17th, and also broke within a few months. Not all of my purchases went this way (I got an excellent price on a hiking backpack which I still use from time to time), but over time I got more careful about which sorts of things I bought off the street.
Paul Midler talks about this culture as it relates to working with Chinese manufacturers making goods to be sold in the rest of the world. My strategy worked for two reasons: I was only committing to buy the object one time, and I bought things that were more robust to the culture. Importers can be strategic about which products they contract to manufacturers in China, but quality fade over time is a serious issue for any product (as is exemplified many times in the book). Hopefully the fact that more people are aware of the culture has helped companies make better sourcing decisions.
When this book came out, I was living in Hong Kong for a semester abroad. When I first got there, I was very reluctant to buy from the street markets. I was both learning how to negotiate prices for the first time, and having to be much more careful about quality. As the semester progressed I got better at negotiating and somewhat better at checking quality. But the key trick I learned was to buy things that were easy to assess the quality of (tea, toys with non-movable parts, etc.).
The main lesson I learned, which is reiterated in the book, is that appearance is put first in China. One of my favorite examples of this was a watch which I bought without examining it closely enough. I thought I was getting a 3-function watch (which showed the time, date, and if it was night or day) which I expected to break within a few months. Instead, I found after I bought it that only the time actually changed and it always said it was half day-half night and the 17th, and also broke within a few months. Not all of my purchases went this way (I got an excellent price on a hiking backpack which I still use from time to time), but over time I got more careful about which sorts of things I bought off the street.
Paul Midler talks about this culture as it relates to working with Chinese manufacturers making goods to be sold in the rest of the world. My strategy worked for two reasons: I was only committing to buy the object one time, and I bought things that were more robust to the culture. Importers can be strategic about which products they contract to manufacturers in China, but quality fade over time is a serious issue for any product (as is exemplified many times in the book). Hopefully the fact that more people are aware of the culture has helped companies make better sourcing decisions.
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