- ISBN13: 9780470405581
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Praise for Poorly Made in China
“This fast-paced travelogue through the world of Chinese manufacturing is scary, fascinating, and very funny. Midler is not only a knowledgeable guide to the invisible underbelly of the global economy, he is a sympathetic and astute observer of China, its challenges, and its people. A great read.”
—PIETRA RIVOLI, author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy
“Paul Midler takes us for a ride through the fastest-growing economy in the world, revealing what can—and sometimes does—go wrong when U.S. companies shift production to China. Working in the heart of China’s export hub, in the country’s southern region, he has the advantage of a front-row seat to the no-holds-barred games played between manufacturers and importers. He introduces us to a cast of real-life characters and tells his story with a mix of affection and skepticism for what is taking place in China today. Midler delivers a revealing and often funny tale of life and commerce in a country whose exports touch nearly everyone on the planet.”
—SARA BONGIORNI, author of A Year Without ‘Made in China’: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy
Poorly Made in China: An Insider’s Account of the Tactics Behind China’s Production Game
First of all I do not have the opportunity to read this book yet, but as The Economist has a book review on this week’s edition, I would like to comment something I witness first hand and probably the author has not addressed.
During a recent trade show in Hong Kong, where a lot of manufacturers located in Guangdong province participate, you can see many grim faces because the economy is bad and there are not many orders around to feed the hundred of thousands of people in the manufacturing/export industry.
And in many occasions, I was told by factory owners/managers that foreign agents, especially Americans I have to emphasize, would come to your booth and try to knock 30% of your already discounted, really low manufacturing price. In the process they would even “wave” the order in front of you in humiliating fashion.
You really have to wonder if these Americans really expect everything to be dirt cheap or even free of charge in China. They would just come and order eight thousand of that model, three thousand of that model, and you have to deliver by this coming Monday otherwise this would be a breach of contract and they would sue you for any damage. And in the meantime, you as a factory owner, are actually not making any money because you just want to keep feeding your three thousand poor employees who are the bread winners of they families, located in some remote villages thousands of miles away from Guangdong province.
In conclusion, I think the poor quality of SOME of Chinese made products is a result of a vicious circle in which Americans are chasing after ever lower production prices, and quite honestly, this vicious circle is as unsustainable as the ever higher US house prices.
Nobody wants to harm any American children by putting lead in the paint of the toys. By the way, the factory owner of this incident was actually duped, and has committed suicide. But when American has this author to tell their side of story, I wonder when the Chinese can have their chance to tell their side of, most often, terribly sadder stories.
Rating: 4 / 5
Paul Midler did an excellent job of taking us behind the scenes inside the China manufactoring mind-set.
What he shared in his book was an eye-opener for me.
Rating: 5 / 5
The author is certainly well versed in Chinese and much of its local culture and norms. However, he did not seem to quite understand the Chinese people and their social, cultural and economic situation deep enough to offer truly insightful and in-depth analysis and explanations. Moreover, the Pearl River area, part of Guangdong Province, where the author works, which he calls in the book “Southern China”, is an area of its kind. It is populated with numerous extremely labor-intensive, low margin, low-end manufacturers. The area has many of the darkest side of China. That said, the area also has many of China’s better and large companies known to the world, such as Huawei and TCL. But those are not what the author deals with in his work.
These small manufacturers are numerous in number and small in scale. It is a hypercompetitive situation in economics. It is typical in a hypercompetitive environment that players have almost no profit. I suspect it is the case with the author’s client, contrary what he guessed. These smaller factory owners probably cut the price down to the bone to win contracts, and then play with ingredients and do other things that the author observed to bring in some profit. Often times, whatever small profit they make, they take it away before it hits the bottom line in order to avoid tax.
There is a huge difference between the price these factories make and the price to consumers in the US. Aside from the transportation cost and material cost, the profit goes to the middle man, such as the guy from New York. In economics, these people are called transaction cost. That actually includes the author. A more efficient market should have as little transaction cost as possible. Therefore, a more transparent market between suppliers and consumers is eventually the solution. That includes a system to enfore contracts on the manufacturers. That includes walking away on the part of the buyers. But the author fails to analyze why it is not happening.
There are cases of manufacturers such as Huawei and TCL that offer good quality and attractive price. They are from the same area of Guangdong Province. The author fails to explain why what happens to his clients’ suppliers do not happen to these companies.
One would expect a better job explaining what the author observed from the point view of economics from a Wharton graduate.
Rating: 3 / 5
Very insightful look at the inside thought of factory owners in China. Well written and extremely interesting.
Rating: 5 / 5
Gift giving in China goes beyond holidays and birthdays. Like any Chinese would tell you, “One can’t just show up empty handed.” Whenever I go back to China to visit friends and relatives, I always try to bring something for everyone from America. But this is always such a challenge! Giving “Made in China” presents to the Chinese is a bit thoughtless, especially when you are visiting from overseas, no? So recently I’ve been sticking to gourmet foods made in the USA. Alaska smoked salmon, cheeses and of course California wine. But considering China is a country of lactose intolerance, the cheesy idea only goes so far. Yet a Harley Davidson doesn’t quite fit the bill of a token gift.
Recently I received an email marketing Paul Midler’s book “Poorly Made in China”. Though the email was an auto generated marketing gimmick, I was glad that my blog had been “discovered” by relevant web crawling robots. A week later, a good friend recommended the very same book and lent me his copy. Hence, my reading began.
The book’s title sets the tone and forewarns readers that only the worst case scenarios and the underbelly of China manufacturing are to be illustrated. It is an entertaining read. The stories and characters are undoubtedly real, and could have only been written by someone with extensive experience in southern China. Although Mr. Midler and I differ in how we interpret Chinese cultural nuances and U.S.-China relations, the book has many merits. I particularly like the following passage.
“Tourists had a more enlightened view of China. Business travelers saw the place as a mere backdrop to their business transactions. Bernie had little patience for information that he considered beside the point. To him, cultural lessons on the place or the people were like so much static-”red noise”-that did not illuminate as much as interfere with an otherwise clear signal… Importers rarely wanted to know about history, just as they didn’t care about macroeconomic trend data.”
This attitude is what makes working as a U.S.-China consultant so difficult. What clients don’t know and don’t want to know is often detrimental to the strategic decision making. Mr. Midler obviously suffers quite often from his client’s oblivion.
Despite the insightful story and witty jokes, the cultural commentary woven into this book, as well as the short and sudden conclusion on U.S. China trade relations were a bit disappointing. On one hand the author reckons the Chinese manufactures are only thinking short term, on the other hand he argues that “Importers were thinking checkers, while manufacturers were playing chess.” I thought the author, in his final chapter, would have prescribed at least some strategies for this board game. Without going into much specifics, Mr. Midler states the following on the last page:
“Improved structural conditions made possible then might have more appropriately set the stage for stability going forward. Instead, American politicians and business leaders rushed headlong into greater levels of interdependency with China, a nation whose reliability is questionable.”
“This decision, to fling open wide the doors of trade with China-before we were ready, before China was ready, before we understood what we were getting into; an action motivated by our own greed-this decision more than anything else was the one thing related to China that was truly poorly made.”
But how can the U.S. or China be truly “ready”? Mr Midler’s view that such readiness could exist in the complex dynamic of US-China trade is fanciful. The dynamic is evolving at lightening speed before our eyes. What to do going forward seems to be a more appropriate focus for both sides than analyzing irrevocable decisions. If the U.S. were to start “playing chess” in this very important bilateral trade relationship, Mr. Midler, as a field agent, could have offered some valid strategies, which would have enhanced this educating book.
While “Made in China” items are still everywhere, the cheap chic stores are quietly stocking “Made in El Salvador” and “Made in Vietnam” goods. Maybe my gift giving dilemma will finally be solved, yet U.S.-China trade chess match is only starting.
Rating: 3 / 5