China
iPhones & the US China Trade Deficit
Thursday, December 16th, 2010This article is cross-posted in the Baselodge blog: http://baselodge.com/blog/2010/12/iphones-the-us-china-trade-deficit/ Apple’s wildly successful iPhone line is a bright shining testimony to American design and engineering. Can it really be that such a great American product is actually adding to the United States’ trade deficit with China? Given the current way trade deficits and surpluses are calculated, [...]
Manufacturing Cost Tug-of-War – Part 3
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008In this third and final installment in our series on the tug-of-war between OEMs and contract manufacturers, we will explore a variety of additional criteria OEMs must consider before making a final decision. These are listed in no particular order: Quality Systems / Certifications It is not enough to normalize the quotes and determine who [...]
Manufacturing Cost Tug-of-War – Part 2
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008In our previous article we explored the factors that go into the cost expectations of OEMs. Those factors involve most of the functional departments within a company. When the design phase reaches a certain point, the procurement group will send out Request for Quote (RFQ) packages to potential suppliers. There are various methods used to [...]
Manufacturing Cost Tug-of-War – Part 1
Thursday, February 14th, 2008The tug-of-war between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their contract manufacturers (CMs) with regard to price always intrigues me. It reminds me of the dance most of us have gone through when buying a new car. As consumers we understand that the car dealer needs to make a profit, we just want to make sure [...]
Guanxi and Doing Business in China
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008I am a regular reader of Stratfor’s free newsletters and always find them to be well written, interesting, and relevant to my world. Fred Burton and Scott Stewart wrote an outstanding article on January 16, 2008 entitled “China: Guanxi and Corporate Security.” Sourcing manufacturing from China has become both a necessity and an enigma for [...]