Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I started reading the book with great interest. I represent a US company doing sourcing in China and have dealt with more than 10 Chinese suppliers for a couple of years, so I was excited to read the views of my peers doing similar business in China. However, as I was further and further into the book, I found myself shaking my head more and more often. By the time I finished the book, I was determined to put up a review here to save people from believing the book is an accurate depiction of the real picture. Doing business in China is not easy. I have my share of frustration, and I have yelled at my suppliers on more than one occasion. But the book is heavily centered on his experience with this one company called King Chemical, and draws sweeping conclusions: look, you can just take out King Chemical, and plug in "any Chinese supplier", there you have it, this is how it is like doing business in China. That is very dangerous. The bottom line is this: the rules for building a long term partnership with a Chinese supplier are no different than doing it in any other countries: mutual benefit and mutual trust. Lack of either leads you nowhere. You can do business for two months or maybe two years, but not long term for sure. The problems with King Chemical are apparent to me from the very beginning: they put on a show to attract your business, this is a warning sign, although I understand the author's logic they are desperate and can be squeezed a little harder. Well, that will only be temporary. The story later will prove this to you. Then the prices are extremely low, so low that even Bernie cannot believe it. Guess what, if it's too good to be true, it is too good to be true. They will eventually cut corners to lower the cost. That's exactly what happened. I'm not defending the supplier by saying they should. But any person doing business in China should be aware of the "low cost" risk. Many times when I search for a new supplier, the lowest prices does not necessarily guarantee business. You have to have an idea of the cost structure to have a reasonable expectation. We all want "fastest delivery, best quality and lowest price", well at most you can get two. And it is impossible to have all three. The other big problem is how long Bernie and the author stayed in the relationship with King Chemical in spite of all the games they play. Yes, it happens that you pick the wrong partner, but you need to know when to back out. I've replaced more than one third of my suppliers after I took over. If you spend all your time solving unnecessary problems and deciphering games, you'd rather cut the pain and get on a healthier track. To their credit, they did try to do this, but eventually had no choice because of higher price of other potential suppliers. Do you want to play games and pay low price and get low quality or you want something else? You have to pick one. If you are addicted to low price and cannot afford to change so you just keep on letting them play the game, is it fair to put all the blame on the other party? The last thing I want to do is to defend King Chemical. This is exactly the kind of supplier you need to avoid. And they should be ashamed of the way they do business. The author himself is not Chinese, but speaks the language fluently, and there are many observations I appreciate. However, sometimes I found them misleading and the analysis may seem deep but actually off. Just a simple example. The author states not many people use the old respectful term of you "nin" any more. But that is really not right. It is very widely used in China, especially in North China. I live in Shanghai, and I use it on a daily basis in a business setting. The author may get this impression because he has a non Chinese face, and Chinese may not expect him to understand it so they don't use it. I was born in China and have a Chinese face so I may get different treatment language wise. Part of the reason may also be the location. I would strongly recommend those people interested in doing business in China read more books on this topic and talk to more people working and living in China and dealing with business people on a daily basis. Would be good to talk to people from different backgrounds, including native Chinese who deal with Chinese suppliers. Then you would get a much more comprehensive picture.