China: Workshop of the world
October 14th, 2008 by Administrator
Mary Teagarden, Ph.D., is professor of global strategy at Thunderbird School of Global Management and editor of Thunderbird International Business Review. In her October “China Insider” column, she writes about China as the “workshop of the world“:
The concept of global supply chain nodes becomes important when setting up plants in this new workshop of the world. Blue jeans companies, for example, might choose to produce denim in China but manufacture the apparel elsewhere.
Retailers also can form partnerships with local manufacturers to gain an edge in China. Haier, one of China’s largest appliance manufacturers, introduced its products to the United States through Wal-Mart. Today, Wal-Mart imports account for more than 1 percent of China’s gross domestic product.
Despite the potential cost savings, manufacturers must pay close attention to supply chain control if they want to thrive in China. This means manufacturers must buy from reliable vendors and monitor processes closely.
In her previous column, Teagarden wrote about China as a market base. Next month, she’ll discuss China as a research base. You can follow her “China Insider” series of columns here.
Technomic Asia’s Steve Ganster earned his MBA from Thunderbird and has participated in various China seminars at the school over the years.
