Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

#120 - What buyers must read about the real CHINA ....

02 Mar 2010

There are thousands and thousands of books about how to work with China – now Australia’s largest trading partner of course.

So, which one to choose?

Simple – ‘The Factory Girls’ by Leslie T Chang [published by Spiegel & Grau; First Edition (October 7, 2008) ISBN 0385520174] available from most good book stores, including the usual CIPSA choice = the Co-op  www.coop-bookshop.com.au or www.amazon.com  Three different people compelled The Buyer to read it – one even an expat CPO. based in Guangdong province, north of Hong Kong.

They were right. It paints a picture of how life truly works inside the world-class factories that manufacture all our stuff.

It is a compelling tale of two peasant girls from the provinces, looking for a new life in the city, who take a job as migrant workers in a modern Chinese factory.

It has a ring of real truth and procurement people will learn much from reading it, not least a better understanding of how our suppliers’ in China can operate.

Xisu Wang, China’s first management consultant, showed at the 4th annual CIPSA conference that a simple story well told explains more than any great tome.

CIPSA’s gruff conference producer Nigel Wardropper says Xisu is still CIPSA’s top rated speaker [by audience feedback scores] from over 300 speakers at 22 major CIPSA events over the last five years.

Indeed, The Buyer learnt more about China from Xisu in 45 minutes than from any other source over 25 years in business.

Of course, there are other books too – TIME magazine just ran a convenient summary of the major ones. Some entirely relevant to outsourcing:

 www.time.com   [“Enough of the big picture” page 43 vol.175/v5 dated 8 February 2010] ... they also recommend, inter alia,

§  “A fast boat to China” by Andrew Ross

§  “The last days of old Beijing” by Michael Meyer

We are obliged to learn more about China folks: they are learning about us very quickly.

And we wouldn’t want to be at a competitive disadvantage. Especially as buyers.

The Buyer – posted 2nd March 2010