Others

What are the relative advantages of China over India, when it comes to sourcing products? The China Law Blog came up with two different posts covering this question… And a reader called Joel Waldman came up with very interesting comments that I am going to reproduce in this post.

This article started a discussion on the China Law Blog LinkedIn group. Since I participated a bit (and I thought I summed it up nicely, “if I do say so my damn self“) I thought I’d share my comments here.

There are many similarities between China and India in today's global-economic climate. Both have over one billion citizens, both have experienced resilient growth in output, and both have greatly expanded their roles in international trade. The relatively inexpensive yet well educated workforces of these two countries have made them key prospects for the sourcing of manufactured goods. Yet differences remain in their supplier and logistical capabilities which must be taken into account by the sourcing professional.

During the past 3 months, I traveled with a few clients to visit some Chinese suppliers of motors, pumps, valves and other industry supplies. As usual, we recommended the best local Chinese producers – their pricing levels were normally between Chinese-foreign joint ventures and local middle-sized and smaller producers, but their quality was acceptable for our clients.