Author(s): Paul Midler

Current Affairs & Politics

An insider reveals what can--and does--go wrong when companies shift production to China In this entertaining behind-the-scenes account, Paul Midler tells us all that is wrong with our effort to shift manufacturing to China. Now updated and expanded, Poorly Made in China reveals industry secrets, including the dangerous practice of quality fade--the deliberate and secret habit of Chinese manufacturers to widen profit margins through the reduction of quality inputs. U.S. importers don't stand a chance, Midler explains, against savvy Chinese suppliers who feel they have little to lose by placing consumer safety at risk for the sake of greater profit. This is a lively and impassioned personal account, a collection of true stories, told by an American who has worked in the country for close to two decades. Poorly Made in China touches on a number of issues that affect us all.

Review from our December Newsletter: "Poorly Made in China is written by Paul Midler and is one of the best descriptions of working and doing business in China that I have ever read. Perhaps that statement needs some explaining. Until September of this year I was a manager in an American company in China. I speak Chinese and I feel like the country is a second home - but it is not free of issues. Paul Midler is not short on the truth. He tells the story of his work in China with such honesty and research that it breathed life into everything I experienced. No other author has done it better. Many of us fear of going too far and being punished by the regime for what we say.

In one of my favorite scenes Midler describes a broken toilet in a five star hotel. The duty manager and two staff spent an hour trying to convince him that the toilet was in fact not broken. If everyone could just agree, then there would be no problem. The problem wasn't the toilet. The problem was that Midler thought it was broken.

The book describes the cultural, economic and historical reasons for why things happen the way they do. It explains how it is in the interest of the Chinese firms to mislead and provide an inferior product to their customers. If the customer refuses to pay then the product can then be dumped on the Chinese market or that of another developing country while the factory makes a new lot for the western market. They will also use a bait and switch approach. The samples in their warehouses will be top notch and then once money is paid the quality of the goods becomes worse with each delivery. Midler describes how labels are put on wrong, the plastic on the bottles becomes thin and the product inside has its ingredients altered all to save on costs. When the western company complains it is reminded it has already paid up front (as they often have to and there are no courts that work in China).

The book is a must read for everyone interested in China or doing business there. Fraser"