Personal Data Name: David A. Dayton Country of Origin: USA Location: Shenzhen, Chongqing Time in China: 8 years	Do everything that you can to develop trust with your own employees. They are the most important people you will ever work with in China.
Company Data Position: Director of Operations, Asia Industry: Value added sourcing Website: www.silkroadintl.net
Silk Road International (SRI) is an international procurement and project management company with offices in China, Thailand, and the US. SRI specializes in helping clients find the right factories as well as coordinating and supervising production. SRI is committed to developing quality products and professional relationships and to giving every client the best international experience possible. We strive to make working with SRI just like having your own Branch Office in Asia. SRI Services: Silk Road International offers a wide variety of services to meet your needs overseas. With over 15 years of experience doing business in China and Thailand, we have developed long-term relationships with numerous manufacturers — relationships that are key to maintaining the quality expected by U.S. consumers at extremely competitive prices.

Getting factories to fulfill commitments on-deadline. More than any other single thing, getting factories to meet their original commitments is next to impossible (without significant financial leverage in place). Be prepared to wait, to work through issues and samples multiple times, and to reiterate standards over and over again. Knowing this going into a new project will then help you with #2:

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Managing home office expectations. You’ve got to get your US office past the “cheap labor” or “biggest market” euphoria and help them to understand that those opportunities still have associated costs—basically you can choose two, and only two, of the follow three production options in any give situation: high quality, low cost, or short production times. When your home office understands this everyone’s life will be much easier. (The critic’s corollary to this is: low expectations are the key to happiness.) It’s always better to under promise and over deliver, but when expectations are already so high, as they often are for China ops, you must effectively manage expectations or you will always be seen as delivering short.

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Creative problem solving by Chinese employees. There is a reason why almost all multinational companies in China still employ a large number of expats despite the quality graduates that can be found in China. The reason? Creative problem solving skills are NOT taught or encouraged in most education/businesses in China. One of the best people you will ever hire in China is the (expat) manager who can manage chaos and make things work on the run.

Long term relationships. You may not need to have a bureaucrat in your back pocket any more, but you do need to have friends in the right places. Develop personal and professional relationships with the decision makers in your factories, China office, industry and relevant government bureaus. It is always good to have people who you trust and who know that they can trust and work with you. This is not just so you have someone to pull strings for you if you have problems, although that is always nice to have, this is conscious investment in professional relationships to improve you chances for success.

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Trusted Employees. Do everything that you can to develop trust with your own employees. They are the most important people you will ever work with in China. A manager or QA that you can trust completely can save you thousands and thousands of dollars per project—not to mention countless nights of peaceful sleep. Invest in your employees, earn their trust, publicly reward good behavior and tactfully expose and terminate bad employees before they “infect” others.

Have an Iron Ass! This is strategic advice for anyone who has not negotiated with the Chinese before. They know you are probably under a deadline. They know you are looking to get answers/options back to your home office while on your 10 day China trip. They know that you will be overwhelmed and probably not be coming back for 2-4 months. They know they have the advantage in negotiations due to language and logistics. So what do you do? You don’t make a rush decision just because your trip is coming to an end. You do understand that you aren’t “wasting” money if you come home from China without a signed contract—in fact, you may be better off. Wait out the initial bids, the dinners, the intro’s and the factory tours. Get exactly what you want by being willing to put as much time into the negotiations as the Chinese will.