Dan Harris is a founding member of Harris Sliwoski, an international law firm where he mostly represents companies doing business in emerging market countries. Most of his time is spent helping American and European companies navigate foreign countries by working with the international lawyers at his firm in setting up companies overseas (WFOEs, Subsidiaries, Rep Offices and Joint Ventures), drafting international contracts, protecting IP, and overseeing M&A transactions.
In addition, Dan writes and speaks extensively on international law, with a focus on protecting foreign businesses in their overseas operations. He is also a prolific and widely-followed blogger, writing as the co-author of the award-winning China Law Blog.
I got an email from a friend/client yesterday and I liked it so much I got his approval to run it, lightly edited to strip out any possible identifiers and with links added. This friend/client runs what was for a long time a very successful manufacturing business in China. He owns and operates a company
China Manufacturing Contracts. They can help when your Chinese manufacturer suddenly shuts down and keeps your money.
Three Great China Newsletters. Sinocism by Bill Bishop. Trade War by Dexter Roberts. And China Boss News by Shannon Brandao.
Chinese companies do not use lawyers the way most companies use lawyers. There are many reasons for this and it may eventually change.
Best Practices for Emerging Market Countries. The two minute version. Make the law your friend. Use good contracts. Protect your IP.
Fortune Magazine just came out with an article entitled: "Companies are beginning to panic: Experts say China’s lockdowns will make inflation and the supply chain nightmare even worse." To which my immediate thought was, "beginning"? Smart companies were panicking months ago; today is just the realization of so much of that panic. And do NOT say we did not warn you of all this. But before I turn to proving how our supply chain predictions have become reality, I will extensively summarize and quote from this Fortune article to get you up to speed with the disaster that is today's China supply chain.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary Suggests You “Friend-Shore” Your Supply Chain Regular readers of this blog know that we have been strong advocates for “de-risking” supply chains, especially when they are overweighted with China manufacturing. We always note that we understand some companies cannot easily shift manufacturing and operations out of China, but those that can, should.
Today, I look again at what is happening with COVID in China, but this time I dig deeper into the specific risks companies that get their products from China are facing.
Chinese companies are increasingly requesting/requiring that their contracts with foreign companies mandate disputes be resolved via arbitration in China.
“Where does an 800-pound gorilla sit?” “Anywhere it wants to.” In many, many companies’ supply chains, China is the 800-pound gorilla. And many companies established manufacturing and sourcing operations in and with China back when the gorilla weighed only 250 pounds, or 400. Things are different now. Recapping China Risk Factors, Which Have Been A
