Paying lawyers can seem expensive, even if they are only mediocre lawyers. But good lawyers can often save you money because they can save you from your own mistakes. They do that by having both the experience and gravitas to teach you from others’ mistakes. I wrote in a previous post about the PPE nightmare
Should you hire a sourcing agent or work directly with an overseas factory? Learn how to find and vet sourcing agents, compare compensation arrangements, avoid hidden commissions, protect your intellectual property, and structure contracts that hold the right companies responsible when manufacturing problems arise.
In China, the United States and the New Normal, I called the US-China trade war the “New Normal” and I predicted a “diminished future for foreign companies” manufacturing in China. I also said that since "the inception of the US-China trade war we have been saying that we do not see its end because we
In 2014-2015, China Plus One was all the rage, and everyone (including us) was talking about the risks of companies putting all their eggs in one "China basket." It was determined a China Plus One strategy was the way to counter those risks. This strategy involved companies having some/most of their products made in China,
Lawyers love to jab at each other, especially when we are friends and operate in different jurisdictions or different practice areas. Recently a litigator friend said to me, “Don’t transactional lawyers just cut and paste? It looks really easy.” I replied, “Don’t litigators just argue about pointless things?” This willful misreading of each other’s skills
A client yesterday emailed me an article he had saved since 2007 and in his email he remarked how "when it comes to dealing dealing with Chinese businesspeople nothing ever changes." I am not so sure nothing changes, but I am sure that what this article describes about dealing with China has not changed much,
Manufacturing Outside China: Apple Likes It and You Should Too
It is a helluva lot easier and cheaper to avoid losing money than to recover money that has already been lost. Whether you use Alibaba or not, there are certain "rules" you should follow when sourcing products from China and those rules include (1) conducting due diligence on your potential supplier, (2) protecting your IP, and (3) having a good contract with your supplier. And yes, all of this applies no matter what the color star your supplier has on Alibaba.
Economist Magazine just came out with an article discussing what companies involved in China are doing these days with China, what they are thinking of doing in the future with China, and what they should do in the future with China. The article is entitled, Multinational firms are finding it hard to let go of
Foreign companies see China as increasingly risky and they are looking to move out or reduce their footprint there.
