Poorly Made in China by Paul Midler
Author:Paul Midler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781118004203
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-11-30T16:00:00+00:00
Around the time that we learned that our shampoo was turning into jelly, Johnson Carter asked King Chemical if it was capable of making an underarm deodorant.
Chinese were not big on deodorant, and what was available in the local market was usually the roll-on kind anyway. What we needed for the U.S. market was a dry-stick version.
To save time, I gave the factory a stick of deodorant that I had purchased in the United States. Sister looked at it and said that, while it might take time, she was convinced that she could get it duplicated. It was a bold declaration, given that no other manufacturer in China's health and beauty care sector had managed to pull it off yet.
The prototype came in, and it looked promising. The factory had created a number of molds—five in all—and had replicated the look and feel of the casing, down to the trademark baby blue color of the original. There was even a knob on the bottom, which was turned to push the deodorant upwards.
I turned the knob and was surprised to find that the mechanism actually worked. The plastic part was not easy to make, and it required a bit of investment and time on the factory's part.
While the casing was impressive, I touched the product itself and got a surprise. The deodorant stick was not at all dry. I pressed my fingertip against the white substance and found that my finger went right into it, as if into a stick of warm butter.
The deodorant was not going to be easy to make; the factory knew this. But, rather than working on the chemical part first, they went ahead and spent probably thousands of dollars to create the casing. It was entirely backwards, but this was how manufacturers in China built their products—from the outside in.
First they made a product that looked like something that could be sold, and then they focused on the actual functioning mechanism. Outward appearances got the initial focus, and then came the product's intrinsic features. It was a production philosophy that matched the national concern for face, and in the end, it was reminiscent of Qianlong Emperor's respect for the semblance of an art object, regardless of authenticity.
It also made good business sense. It was exorbitant to put a product into production before receiving an actual order, and the manufacturer had to convince the prospective importer that it could make the product in question. Creating the outward appearance of the thing was often just enough to get the order initiated. Once funds were transferred to China, the manufacturer could then work on the part about getting the product right.
This particular practice also contributed to quality fade. After the factory had won the initial order, and after it had expended a great deal of effort figuring out how to get the product made properly, there was often not much left to do. The factory took its surplus time and sunk it back into the product, tinkering with it to see where savings could be realized.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Direct | Global |
Industrial | Multilevel |
Product Management | Research |
Telemarketing | Web Marketing |
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini(4162)
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod(3894)
The Hacking of the American Mind by Robert H. Lustig(3566)
Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini(3393)
Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out by Marc Ecko(2966)
Hidden Persuasion: 33 psychological influence techniques in advertising by Marc Andrews & Matthijs van Leeuwen & Rick van Baaren(2750)
Who Can You Trust? by Rachel Botsman(2721)
Kick Ass in College: Highest Rated "How to Study in College" Book | 77 Ninja Study Skills Tips and Career Strategies | Motivational for College Students: A Guerrilla Guide to College Success by Fox Gunnar(2711)
Purple Cow by Seth Godin(2680)
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy(2663)
I Live in the Future & Here's How It Works by Nick Bilton(2509)
This Is Marketing by Seth Godin(2463)
The Marketing Plan Handbook: Develop Big-Picture Marketing Plans for Pennies on the Dollar by Robert W. Bly(2400)
The Power of Broke by Daymond John(2366)
Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller(2346)
The 46 Rules of Genius: An Innovator's Guide to Creativity (Voices That Matter) by Marty Neumeier(2297)
Draw to Win: A Crash Course on How to Lead, Sell, and Innovate With Your Visual Mind by Dan Roam(2268)
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell(2191)
Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager(2147)