2 June 2008
Chinese suppliers/foreign customers - sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams
Posted by Roger under: Chinese Suppliers; Business in China; Bad Suppliers .
There is a great Chinese saying “sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams” (tong chuang, yi meng). I find it seems to apply to so many situations ranging anywhere from causal friends to long-term business relationships. I was reminded of this yet again on Friday afternoon. I jumped onto the light rail for a quick trip out to the Tongxian district in the Beijing suburbs. To some extend, the fact that today, there even is a light rail is proof of progress. Eleven years ago, a trek to Tong Xian would have meant an hour plus ride in a yellow Mian di (which rode about as smooth as a dirtbike and smelled inside of dust, sweat, kerosene and Chinese baijiu - not to mention constantly sliding off the black pleather seats at every turn). But alas, this is merely progress on the outside - not on the inside.
I needed to check on some some supposedly “finished” product in a suppliers warehouse. I say “finished” because in this case, the product is “antique furniture” and “finished” means “restored to good condition.” Yes, antiques are a different beast, but nevertheless standards do apply. Loose joinery spells poor quality. Hardware thats falling off is unacceptable, whether its a cabinet from Ikea, or an antique cabinet from Shanxi. And even the novice at some point can quickly see the difference between “rustic” and “cheap crap.” In fact, the very uniqueness of this kind of product simply reinforces just how relevant concepts such as quality fade and supplier profiles are, across the spectrum of everything and anything which comes out of China.
This is a supplier with with”foreigner customers” and therefore one would expect some minor semblance of a basic understanding on quality expectations. Much of their furniture is exported. ( Silk Road International would have called this vendor Mostly Domestic, Partly International.) Its also the same vendor who a while back, couldn’t get the work done within enough time for these item to make it the container - and what was finished was extremely poor quality (and therefore failed to pass QC). All items had to be returned for additional work (in other words, none of them could ship out). Oh, and one more thing: Its the same vendor that then calls me up to complains the items are still sitting in his warehouse. “Why haven’t I paid for them yet? Why are they still sitting there taking up valuable space?” (uh - duh - because I can’t give my customers garbage).
Boy was in for a surprise. Instructions were given to my staff to make sure the additional repairs have been taken care of, so this was a QC visit - not a friendly visit. Nicely decorated showroom? Check. Nice minivan to pick us up at the train station? Check. Quality workmanship? No. Repairs completed according to our instructions. No. Bad attitude? Check! One cabinet has a paper thin shelf inside. My first thought was “Is this wood or is this cardboard?” Another has hardware that was installed so loosely, that it can spin a full 360 degrees. Wrong hardware, missing details - I was livid. I suppose I didn’t let it show knowing it wouldn’t do the situation any good anyway. But I was definitely not happy. Obviously from there, the song and dance occurs of “you didn’t tell me/yes I did,” and “It’s not a flaw but a characteristic of this sort of product.” In fact, there is funny little post over on the Silk Road International Blog entitled “You’re not getting what you asked for? Really? which really sums up what the experience entails. Very quickly it became obvious to me that there are some extreme differences here:
My dream
delivery on time
reasonable quality work
work done according to specifications
payment only for work completed.
My suppliers dream
Money (from me)
Minimum amount (preferred no amount) of work in exchange for money
Money given quickly without conditions or complaints
More money in the future (also from me)
If thats not “sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams” then I don’t know what is! It really reminded me how we and the Chinese do business differently. While we are willing to settle for quality control issues in light of long-term relationships they are interested in making money. While we are thinking “It must be an honest mistake” they are thinking “who cares as long as it doesn’t cost me any money.” And while we are thinking “eventually all the effort will pay off,” they are thinking about making payday happen today.
Really makes you wonder which of the two bedfellows is the smarter one…. 
By the way, the person in the picture is Jasmin and while she looks good with dollars in her hand, she really has nothing to do with this post…
Related posts:
- Friend or Foe? More on managing chinese suppliers.
- China feels pressures on pricing
- Funding your own competitor
- Import Nightmares - Readers share their experiences when things go wrong
- Advice for “newbies” doing their first China orders.
