Managing Product Safety of Imported Chinese Goods Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

While recent recalls and scares have focused largely on the Chinese-made toys and food, the question of the safety of products covers a wide range of Chinese goods. Supply chain in China is characterized by price pressure and quality fade, multiple levels of outsourcing often involving small producers, a large number of counterfeit products, the Chinese mind to evade detection, and poor supervision of the safety of products such as the Chinese and U.S. governments. While some of these characteristics are present in other developing economies, only a few countries, save China, facing all of these issues. In order to best counteract these forces, companies that outsource products from China need a well-defined strategy to improve product safety. This strategy should include the development of the practice of organizational unit responsible for the safety of the products, providing greater control over the sources of raw materials in China, using the utmost care in the selection of Chinese subcontractors, maintaining a continuous product testing by several parties, being especially vigilant for fraud, and improving product traceability. By the end of maintenance items that meet the standards of quality, security auditing product allows companies to assess their management of product safety of Chinese-made goods. "Hide
by Barry Berman, Kunal Swani Source: Business Horizons 10 pages. Publication Date: January 15, 2010. Prod. #: BH367-PDF-ENG