Find Chinese suppliers using Alibaba.com. Fortune has a profile on the company’s founder, Jack Ma, and his tremendous successes with online companies.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Manufacturing, Trade at 4:23 pm

The growth of the domestic auto market has been huge, but it’s still below expectations, hurting domestic manufacturers.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Uncategorized, Economy, Manufacturing at 3:57 pm

The lead paint scandal took a tragic turn as the Chinese factory owner at the center of this controversy has committed suicide.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is trying to pass some of the blame to the exporters and US companies who accepted the products.

So many American companies transferred manufacturing to China to save money, and retailers like Wal-Mart encouraged this strategy. Now they are paying the price.

We take for granted the numerous regulations in the US designed to protect us. We’re now seeing the risks of outsourcing. Of course outsourcing a trade will continue, but relying on Chinese components and products just got a little costlier.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Manufacturing, Trade at 6:27 am

It’s not nearly as high as the Chinese government wants it to be. The Chinese are naturally conservative with their spending habits, and that could hamper future growth.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Culture, Economy, Labor, Manufacturing at 10:32 pm

Business Week reports that the U.S. crackdown on Chinese paper exports might have more to do with helping some well-connected private equity firms than broad U.S. interests.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Manufacturing, Trade, U.S. Relations at 9:17 pm

Can China compete in the airline production business against Boeing and Airbus? It will be interesting to watch this develop. China is purchasing tons of planes and wants to have domestic production for the future. This will test their capabilities, because their low wage advantage is less important in this industry.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Manufacturing, Technology, Trade at 1:25 pm

. . . but it might take a while.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Economy, Manufacturing, Trade, U.S. Relations at 4:03 pm

Not as much as many might expect, once productivity costs are factored in.

Despite New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s widely embraced thesis that the world is flat because technology makes outsourcing and therefore globalization a breeze, a new Conference Board study shows otherwise.

The report released this week by the well-respected research organization best known for its consumer confidence index and the index of leading economic indicators, says the competitive advantages of outsourcing are in some cases completely wiped out due to low productivity.

“One critical lesson for businesses that benefit from one-time labor-cost benefits when investing in ‘low wage’ countries is that productivity gains from new technology and innovation have to keep pace with often fast-rising wages of skilled and semi-skilled workers or the ‘cost advantage’ begins to erode,” says Bart van Ark, Director of the Conference Board international economic research program.

In other words, the comparative cost advantage of taking a business to low-wage countries such as China or India, where manufacturing costs are lower than in the U.S., are often not the giant bargain they seem when wages are adjusted for low productivity, according to the report.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Economy, Labor, Manufacturing, Trade, U.S. Relations at 1:58 pm

Daimler Chrysler might start selling a car built in China here in the U.S.:

DaimlerChrysler AG is close to finalizing a deal with China’s Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. to produce Dodge-branded subcompacts for sale in the United States, in what is likely to be the first such arrangement between a leading global automaker and an aspiring Chinese manufacturer.

General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., DaimlerChrysler and other industry leaders make vehicles in China with local venture partners. But the deal between DaimlerChrysler, Chery and possibly a third partner would mark the first time a Chinese automaker would be building vehicles for export for a U.S. or European company.

Let the fireworks begin.

Posted by Gerardo Orlando as Manufacturing, Trade, U.S. Relations at 11:14 am