Is Strategy and Planning in China

Abstract

In the previous chapter various types of sourcing were explained. On the basis of this classification it is now our intention to provide some useful suggestions for the choice and design of a purchasing channel in the Chinese market. The failure or the difficulties that enterprises meet during realization of such a channel derive from the absence of a planned strategy together with inadequate knowledge of the peculiarities of the Chinese context. The strategy should take into consideration the following: the constraints, the risks, and the opportunities of this market; the enterprise’s capacities and resources; the characteristics of the purchase codes; and the profile of the relevant industry. An adequate cognitive exploration and a planned project can reduce the inevitable difficulties associated with the establishment of a sourcing and manufacturing base in China: disorientation due to an enormous market or to numerous supply opportunities, to different negotiation practices, to more unsure legislative contexts. Purchasing from this country, if considered in context of the internationalization of the overall enterprise and configured considering some contextual factors that will be described below, offers opportunities that can rarely be found in other markets.