My Tidbits and Introduction – Global Sourcing

As I begin to create initial information in my Blog regarding my Chinese and Vietnamese experiences, I will start from the very beginning and discuss my related findings with you. I hope to build some valuable context that will help you to address some of your various questions or points of concern. When you evaluate your business strategies and related global sourcing needs, I plan to enable this Blog to become a source of content for you. My intention is to develop a quick reference point or repository of information that will assist you with your thinking.

I started traveling to Asia during 2004/2005 for the specific purpose of trying to learn more about the Chinese IT services companies and related outsourcing industry in Asia. I was looking for a company to acquire that had strong technology competencies with a leadership team that our company could work with effectively. Our focus was specifically geared towards finding a Chinese IT services company to work with as an off shore entity or partner. During my first trip to Asia, I visited Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai. I must say, it was a very memorable experience and an exciting trip!

While searching for our acquisition target, I additionally was going through a process of learning more about China, since I felt understanding Chinese history, culture and related nuances would aid me in making the correct acquisition decisions. Given what we were trying to accomplish, there were a multitude of considerations that needed to be reviewed, evaluated, debated and agreed upon. Fifteen months after we initiated our Chinese expansion and acquisition efforts, we also evaluated Vietnam and the various companies that were providing IT and business services in that country. During our Vietnamese travels, we primarily focused on companies based in Ho Chi Minh City.

Today, my journey has not ended, since I stay current with many companies and do travel to Asia frequently. I continue to work with both Chinese and Vietnamese companies and mainly focus on off shore strategy, marketing, sales and delivery. Over the weeks and months ahead, I plan to write more about what I have discovered, learned and experienced in Asia. My Blog focus will primarily be on China during my initial writing.

In my next Blog entry, I will to provide one perspective (mine) of the infrastructure present in China today. To my surprise, when I visited China back in 2004/2005, I was very impressed with the overall infrastructure that was in place back then. I quickly discovered that my existing thoughts and expectations regarding China were far from reality. I know that many of you have read various articles about China, but I have first-hand experience with the airports, highways, rail systems, buildings/plant & equipment, power, water, heat, network, Internet, wireless, and other infrastructural components.

And by the way, over the past six years, China has progressed a great deal further. I believe, given the current and future plans for fast paced economic growth, the Chinese will continuously improve upon and evolve many aspects of their underlying infrastructure.