July 16, 2009 – The ChinaNet featured speaker was Dr. Haibo Wang, Assistant Professor of Decision Science in the Division of International Business and Technology Studies, College of Business Administration at Texas A&M International University and certified doctoral faculty member in the Ph. D. program of International Business at Texas A&M International University.

The following is an overview of his presentation:

Today, it is critical for international corporations to outsource non-essential operations to third party vendors to maintain competitive advantages in the global business environment. With fast development of information technology, the barrier of communication for outsourcing has been removed, thereby enabling corporations to track current and potential vendors globally. 

Although outsourcing began with the manufacturing sector, it has expanded to IT consulting, health care, airline and other service industries in recent years. Outsource plays an important role in global supply chain for both the manufacturing and service sectors. The goal of outsourcing has changed from cutting costs to creating profit, boosting production and even increasing innovation.

In practical situations, corporations often outsource their projects to the third party vendors with which they have experience and often employ multiple vendors at the same time. Poor vendor selection processes without enough resources and internal knowledge will directly contribute to risk and also lead to missing out on securing good potential providers.  With insufficient information and decision-making tools, managers often make vendor selection based on a personal judgment.

These are just some of the issues and opportunities with supply chain management in China based on the speaker’s recent experiences with a number of large Chinese companies. The comparison to their American counterparts is often in the area of technology, social responsibility, innovation, knowledge management.

ChinaNet thanks its sponsors: City of San Antonio International Affairs Department, Bexar County, OpTech, and the Alamo Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

The Alliance developed the ChinaNet Program to serve as the first regular social network for international professionals to meet, discuss and share information on current business issues in China. The purpose of this program is to promote interest in trade with China and increase awareness of initiatives that may lead to business and opportunities.