2009-03-25
For several years I have worked with purchases - purchases of all kinds, from simple suborders to advanced negotiations. I have experienced purchases both practically and in theories.
That I now, in my role at the East-Swedish Chamber of Commerce, have the opportunity to share my acquired knowledge to our members is incredibly exhilarating.
Among other things, I have held several lectures on trade with China for the region's entrepreneurs. China is a very special market. Most people know that. Now, Asia begins to be a little clearer to us. (Who has actually said that our approach to trade is the norm?) And it is somewhat easier today than 10 years ago to do business.
I have had the privilege to go and meet my suppliers in place, in Beijing, Taipei and Taichung. Already within the country and its neighbors (Taiwan does not want to be associated with China) the differences are large, both geographically, demographically, the infrastructure and more.
I was in Beijing during the fall before the Olympics. A city where construction was going on in every street corner and the traffic chaos was completely hysterical. I crossed the crosswalk safely and placed myself in the middle of the pack of Chinese people, otherwise I would not have come across at all. The infrastructure could have been better, the trains were pretty bad and the taxi drivers seemed confused.
In Taiwan, the situation was better. For example, the trains were faster and newer than in Sweden. There were fewer but nicer cars, and lots of scooters.
In Beijing, I visited new industrial areas with nice offices and newer production equipment, decent conditions for the employees, in any case the premises and also environmentally. But, just a bit outside the city there was a completely different standard. Toilets for staff (and visitors) were a hole in the ground, the meeting rooms were comparable to Sweden´s in the 1940s and the production facilities were bad as well. Poor lighting, poor ventilation, is this safety? It was overall terrible conditions.
The fact that it looks like this was not a total surprise, but when "my" suppliers had this standard, I became really anxious. It is easy to sit down, in fine offices in Sweden and to form ideas of things via photos, email and over the phone. The reality hits hard when you experience it in place. To my great delight, none of my suppliers had child labor (from what I saw).
As a representative of a company you also have to bargain with yourself, is China so far away that we can close our eyes to the conditions in many factories, should the low prices be the deciding factors or do our moral responsibilities go beyond our national boundaries and outside our company's “wallet”? I believe in the latter, although the immediate result may lead to unemployment for employees in these companies and slightly higher purchase prices for us Europeans.
We all have a common responsibility to do what we can - in big and small - to improve conditions and standards for both people in these countries and the environment globally.