Multinationals looking to set up shop in China may do well to check their global supply chains at the door.
Experiences shared at a recent Electronics Supply Chain Association (ESCA) roundtable in Sunnyvale, Calif., indicate that cultural differences, government red tape, and a lack of infrastructure continue to represent barriers to foreign companies that are doing business in China. The best approach, attendees said, is to take time to survey the landscape and to adapt rather than force-fit operations.
In one telling example, a senior Amkor Technology Inc. executive noted that when the company established operations in Shanghai in 2000, it quickly built an IC packaging and assembly plant on the belief that the rest of the electronics industry was right on its heels. Those ambitions were soon tempered, however, as the broader electronics marketplace fell into a three-year slump.
