Business Consulting for Owners of Chinese Factories and Trading Firms

• Single-product manufacturing clusters

  A Wharton analysis describes Chinese clusters that specialise in one industry or product, where firms gain access to suppliers, distribution partners and workers who move between companies. It also notes the trade-offs: mature clusters can be costly, with skilled labour among the reasons, and they may limit a company's growth.

• Specialised wholesale markets

  A study from the Institute of Developing Economies, a Japanese research body, treats specialised markets as a way of organising business, with Yiwu as the central case. Such markets widen small firms' access to buyers and link producers, distributors and overseas customers.

• Advanced manufacturing and equipment

  Yicai, a business news outlet, reports that the industry ministry named a list of national clusters, with new-generation information technology and high-end equipment among the groups named. The same report says the clusters include many small firms working in narrow technical niches.

• Service firms that grow beside the factories

  Wharton notes that service providers can grow quickly inside a cluster by offering add-ons to many local manufacturers. Packaging, tooling, freight and sample-making businesses are the kind of firm this describes, living on repeat orders from a crowd of nearby makers.

• 01Makers who sell through wholesale markets or to overseas buyers often face pressure on price and payment terms, which stretches the gap between paying for materials and being paid.
• 02In a mature cluster, owners commonly find that labour is costly and that staff may move between firms.
• 03Small suppliers inside a cluster often depend on a few larger makers for repeat orders, which makes one lost account a large loss.
• 04Owner-managers of fast-growing workshops commonly hold every decision themselves, so quality and delivery slip as order volume grows.

UTC+8 across the country, one official time, no daylight saving. Beijing time, used nationwide, runs 2 hours 30 minutes later than Indian time all year.

We book the first call once the scope of the problem is clear, so the conversation starts from your business and not from a calendar.

• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Logistics
• Technology
• Professional services

Trades to start from

• Garment manufacturers
• Plastic injection moulding units
• Packaging manufacturers
• Electrical equipment manufacturers
• CNC machining companies
• Electronic components distributors
• FMCG distributors and wholesalers
• Freight and transport companies

Worked examples on these pages use rupees and Indian business practice. The method carries over, and your first sheet is built from your own books in your own currency.

• Business Audit

  A margin-by-customer audit shows a workshop which buyers repay the effort and which only fill capacity.

• Business Process

  Mapping each step from sample to shipment helps a maker find where rework and delays start.

• Business Consulting

  A weekly cash view helps a trading firm see when materials, wages and buyer payments fall due together.

• Business Growth

  A review of which products and buyers to grow helps an owner decide where extra capacity is worth adding.

1. First call by phone or video, to hear how your business runs and what is stuck.
2. A written scope that says what we will look at, what you will receive and what we need from you, with the fee written in your currency.
3. Your first sheet: the one page of numbers or decisions that the work starts from.
4. A review rhythm agreed with you, so the work is checked against what actually happened.

Tax, employment, immigration, licensing and regulatory questions stay with local professionals and the authority in China. Our advice stays on how the business is run.