Doing Business in China For Dummies®

Selecting Your Site

Site selection is crucial to your factory, but it’s commonly an area where companies become fixated on one thing to the detriment of their overall business. It plays a large part in determining whether you succeed or fail because it affects (among other things) your ability to receive inputs, ship to customers, and hire good workers.

Here are keys to site selection:

✓	Focus on the basics you need from a site as a manufacturer.
✓	Adjust to the unique circumstances of China — for instance, less reliable transportation.
✓	Think about how comfortable you are with the local government (see Chapter 8 for info on government relations).
✓	Look at how to use the regulatory framework — for example, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and tax incentives — to your advantage.

Hire a consultant to help you select a site. Make sure your consultant has actually worked in manufacturing, though! Some consultants recommend sites where they’re friendly with the local government or that have low taxes, even though the sites aren’t practical from an operational standpoint. Find consultants through recommendations from people who’ve done successful startups in China similar to yours.

Looking the part: Appearances can count Chad Blackwell is managing director of Kunshan Jieyang Arts & Crafts Co., Ltd. The company is located in Kunshan, a small but rapidly expanding city outside of Shanghai. As ...