Paris Hilton's Dog Dead Due to Pet Food From China!!!!
This afternoon, I'd like to welcome Aptium Global's Tony Poshek to Spend Matters. Tony is our first guest contributor on the current China sourcing mayhem.
Ok, so I made the headline up ... it's not true (even though that's one ugly dog). But imagine for a second if it was. In today's media environment this would be a top news story for weeks, and there would be 100 times as many reports of "Should we boycott China?" that would come as a result. From poisoned dog food, to tainted toothpaste & toy trains, to unsafe tires, there have been quite a few China stories to grab the media's attention these days. There are the standard news stories from well-known sources such as this one from CNN: "Can tainted toys spark U.S.-China trade tiff?" But the U.S. hasn't been the only one, as here is a similar story from Japan Times: "Troubles with 'China Inc.'"
While there are many more stories like these from established news sources, these aren’t the most interesting ones. It's the smaller stories that deal with consumers actually trying to boycott products from China, such as this one, about a woman in the U.K.: "How one woman said 'No' to Chinese imports". And it's ones like this with local color: "U.S. family tries living without China". The family in this story has actually published a book entitled "A Year Without 'Made in China': One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy" which recently went on sale on Amazon.
Perhaps these last stories may not seem quite as impressive as others because they don't have names like The New York Times or Wall Street Journal behind them. But this is where all great consumer revolutions begin. If this "movement" does actually gain steam, and more consumers come into the fold, costing retailers such as Wal-Mart money, there will be a change in how products are bought and sold within corporations. It doesn’t matter if it's rational or not. If American consumers decided they don't like the color Red, and weren't going to buy products packed with that dreaded color, there would be almost immediate changes made by the corporations to appease them.
Now I'm not saying that I agree with this mentality (as I believe in global trade). But I do believe that Spend Matters readers might want to start thinking about what would happen to their supply-chain if this anti-China consumerism mentality were to grow larger (or smear campaign by the media, depending on your viewpoint). And if you think that's impossible, imagine for a minute if the news media had a story about one of the Bush daughters falling ill due to some tainted toothpaste from China, or if someone in Dick Cheney's family became sick due to these toy trains. The hysteria and "everyone panic" mentality of the news media would be overwhelming. Let's hope nothing happens to poor Paris Hilton's dog, and that her pet food is safe.
That's just my opinion, but maybe I'm paying too much.
Tony is a Director at Aptium Global. He can be reached via email: tposhek [@] aptiumglobal [dot] com.
Ok, so I made the headline up ... it's not true (even though that's one ugly dog). But imagine for a second if it was. In today's media environment this would be a top news story for weeks, and there would be 100 times as many reports of "Should we boycott China?" that would come as a result. From poisoned dog food, to tainted toothpaste & toy trains, to unsafe tires, there have been quite a few China stories to grab the media's attention these days. There are the standard news stories from well-known sources such as this one from CNN: "Can tainted toys spark U.S.-China trade tiff?" But the U.S. hasn't been the only one, as here is a similar story from Japan Times: "Troubles with 'China Inc.'"
While there are many more stories like these from established news sources, these aren’t the most interesting ones. It's the smaller stories that deal with consumers actually trying to boycott products from China, such as this one, about a woman in the U.K.: "How one woman said 'No' to Chinese imports". And it's ones like this with local color: "U.S. family tries living without China". The family in this story has actually published a book entitled "A Year Without 'Made in China': One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy" which recently went on sale on Amazon.
Perhaps these last stories may not seem quite as impressive as others because they don't have names like The New York Times or Wall Street Journal behind them. But this is where all great consumer revolutions begin. If this "movement" does actually gain steam, and more consumers come into the fold, costing retailers such as Wal-Mart money, there will be a change in how products are bought and sold within corporations. It doesn’t matter if it's rational or not. If American consumers decided they don't like the color Red, and weren't going to buy products packed with that dreaded color, there would be almost immediate changes made by the corporations to appease them.
Now I'm not saying that I agree with this mentality (as I believe in global trade). But I do believe that Spend Matters readers might want to start thinking about what would happen to their supply-chain if this anti-China consumerism mentality were to grow larger (or smear campaign by the media, depending on your viewpoint). And if you think that's impossible, imagine for a minute if the news media had a story about one of the Bush daughters falling ill due to some tainted toothpaste from China, or if someone in Dick Cheney's family became sick due to these toy trains. The hysteria and "everyone panic" mentality of the news media would be overwhelming. Let's hope nothing happens to poor Paris Hilton's dog, and that her pet food is safe.
That's just my opinion, but maybe I'm paying too much.
Tony is a Director at Aptium Global. He can be reached via email: tposhek [@] aptiumglobal [dot] com.
You bring up some interesting topics here, but none more important than the impact on supply chains if there is an intense/ sustained assault on all things Chinese.
Personally, I believe that the average American doesn't have the backbone to support such a boycott, it is something that I am concerned about as someone in China assisting companies on their manufacturing/ supply chain issues... and it is something I am sure Wal-Mart and other big box retailers are monitoring very closely as an all out boycott on Chinese goods would impact them on multiple levels.
Short term ,the consequences would result in a number of items just being unavailable.. plushy toys, bamboo wood flooring, Motorola phones, etc. They are all made here, and a boycott of Chinese goods (let's assume the American consumer boycotts all goods with the made in China sticker on them - including their Panasonic cordless phone) would become an inconvenience to many.
Big Box retailers - Two words - Short Sell. their supply chains reach to far into China and like the roots of a 150 year old elm tree, those roots are not moving anywhere anytime fast. Thus, their only option would be to continue to offer Chinese products and hope the American consumers crack... and a boycott on Chinese goods would translate into boycott Walmart, Target, Kmart, etc... short sell
American economy - Where to start? Do the words inflation and interest rates mean anything to the average consumer? I remember the stories my parents told me of 17% interest rates in the 1907s, and the "little boycott that could" may just bring the added bonus of 20%+ rates. Who do you think is buying up all that debt that allows the fed to keep interests rates low?
In the end, the role of the media is HUGE here as they are really the medium by which public opinion will be formed... and there are clearly issues here that need to be addressed.
The thing to keep in mind is that the pet food, tire, and toothpaste events all share something in common that has been avoided by the popular press... and that is the fact that none of these products had a quality management system in place, none of the factories had been visited, and when things went wrong, none of the importers were shown to have any responsibility.
Sure, the Chinese suppliers did not perform, but FTS suspected the tires were missing that layer for 2 years... yet they did nothing to stop it.
If the media were fairly reporting these issues, then my gut tells me that American consumers would begin seeing these quality failures for what they really are, and rather than boycott Chinese goods ... they would boycott FTS, Iams, and other products where companies were not guaranteeing their quality (as they did with California Spinach last summer) .
It is the responsibility of those firms who are outsourcing to ensure the quality of those product before going to market, theresponsibility of the FDA, Highway Departmnet, etc to make sure that there are testing programs in place to protect consumers, a media that reports the problem from all angles, and a government that acts accordingly.
In the past few months we have seen where there have been failures, and the failures are not just based in China.
www.allroadsleadtochina.com