Best 5 Challenges Of Global Sourcing That You May Face in Your Business

How much time do you think you spend to find a supplier? How much money do you pay to find the right product, and the right price? What if we told you that all of this time and money could be saved with sourcing from China? Chinese suppliers allow you to buy directly from factories, avoiding some of the costs that come with buying through intermediaries in other countries. But sourcing from China, as well as other countries across the globe, poses its own set of challenges. Here are some of the most common challenges of global sourcing that many people have faced.

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1) Cultural Differences

One of the biggest problems with global sourcing is cultural differences. For example, let’s take a look at customer service. Your customer support team in North America may be very quick to respond to your users, but that response time may not be good enough for your Chinese customers. In some cases, you may need additional support staff for different languages and time zones. Cultural misunderstandings also happen frequently when outsourcing projects to foreign countries; it’s easy to ignore these issues if they don’t have an immediate impact on revenue or productivity, but ignoring them can end up hurting you down the road.

2) Global Time Zone Differences

When you’re doing business on a global scale, differences in time zones can be problematic. Although it may seem that technology has eased communication across countries and cultures, communicating with coworkers across continents can still create challenges. For example, if your employees in Japan are on their lunch break when you’re headed home for dinner, you’ll have to wait until morning to hear from them.

In addition to time zone differences, cultural and language barriers can also complicate communication; as a result, you might find yourself explaining things multiple times before they’re fully understood. If you’re worried about these types of issues affecting your team’s productivity, consider using programs like Google Translate or other translation services that allow for 24-hour translation work. Some even offer real-time video translation services! You can take help from procurement consulting firms for better understanding timezone differences.

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3) Language Barriers

When you’re doing business in a foreign market, language barriers can cause problems. Have someone on your team who is bilingual if possible. If not, be prepared to use technology for assistance. Google Translate has become extremely accurate, and apps like Skype will allow you to speak face-to-face with those can you buy valium in new york without prescription whose first language isn’t English. It may not be as good as talking in person or over a speakerphone, but it beats having no contact at all!

4) Technical Skills

People With Specific Technical Skills: If you’re hiring a freelancer to help you with a project that requires a certain set of skills, make sure they have those skills. In many cases, it’s not necessarily enough for them to be willing to learn new skills or familiarize themselves with new technologies; there are certain things they should just know. If your budget allows, it’s best to hire someone who has more experience than less. For example, if you need mobile app development work done, don’t go with someone who says he knows how to build native apps for iOS and Android using Adobe Air/Cordova/PhoneGap; instead, seek out someone who has already built several apps in that way.

5) Quality Control

Are you looking to have goods produced in China, Vietnam, or some other part of Asia? If so, you must be prepared to accept goods that are likely not up to par. In countries like China and Vietnam, there are regulations that require products to be manufactured according to certain standards but very few factories actually care about these rules.

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This means you could receive products that do not live up to your expectations and cannot find a manufacturer willing to take responsibility for their product quality. Keep in mind that if you’re only ordering one product at a time it will most likely not matter if it meets your standards – but if you’re planning on ordering hundreds or thousands of items from overseas you definitely need them all to meet your standards.

Conclusion

To solve these global sourcing challenges, it is important to determine what you are looking for in a business partner. For some businesses, geographic or cultural proximity may be more important than language ability or familiarity with international customs and expectations.

Researching your options will help you find a professional that is a good fit for your company. When researching international suppliers, make sure to look at their manufacturing capabilities as well as their industry expertise and customer service track record.

Once you have found an excellent partner with whom to collaborate on your global sourcing needs, it’s time to put your business plan into action! So get started today by learning more about the 5 major challenges of global sourcing by visiting Commodity Online!

Mukesh Kumar

Mukesh Kumar

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