Word: funge
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...William Fung, Li & Fung's group managing director, calls this intricate logistical dance "borderless manufacturing." You might think that an activity without borders could be managed from anywhere, and maybe it could. But in practice, the global supply chain has a headquarters, and it is in the Chinese Special Administrative Region and former British colony whose economic demise has been trumpeted more times than Paris Hilton has hit a party. Hong Kong's air may be foul and its public-education system may lag that of competitors like Singapore, but somehow or other, it continues to reinvent itself. Almost...
...city was founded by the British in 1841, its harbor has been a major stop on trade routes, its dockside warehouses stuffed with silks and the other valuable wares of Asia. Hong Kong prospered as China's entrep?t, and its traders had tight links to the Chinese market; Li & Fung, for example, was founded as a trading company in Guangzhou in 1906. But when the Communist Party took power in China in 1949, exports from China slowed to a trickle. Hong Kong then became a formidable manufacturing hub in its own right?until the colony's growing wealth...
...trading firms quickly devised a new, cross-border manufacturing system. With poor technology and training, Chinese workers could complete basic product assembly, but not the more complicated parts of a manufacturing process. So traders like the Fungs kept functions such as quality control and packaging in Hong Kong while outsourcing the assembly to factories in China. The next step came as the spread of communications technologies, improved transportation networks and freer international trade enabled trading companies to begin sourcing supplies and products from Korea, Indonesia, India?wherever they could get the best price and quality. Victor Fung, Li & Fung...
...Think of Hong Kong's traders as the world's matchmakers. "We're the search engines to find the best place in the world" to buy a product, says Bruce Rockowitz, president of Li & Fung's sourcing business. Let's say you're an executive at a major U.S. fashion retailer looking to fill its racks with a spring collection. Stop by the offices of Li & Fung in Hong Kong's Kowloon district and its staff will track down the best fabrics, buttons and other components at the best prices and hire the right manufacturers to sew the clothes together...
...Overheardinnewyork.com: Get the real NY experience without having to deal with the crazy Fung Wah ladies...