105092 Resource 94086 93210 94146 1129273300004 1201210323865 Controlled Counterfeiting and Supply Chain Management in China

Supply Chain Strategies for Dealing with Counterfeit Suppliers

I recently attended a lecture in <st1:city w:st="on">Shanghai</st1:city> which discussed the counterfeiting experiences of 2 major multinational manufacturers in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>. These companies have developed innovative strategies for combating counterfeiting. One speaker commented that approximately half of the world’s supply of automotive parts were counterfeit! <o:p> </o:p> The dangers of counterfeit products entering the supply chain are severe. Companies sourcing in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> must devise effective strategies to minimize the exposure to such risk. <ul><li>Understand Intellectual Property protection in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place> and take appropriate action<o:p /></li><li>Buy direct from manufacturers or authorized distributors <o:p /></li><li>Implement business processes which reduce your chances of buying from independent distributors or brokers<o:p /></li><li>If sourcing is outsourced make sure you understand and validate the sources of supply and audit the methodologies and purchasing records <o:p /></li><li>If working with independent distributors use a paper or electronic trail to identify the sources of the products<o:p /></li><li>Understand your independent distributors and how they operate. Audit their operations and business processes and work closely with them to put in place processes that are mutually beneficial<o:p /></li></ul> Multi-national companies are working together through organizations such as the Quality Brands Protection Committee <a href="http://www.qbpc.org.cn/">http://www.qbpc.org.cn/</a> The QBPC mission is "to work cooperatively with the Chinese Central and local governments, local industry, and other organizations to make positive contributions to anti-counterfeiting efforts in the People's Republic of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>."<o:p /> Companies must do their own investigation work on the counterfeiters with their own in-house team since criminal prosecution in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place> is rare. (working with the QBPC helps lessen the financial burden of doing alone since firms in similar industries collaborate and share costs) They then provide all of the evidence to the Chinese authorities for follow-up. The police wont’ help you unless you prove that your company is an expert in counterfeiter’s operations. <o:p /> <o:p> </o:p> 10 application/xml false china counterfeit china IPR china sourcing china supply chain counterfeit global supply chain IPR Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.11) Gecko/20071127 Firefox/2.0.0.11 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 Establish 208.105.4.154 false true false false true 187565 false false true false false false true 94086 blog blogsite/ChinaSupplyChain/web