This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks with Jay Foreman, the president and CEO of Basic Fun!, a global toy company based in Florida, and Craig Allen, the president of the US-China Business Council. Basic Fun! has well-known brands, including K’NEX, Playhut, Tonka, and Care Bears, most of which are produced in China. The episode centers on several of the lessons Jay has learned in over 100 trips to visit factory partners in China since 1989. For instance, despite rising labor costs, Jay finds Chinese production to still be quite cost-effective as a result of the flexibility and creativity of Chinese manufacturers. Jay and Craig also reflect on how manufacturing in China has changed in the last 30 years, discuss the importance of intellectual property protections in Chinese supply chains, and provide a number of illustrations of how factory and working conditions in China have improved over time.
