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The China Connection
An exciting new partnership has formed between Quality Digest and the Shanghai Quality Management Association.

by Scott Paton



In 1972, President Richard Nixon played the China card, meeting with Mao Zedong in Beijing and altering the global balance of power. Despite Nixon’s checkered history, his overtures to the Chinese may well have set the stage for the end of the Cold War two decades later. He may have also unwittingly helped set the Chinese on the long road to capitalism, which Deng Xiaoping fully embraced in the 1980s.

Nixon knew the West could no longer afford to ignore China politically. Now, some 30 years later, U.S. business can no longer afford to ignore China economically.

I just returned from my first trip to China, visiting Shanghai at the invitation of the Shanghai Association for Quality Management, the largest quality association in China. The SAQM consists of a number of organizations, including the Shanghai Academy for Quality, the Juran Institute of Shanghai, the Shanghai Audit Center of Quality and the Shanghai Quality Publishing House.

SAQM is similar to the American Society for Quality in that it publishes magazines and books, conducts training and has a large membership base of individuals and businesses. However, unlike ASQ, SAQM is a quasi-governmental body and subject to government control.

Led by the dynamic Tang Xiaofen, SAQM is actively growing and expanding its relationships internationally. Madame Tang intends for the SAQM to be a world-class quality organization, leading Chinese manufacturing and service organizations to the forefront of the global economy.

My visit, though minor in comparison to Nixon’s, has set the stage for an exciting new partnership between SAQM and Quality Digest. I’ll provide more details next month, but we’ve agreed in principle to exchange news, articles and other information between Quality Digest and SAQM’s publication Shanghai Quality, which has more than 20,000 readers in China. We’ve also agreed to link our Web sites. And, we will co-host an annual U.S.-China quality symposium that will alternate between Shanghai and San Francisco.

Just as Japanese manufacturing radically altered the business world in the 1970s and 1980s, I expect the Chinese to begin exporting more than just manufactured products; they will soon begin to export their unique methods for designing and building quality products and services. Our new partnership will help us ensure that our readers have the latest news and information about Chinese quality initiatives.

It’s difficult to discuss China without addressing U.S. employment numbers. It’s a stark reality that many U.S. jobs are being lost to Chinese manufacturers. However, unlike the jobs lost to many other nations--particularly Japan--many of the Chinese manufacturers are U.S.-China joint ventures. Although the job migration hurts U.S. workers at present, as China’s economy expands and its purchasing power grows, the Chinese consumer may help boost U.S. employment numbers in the long term. Only time will tell.

I’m excited by our new partnership and our ability to bring you the latest news and information from China. I hope you enjoy our soon-to-be expanded coverage, and I look forward to your comments about our partnership.