Making the China Connection

by Tom Galey

The United States and China are fantastic business partners and have been friends when it comes to commerce. The future of both nations can rest on the quality of this dynamic relationship. "Making the China Connection" offers radical re-thinking of our business relationships with China and is required reading for any entrepreneur, business owner, multinational trade manager, or China watcher who wants to succeed in ethical and sustainable business relations. Tom Galey has been a veteran of manufacturing and product development in China and Asia for decades. He reveals how production problems are not always the fault of China but a direct result of poor American corporate policies, unethical business practices, price wars, and the bottom-line mentality that our consumptive society has come to depend on. The result is a business climate characterized by consumer outrage and accusations of labor abuses and shoddy work. In reality there is a profound lack of cultural understanding on both sides of the Pacific. "Making the China Connection" is about understanding the way business is done in China, and not always in the comfort zone of our own culture. America s relationship with China is the key to our future prosperity. Don t even think about working with the region without reading this crucial and strategic book. This book is essential reading if you are doing business with China or just trying to understand what s going on there. Galey has done business in China for decades. He explains the importance of knowing Chinese history and culture, and of understanding the Chinese viewpoint of international business. Mike Revzin, President of Chinaseminars.com

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 23, 2013

About the author

Tom Galey has been working with Asia in product development for over 25 years. He has made hundreds of new products in Greater China, has exported and sourced thousands, and has set up dozens of new businesses in Asia. Known as The Import Pro ™ Tom teaches and consults on a wide range of topics in international trade with Asia and the West.

He started his career early in the Telescope industry developing scientific equipment for a Ball Aerospace engineer. In the 80's he moved to Taipei to study Mandarin Chinese and develop new products. He ran the buying office for a large Canadian novelty gift chain store, producing hundreds of goods manufactured throughout Asia.

While living in China and Taiwan, this gave Tom the opportunity to travel throughout the region learning production and export issues first-hand. Later, he was instrumental in coordinating a joint-venture factory in Mainland China for a Taiwanese firm. This was in the ‘80s when such cooperative ventures were rare and uncharted territory.

In the 1990's, Mr. Galey worked in the US territory of Guam with Esso Eastern Singapore, Exxon as a marketing executive. He later joined Budweiser Micronesia and managed the overseas production of Budweiser branded promotional products. As director of Marketing in the Pacific Rim, he pioneered factory-direct Asian purchasing for overseas divisions. Anheuser-Busch used these newly developed policies and adopted this model of purchasing for A-B’s global procurement division.

At the start of the 21st century, Tom developed an import company specializing in Asian development of promotional products for the advertising specialties industry. Subsequent projects included Project Management for the production of sublimated apparel, which involved new printing technologies in China. Other projects included a line of simulated stone wall panels with production facilities in Mexico and China, and R&D in Taiwan.

The consulting firm of “Three Chinas" was established in 2005 to assist in the development of new and complex products in Asia. Further development included guided trips to China and Asia to learn hands-on skills in product development in Asia. He instructs seminars on doing business with China and the Pacific Rim.

Now a professor of business and economics in Colorado, Tom continues to consult on market entry into Greater China as well as advisor to trade ventures with Asia.

Tom graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Economics and has an MBA with an emphasis in Global Management from the University of Phoenix. He remains fluent in Mandarin Chinese and speaks enough Taiwanese go get into trouble! Tom Lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife Lauren (whom he met in Taiwan … and who also attended the same high school as he did) and their 12 year old son, Ty.