China has the strongest differentials when it comes to manufacturing vis-a-vis any other country and companies around the world have relied on this aspect to drive their competitiveness. The country has taken this expertise also into the field of product development. This has helped smaller businesses from around the world to leverage their China connection and gain a market share for their products.
With such a diverse market around the world, it is imperative for businesses to continually bring new products to their consumers or develop existing ones. However, they often do not know how to do this in a structured efficient way that minimizes risks to their existing operations. This is where these players can leverage China’s extensive expertise in this field to create and implement a product development strategy. Such a strategy will work in two ways – one, it will provide a way to create new products and secondly, it will help improve existing designs. A well-defined product development program is necessary for a company to communicate better with its consumers and achieve its business goals at the same time.
Using China for product development has various benefits such as giving the business the chance to explore myriad possibilities, increase revenues and profitability, and improve its product range. Let’s look at the ways how product development in China for western businesses is gaining popularity and how it is helping companies to achieve success.
Helping win in business by improved performance:
A business is judged on its products’ performance. By restructuring the design and performance of existing products, an enterprise can win business from competitors. This is what other companies have successfully done over the years using their China connection. Improved performance of a product also enables them to boost revenue by charging a higher price for a remarkable product.
Improving reputation through excellent quality:
A business is known for the quality it provides its customers. China’s product development capabilities are helping businesses improve quality standards and increase sales. They are helping companies design more reliable products that surpass customer expectations. Quality improvement of these products is helping western companies enter newer markets and increase their brand value.
Minimizing costs to improve competitiveness:
One of the important product development targets is cost reduction. Product development from China reduces costs by helping organizations use quality raw materials with lower costs. Chinese manufacturers also provide further value additions such as eliminating features that are not needed or redesigning a product to simplify the manufacturing process. Lower costs allow businesses to reduce their prices and win new customers.
Help identify and mitigate risks:
Every business runs a risk of market failure and negative externalities. Sometimes a product development plan that is handled in-house can fail to deliver as certain factors were ignored or not known. Chinese product developers can identify and mitigate such risks as they are aware of the multiple factors that affect a product from the design stage to end customer use. This allows western companies to reduce risks and leverage their Chinese partner’s expertise for their own business success.