Annual Report - French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in ...

French Chamber 2008-2009 Annual Report
Committees’
President & Vice-President:
Laurent Ruhlmann (Seb)
Antony Guinvarch (Fnac Eveil & Jeux)
Members from the Sourcing Committee
Activities
Sourcing Committee
Objectives:
The Sourcing & Logistics working group
officially became a Sourcing Committee
in May 2009. The objectives of this new
committee are:
- Create a platform for discussion and
for sharing information and experiences
relevant to sourcing across all
industries;
- Select topical issues and identify
experts in the field to organise events
where these experts’ viewpoints can be
delivered to the sourcing community in
Hong Kong.
- And finally, while working towards the
above objectives, to acknowledge the
high proportion of regional sourcing
companies in Hong Kong while
accepting the significance of the PRC in
this industry.
Actions and topics of interest:
The Sourcing & Logistics working group
organised a very successful event on 23
September 2008 entitled “Will Chinabased
manufacturing relocate?” with
Dennis Yau, Director-General of the
Federation of Hong Kong Industries as
the speaker.
Many members of the Sourcing &
Logistics working group also contributed
to the March issue of Hong Kong Echo
magazine which was dedicated to the
Sourcing industry.
The newly formed committee
identified during its first meeting, a
number of broad topics it believes are
representative of issues faced by the
broader sourcing community in Hong
Kong:
- The importance of China as a sourcing
center and other sourcing opportunities
in the region
- Legal issues: changes in legislation,
new labour laws, taxes and lobbying
initiatives
- REACH and other regulations:
Environmental and chemical issues,
practical implementation of norms
- Competitiveness: What are the right
prices? Some costs are dropping –
what will be the next step?
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- The supply chain: How to organize it?
How to optimize capacity and quality
across the supply chain?
- Partnerships: How to assess and
partner with companies in Asia?
These topics will be discussed during
committee meetings and could also
be addressed through presentations
whereby an industry expert is invited
to share his views on a given area of
interest.
Clearly, this is a very exciting business
and we can expect much discussion and
developments in the need to share and
collaborate over the next year. We do
hope that French Chamber members
will be interested in joining this new
committee to give their input and provide
ideas to support its activities for the
benefit of all in the year to come.
Dennis Yau