Supply Chain Strategies: What I Learned Growing Lettuce in China

Building a reliable supply chain is never easy.  Especially when you’re dealing with a vast number of suppliers and when you are facing cultural differences in your vendor markets.  It gets even more complicated when the product you’re sourcing is fresh food.So what are the best practices learned over the years from industry leaders who’ve meet the many challenges, spent sleepless nights and ultimately managed to succeed?One man who has been in the supply chain trenches - and succeeded - is Xavier Naville.Xavier built a business in China supplying fresh lettuce to leading international fast food chains.  Despite the incredible challenges sourcing food in a market with a highly fragmented agricultural system, he managed to survive - and ultimately thrive.  His experience not only taught him sourcing best practices, but also incredibly powerful lessons in leadership that served him well managing his team in China - and that are increasingly relevant to markets outside of China.Xavier’s new book "The Lettuce Diaries: How a Frenchman Found Gold Growing Vegetables in China" documents his experience and is a must-read for anyone who wants greater insights into successfully doing business in China.Before we get started, if you’re looking to develop knitwear collections that will be a hit in any market, then SPINEXPO is the place to go.  It’s the primary exhibition for yarns and knitwear.The fair is a rich resource featuring well-edited, high quality collections, as well as cutting edge technical innovation.  Not to mention outstanding  trend information that can not be found anywhere else.  You can learn more at www.spinexpo.com.  There’s also a link in the show notes.Now let’s sit down with Xavier and hear about how he navigated one of the world’s most challenging supply chains.USEFUL LINKSLearn more about SPINEXPO:   https://www.spinexpo.comConnect with Xavier Naville:  - Advisory   https://www.vision-consultants.org/- Coaching  https://www.xavier-naville.com/Learn more about Xavier's book "The Lettuce Diaries: How a Frenchman Found Gold Growing Vegetables in China".   https://www.vision-consultants.org/the-lettuce-diariesA Seat at The Table website:   https://seat.fmContact "A Seat at The Table" https://seat.fm/contact-us/Learn more about The Current Situation in Sourcing  https://bit.ly/current_situtationSEND US A MESSAGEVisit A Seat at The Table's website at https://seat.fm