Author(s):
Hong-bo Shi¹, Dong-mei Wang¹, Wei-na Zou²

Author Affiliation:
¹Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, 2Harbin Institute of Technology

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Chinese toy makers continue to make steady progress across the areas of supply chain competency. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about the supply chain management of Chinese toy makers by conducting a survey among 148 respondents from the industry. The questionnaire includes 24 questions that belong to six sections, which are design and buying, materials procurement, production operations, product distribution, quality control, list of tools (technology). Through analyzing the feedback data from 36 respondents, this study reveals the update circumstances of Chinese toy industry regarding supply chain management. Notably, on the one hand, most toy makers (about 90%) suggest that they value quality control, which is essential for global competition. On the other hand, less toy makers prefer to adopt advanced supply chain management tools; this may hinder their competitiveness in the long run. To conclude, both constructive and practical suggestions are given to the toy makers for improving their supply chain management performance.

KEYWORDS:
Procurement, quality control, supply chain management, survey, toy makers