IPC CASE STUDY:
Mythbusting
Global
Expansion
In2000, IPC—Asso- ciation Connecting Electronics Industries created a new long- range plan called
“Focus on the Future.” The primary
objective was establishing IPC — whose
members are printed circuit board
and electronics manufacturing service
companies, their customers and suppli-
ers — as the global organization for the
electronics manufacturing industry.
MYTH: A Representative Office
Will Cut It
A representative office may be the fast-est solution to establishing a business
presence, however, it is not the best
solution. Representative offices have no
ability to collect fees in local currency
and most often nationals don’t want to
pay directly to the United States.
Therefore, to do any type of programming you need to create a relationship with a local association. If you
wish to repatriate any of that revenue,
you will need another company to be
able to export it to the United States.
A joint venture can be considered, but
you need to do serious due diligence on
the joint venture partner.
For IPC, after learning from experience, it was clear that a wholly foreign-owned enterprise was the best solution
for the long term. It also decided to hire
Chinese nationals to help deliver IPC
service in China.
