A due-diligence framework for evaluating whether a China sourcing partner fits your product, market and risk requirements.
Start with your decision
Describe the decision you need to make first. For example, you may need a verified shortlist, a factory capability review or a pre-shipment quality check.
- What needs to be true before you proceed
- Which product and market constraints apply
- Who signs off internally
Review the proposed scope
Ask for the activities, deliverables, timing, assumptions and exclusions in writing, before any money moves. A general promise to handle everything is not a service definition, and it is the version hardest to hold anyone to afterwards. What you want is a document specific enough that a third person could read it and tell whether the work had been done.
- What will be checked
- What evidence will be delivered
- What sits outside the scope
Check how findings are handled
The process matters as much as the supplier list. Confirm how a problem is recorded, who it goes to, how quickly, and what the buyer is expected to decide at each point. An agent who finds issues but has no route for them leaves you with information rather than with a next step.
- Issue classification
- Corrective-action route
- Buyer decision points
Need this applied to your sourcing brief?
Tell us the product, market and decision you need to make. We will confirm whether a scoped sourcing, verification or quality service is suitable.
Start a sourcing brief