Is There a Carrot in a Contract?

One of the problems with offshoring all the way to China for so many US manufacturers is the communication links that kind of fall apart because of distance. Yet here we have an example where there was virtually no distance at all. It was right in the same country. So I guess we shouldn't assume that the main problem might arise from a supplier manufacturer agreement is simply that of distance. But the point about China is not wrong though. Distance can impact the ability to communicate well as can cultural differences and language differences. There can be a tendency for Westerners to give less specific instructions than are expected by their counterparts. That does cause problems a lot.