science

Poorly Made in China

Poorly Made in China is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Poorly Made in China rather than just read about it. In short: Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game is a book by Paul Midler, which chronicles his years spent working with American businessmen whose companies' products are manufactured in China. Book content The book was published at a time when young entrepreneurial US citizens were encouraged to move to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Key takeaways

Poorly Made in China belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Poorly Made in China to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Poorly Made in China from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game is a book by Paul Midler, which chronicles his years spent working with American businessmen whose companies' products are manufactured in China.

Book content The book was published at a time when young entrepreneurial US citizens were encouraged to move to the People's Republic of China (PRC). The first-person account of a Chinese-speaking Wharton School graduate takes the reader to southern China. The experience of helping Western import businesses find and work with Chinese suppliers is recounted vividly.

Awards The Economist Best Book 2009 Inc. (magazine) Best Book for Business Owners

International Editions A Chinese edition of the book was launched in Taipei in Feb 2011.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Poorly Made in China

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Poorly Made in China claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Poorly Made in China before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Poorly Made in China ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Poorly Made in China

In research: Poorly Made in China appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Poorly Made in China in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Poorly Made in China is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Economic history of the People's Republic of China, Economic history stubs, Economics and finance book stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Poorly Made in China outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Poorly Made in China” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Poorly Made in China in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Poorly Made in China means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Poorly Made in China out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Poorly Made in China in simple terms?

Why does Poorly Made in China matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Poorly Made in China?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Poorly Made in China.