'International business is just fun'

The Electronics & Applications 2025 trade show gadget is an initiative of fifteen electronics companies in Belgium and the Netherlands. For almost a year, they secretly worked on the show's biggest draw: the Circuit Cruiser. Value Procurement Centre (VPC), a manufacturing specialist in China, supplied four small but essential components not available in Europe. How did they pull this off?

Commercial director and co-owner Marc Geerdink explains: “I believe in collaboration and joining forces. You can't be the best at everything. The trick is to find partners who excel in what you need. It's important to me that the quality, delivery time, and price meet our requirements. The supplier's geographic location is less important to me.”

The power of globalization
“Of course you can make a lot of things yourself, but do you really want to? Are you willing to pay 120 euros for a simple toaster, for example, just because it's made in the Netherlands?” Geerdink continues his argument. “The power of globalization is precisely that you use each other's qualities. This way you focus on what you are good at. Simple, non-essential parts are perfectly suitable for making.” outsourceEspecially when many hands are needed to produce a product or component. Wages are lower in Asian countries, even for highly skilled technical personnel. Why wouldn't you take advantage of that? For high-tech and essential product components, it's wiser to stay within Europe. This prevents production processes from being jeopardized in the event of a disaster. So it's not an either/or situation, but a both/and situation.

Fresh look
"Of course, there are also disadvantages to doing business internationally," Geerdink qualifies. "You have to deal with language and cultural differences, the distances are greater, and sometimes you run into geopolitical tensions. You have no control over the latter, so it's important to have alternatives available and not be dependent on a single supplier. Language and cultural differences aren't necessarily a disadvantage. They provide a fresh perspective. I often get new ideas and inspiration after being abroad. Sometimes it even leads to funny situations. For example, the Chinese are used to communicating very precisely. You shouldn't leave any room for interpretation. So don't say: 'Make the yellow a little darker,' because then you won't get what you mean. It's better to provide the exact color code. That way of working aligns with their work culture and prevents misunderstandings."

Fear of the unknown
One way of doing business isn't better than another. It's simply different. I'm a big proponent of globalization. Over the past thirty years, the world has invested in building international business networks, and that has yielded significant results. Now we're throwing all that away. Often, ignorance and fear of the unknown are at the root of this. I hear fellow entrepreneurs speak negatively about a country they've never set foot in. That's a shame. You're depriving yourself of the opportunity to discover a country's potential.

In China, for example, you can scale up much faster than in the Netherlands because the infrastructure is designed for that. As an entrepreneur, you get things done more smoothly. They don't have the typical bureaucratic meeting culture we have in the Netherlands. Of course, you have to stay focused on quality. That's why we have three checkpoints during the production process: at the start, upon delivery, and just before shipping.

Make peace, not war
“We have to get rid of the us-them mentality. Insourcing is good and important and we should certainly continue with it, but that does not rule out that outsource in certain cases the best choice. It depends on your wishes and options. We can never 100% insource Because we can't make everything in Europe. The components of the trade fair gadget are a good example of this. I estimate that we always have to source 10% of the components from outside Europe, and there's nothing wrong with that.

International collaboration enriches and accelerates innovation. China is a beautiful country, surprisingly modern and progressive. We can learn so much from it. The same goes for America, and so on. Make peace, not war a famous singer sang and I wholeheartedly agree with that.”

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