The International Vitamin Corporation (IVC) is a manufacturing company in Southern California. The firm was established in 2010 when a unit of Chinese investors purchased the vitamin and nutritional supplement enterprise from Alere Inc for $63.4 million (CGTN America, 2020). IVC’s production at New Jersey facilities is supplied to Walgreens, Walmart, ShopRite, Wegmans, and Rite Aid in the United States. The long-term scheme for IVC is to export the vitamins and nutrition to China. The dominating narrative of Chinese American trade includes manufacturing products in China and selling them to the U.S. According to IVC chief executive officer Steven Dai, when it comes to nutritional products, made-in-the-USA products garner complete trust in China, causing the U.S. manufactured vitamins to sell at a premium in China.
The Chinese customers perceive the U.S. products as of premium quality, possessing high standards and efficacy. This results in the relevant customers having more trust in such items and being loyal to the products. Steven Dai aims to establish a long-term plan for his business by employing U.S. manufactured products for large-scale sales to the Chinese population. The firm has employed 1100 Americans, acquires raw materials from local farmers, employs U.S. technology, and operates with the U.S. local governments to produce vitamin and nutritional supplements in the U.S soil (CGTN America, 2020).
The investors, local administration, farmers, and other regional suppliers are the prime beneficiaries of the negative image that China-manufactured nutritional products are of low quality and undesired by many Chinese customers. Therefore, Mr. Steven Dai’s primary reason for building a vitamin and nutrition supplement factory in the U.S. is to build a long-term market for Chinese customers.
Reference
CGTN America. (2018). The power of foreign direct investment from China [Video] YouTube. Web.