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How Do We Connect Cultures Through Home Decor Manufacturing?
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Jun 4, 2025
In the interconnected world of global trade, bridging the cultural and logistical gap between Eastern artisans and Western buyers has never been more important. At Mondoro, we translate this deep understanding into meaningful, market-ready home decor and furniture products. Discover how we connect cultures, preserve craftsmanship, and bring local stories to a global audience through purposeful manufacturing. You can listen now and click here (https://mondoro.com/from-local-to-global-how-we-bridge-cultures-through-home-decor-manufacturing/) to read more about From Local to Global: How We Bridge Cultures Through Home Decor Manufacturing. #HomeDecor #CulturalConnection #GlobalTrade #SustainableDesign #InteriorDesignInspo #EthicalManufacturing #ArtisanMade #GlobalTradeGal Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/globaltradegal)
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[Music]
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hi this is Anita the global trade gal As
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I mentioned many times the global supply
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chain or working globally can be very
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complicated and sometimes very complex
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It also is very rewarding So I don't
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want people to think that it's not
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rewarding especially if you're someone
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who loves the world You love being
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international It can be a great career
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and a great career choice But one of the
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things that you need to really look at
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when you are working internationally is
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about culture You know working in the
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global supply chain usually means that
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you are working across cultures It's not
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just about speaking different languages
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but you know there's also values there's
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traditions there's ways of working which
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can be ingrained in how uh basically
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people work or react to different things
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and my own company Manduro where we um
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create develop and manufacture home
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decor products and home furniture
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products we spent years cultivating
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relationships and trust with local
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artisans in Vietnam China you know and
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other parts of Asia Yeah you know
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because of this you know you you begin
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to have a deep understanding of the you
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know even within Asia itself or
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different parts of Asia you know whether
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it's you know Vietnamese lacquer uh
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capric shell techniques or you know
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Chinese bamboo weaving you know we've
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had to learn to sort of immerse
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ourselves in the culture of these
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different areas to ensure that the
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craftsmanship is honored respected and
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preserved We also understand at the same
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time that western buyers you know
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they're looking for something which
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works for them They're not looking for
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something which you know necessarily is
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a cultural item They're looking for
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something which has the design and the
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quality that they require So that's one
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of the things which we have done a lot
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of is we have turned artisan techniques
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into scalable products One of the
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favorite things which I have always
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loved doing is to go into a factory and
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to see the products they're producing
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and then have this vision in my head of
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here's what they can do or here's how
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they can do it I have always really
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loved that I've always loved looking at
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traditional handiccraft techniques and
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then saying here's how we can change
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this technique and we can make it
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something which will be scalable and
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workable for the western taste and
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western market
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You know artisans a lot of times they'll
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create one-of-a-kind pieces but our job
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is to work closely with them and to be
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able to get them to be able to do larger
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scale production without compromising
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their soul and without compromising the
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design you know whether it's like things
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like you know hand applied gold and
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silver lift techniques in Vietnam you
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know we have to really ensure that you
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know the artists keep those techniques
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up while at the same time producing
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something which works for western home
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or for the western tastes you need to
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also learn to communicate you know
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communication can be hard and there's
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can be also there can be a lot of
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miscommunication going on or you may
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think that you read somebody one way and
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you read their culture and communication
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one way but you really don't really
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understand where they're coming from
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that there can be a lot of
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miscommunication across time zones
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languages and just you know
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expectations My team at least that I
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have is fluent you know in in English
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and local languages And this allows them
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to be able to serve as connective you
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know between the produ production team
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and international buyers and you know
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and even if I myself you know native in
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in a language it's just not the same you
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know there are so much cultural and
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local that goes on that you really need
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to be able to you know that that you
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need to sort of like be able to really
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sort of understand and listen
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to So I I think that that's also
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something which is you know very very
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you know sort of like important and they
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they sort of feel that way too with me
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when it comes to dealing with the US
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Europe or the Western world They'll
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defer to me how should I write this How
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should I say this What should I do
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Because they they again are very
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culturally sensitive If if it was their
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own um culture and their own own people
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they'd understand exactly how to
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communicate and what to do You know that
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really just goes to show that you know
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when you're working in the global supply
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chain it's not just a matter of like you
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know here's a product and I buy it at
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this price and then we pack it and we
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ship it and we send it over There's a
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lot of other things that get involved a
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lot of other cultural things that get
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involved with this all that you need to
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be able to understand along the way
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You know moving products from an artisan
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workshop in rural Asia to the retail
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floors in the US US or Europe requires
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you know deep understanding of the
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culture and the logistics at the same
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time you know So you really have to be
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able to understand both of those things
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getting it off the floor getting it
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packed getting it the quality that you
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need you know and and being able to make
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sure it has the compliance that's needed
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and the cost effectiveness that's needed
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You know shipping from raw materials to
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you know the production
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timelines So you know our experience in
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international shipping and you know
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regional knowledge helps to be able to
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ensure this helps to be able to ensure
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that we can ship the products in a
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timely manner that we can build you know
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contingency plans for quality control
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and and you know checks through the
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entire manufacturing process We like to
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believe and say that we have ethical
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manufacturing with a social conscience
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that we really truly believe in having a
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social conscience especially here in
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Asia You know we try to bridge the local
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and the global and we take great pride
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in upholding our social responsibility
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We work with factories that adhere to
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fair labor practices ensure safe
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conditions and safe working environments
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and operate with environmental
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responsibility You know this is not
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always easy I admit it's not always very
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easy but we try to do it as much as we
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can We believe that ethical
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manufacturing is not just a selling
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point but it should also be a
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responsibility You know by educating our
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artisan partners about global compliance
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standards and helping them meet these
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standards we empower them to grow their
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business ethically And we really try to
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train and and I I say to my team here I
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say you know we are trainers I always
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really emphasize to them a lot about
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this You know don't underestimate the
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fact that you are a trainer Even you go
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into a factory that's large and you
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think like oh they should be able to do
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everything So many times we need to back
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away and say no we need to really
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educate and train them on what is
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required and what is needed that we need
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to have a focus of being a trainer And I
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really feel like a lot of people when
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they're doing global sourcing or global
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manufacturing they don't really see that
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They just see okay you have a product I
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need I'll buy it That's it But really in
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order to get out the best product you
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can at the best quality the best price
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and all the things that you need many
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times you need to go with the view of a
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teacher or a trainer you know even a
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little bit of a mentor You know you need
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to go in with sort of that view in mind
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that okay you know the finish is not
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quite right but let's work together on
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this finish and let's get it right you
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know this isn't quite right in the
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manufacturing process but let's work
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together and let's get this right I
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honestly believe that people that go in
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with that attitude do far better than
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those who just say not right done no
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more We'd have nothing more to discuss I
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believe that you need to go in and you
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you know and that's part of the whole
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you know ethical manufacturing is part
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of the social conscience and it's also
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part of the of the entire process
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because there's you know remember you're
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dealing globally You're bridging
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cultures as you're in the global supply
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chain So there's so much that could go
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wrong just in the communication itself
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just in how one person sees something
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versus another person sees something you
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know So this is why it's really
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important that you learn to be able to
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bridge the culture and bridge the
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cultural divide and the cultural gap Now
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I think if somebody is really not
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interested in other cultures and thinks
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that their culture is number one and
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they're maybe in the global supply chain
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may not be the best career choice for
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you Really someone who's in there should
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be a little bit more culturally focused
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and want to understand because if you go
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in with that view and with that vision
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it will help you a lot long run We've
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written a a blog post about this that
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we'll put in the description from local
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to global how we bridge cultures through
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home decor manufacturing So if you'd
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like to read a little bit about some
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case studies and other things that we
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discuss in this we'll put a link in the
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description below in case you'd like to
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be able to check it out
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But hopefully this gives you some ideas
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and some understanding of why when
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you're in the global supply chain you
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need to also not just look at just the
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product but also look at other things
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which has to do with bridging the
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culture and the cultural divide This is
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Anita the global trade gal If you
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enjoyed this podcast we'd appreciate if
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you give us a thumbs up you know
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recommend it to other people and you
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know leave a review It really does help
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We appreciate you our listeners Thank
9:35
you
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[Music]