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Product cover image for Trump’s Call to “Make It in America Again”: MAXPRO Fitness and the China + 1 Dilemma

Trump’s Call to “Make It in America Again”: MAXPRO Fitness and the China + 1 Dilemma

Naveed Yasin, Eiman Ashraf

Product #:W49800
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Setting:Vietnam, United States, China, 2025
Details:Case (PDF) • 11 pages • 2026-06-16

Subjects:

StrategyEntrepreneurship

Industries:

Media, entertainment, and professional sports

Geography:

VietnamUnited StatesChinaAsiaNorth America
Your Price:$9.71

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Nezar Akeel, founder and CEO of MAXPRO Fitness (MAXPRO), had developed a portable “smart gym” product in the United States with components by high-precision production partners in Shenzhen, China. In April 2025, he faced a critical supply chain dilemma as escalating US–China trade tensions disrupted MAXPRO’s operations. New export restrictions had frozen a $4 million shipment of key components from Shenzhen, threatening production and the upcoming summer sales season. With a board meeting imminent, Akeel had to make a strategic recommendation. Should MAXPRO continue making products in China with long-time partners, even as uncertainty about those relationships grew? Should Akeel use the “China + 1” model to move some subassembly work to Vietnam? Or should he relocate all production to the US, even if it increased costs, to gain the protection of US policy? The decision would define whether the key driver of MAXPRO’s next stage of growth should be cost efficiencies, geopolitical protectionism, or supply chain diversity.

Learning Objectives

This case is suitable for upper-level undergraduate, master of business administration (MBA), and executive MBA courses in global strategy, international business, supply chain management, entrepreneurship, and technology and operations. At the undergraduate level, the case supports structured evaluation of sourcing trade-offs, tariff exposure, and lead-time risk using core frameworks such as Porter’s Five Forces. In MBA and executive settings, it enables deeper discussion of risk-adjusted margins, governance design, investor pressure, and strategic positioning under geopolitical uncertainty.

By working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:
  • Analyze how geopolitical shifts alter competitive pressures, policy exposure, cost structures, and operational reliability for a globally dependent startup.
  • Evaluate the trade-offs among reshoring, offshoring, and China + 1 configurations by comparing their financial, operational, and managerial implications.
  • Model risk-adjusted margins and sensitivity to tariffs, lead-time volatility, and stockout probabilities using the quantitative exhibits.
  • Assess how trust, relational capital, and ethical commitments shape cross-border supplier partnerships amid political uncertainty.
  • Create a defensible strategic recommendation that integrates quantitative evidence with qualitative judgment to balance resilience and long-term competitiveness.
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Case Study: Trump’s Call to “Make It in America Again”: MAXPRO Fitness and the China + 1 Dilemma (English version) | Ivey Publishing