From Athens to Asia: An Orient-ation

In recent weeks, the Georgia-China relationship has been much in the news. Governor Sonny Perdue traveled to China in early April with a delegation of 40 Georgians to talk trade and make several announcements, and also to celebrate the debut of Delta's direct routes to China.

While the AJC and many other media outlets accompanied the Georgia delegation, Northeast Georgians might still think that the only connection between Athens and China is the outstanding Chinese cuisine at Peking.

However, The Inbox recently learned that of Georgia’s 48 official delegates to China, 7 were from Athens – Maxine Burton (at left in the picture), Michael Burton, Emma Lou Hubbard (all from burton + BURTON); Winston Heard and Julia Menefield of the East Athens Development Corporation; and Steve Wrigley and Arnett Mace from the University of Georgia – and another was from Commerce: Gary Black, who is the president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council. Logically, this made The Inbox wonder about other Athens-China connections, and whether there is opportunity for local businesses in China, whether it is from a manufacturing standpoint or a sales standpoint.

Quickly, other local connections emerged:

• During the trip, the governor announced a partnership between UGA and Tsinghua University, a school of 27,000 students in northern Beijing.
• Something called the Georgia-China Alliance even lists an Athens street address as its headquarters.
• Mayor Davison visited China on a recent trip (which the local press then deemed a tourism junket).

This will be the first of a series of posts that will cover the Athens/Northeast Georgia-China relationship and what a stronger relationship with China could mean for this area.

For our first installment we dialed up two top local businesses to inquire about working in and with China, and some keen insights emerged. The two businesses are burton + BURTON, which utilizes facilities in seven countries (including several in China) but keeps its headquarters in Athens, and Tifosi Optics, which manufacturers its "enthusiastic eyewear" at five factories in China and Taiwan but does business worldwide. Tifosi is headquartered in Watkinsville. Summaries are below as well as links to the full interviews with both companies.

burton + BURTON

Founded in March of 1982 by Maxine Burton under the name Flowers, Inc. Balloons® as the balloon division of a retail and wholesale florist (Flowers, Inc.), burton + BURTON is an Athens business success story with more than 350 employees. Since its founding, the company has become the nation’s leading supplier of balloons and coordinating gift products. With an international customer base the company offers more than 15,000 different products which certainly necessitates the need for extensive and flexible manufacturing operations. According to CEO Bob Burton, the company first explored manufacturing in China in 1986, and began production there shortly thereafter. Why?

“Many of the products that we carry are no longer available from domestic suppliers,” said Mr. Burton. “If we wanted to continue to provide our customers with the variety of products they need, we had to find other sources. We also found that China was one of the few places that could meet the demand we were experiencing. Many of our products are very intricate pieces made by skilled artisans [note: see photos]. No domestic vendors can (or will) supply container-loads of hand-blown glass vases, or intricately woven handmade baskets at the competitive prices available from China.”

Bob’s wife and company founder, Maxine, was one of the delegates on the Georgia-China trip. She found it valuable for a number of reasons.

“The interaction with Chinese business leaders during the opening reception for the new Trade Office allowed us to exchange viewpoints on trade and to hear first-hand their perspective,” said Mrs. Burton. “It was also very valuable to meet others from the state of Georgia who are in the imports/exports business.”

Mrs. Burton is also a board member of the Georgia Ports Authority, which offers her a unique perspective on the two way relationship between the countries. She was quick to point out that Georgia enjoys a huge export business with China, and that containers travel fully loaded both ways, making trade with China is a two-way street. This result, she says, is a huge positive economic impact for the State of Georgia.

"It has been very eye-opening to learn the amount of products Georgia exports to China," says Mrs. Burton. "Georgia is a major exporter of forestry and agricultural products, and minerals like kaolin and gypsum. The Georgia Ports Authority has done an outstanding job of attracting business to the State, resulting in increased revenues for Georgia. Thanks to the job the GPA has done, Georgia ports are now the fastest growing ports in the United States."

There have been some lessons learned as burton + BURTON has grown and manufactured more goods overseas, and in China specifically. Consider this comment from Mr. Burton:

"There are significant challenges. Obviously there is the distance. There’s no such thing as a 'I need it tomorrow' project when dealing with overseas manufacturers. Most of our products will spend 4-6 weeks 'on the water' just getting to us. This is in addition to the time needed to produce the goods. There is also the time difference. Our working hours in the US are the middle of the night for the Chinese. When it is 8:00 am here, it is 8:00 pm in China. As a result, we rely heavily on e-mail.

"There’s no such thing as just 'going over to China to start-up operations.' Business owners who don’t spend time developing trusted relationships and learning the way Chinese businesses run will likely encounter major problems. Additionally, there is the learning curve associated with US customs and imports. Confusing trade tariffs and products 'stranded' in West Coast ports due to strikes are just two of the potential challenges we deal with."

But the most important lesson of all, according to Mr. Burton, isn't about business.

"Probably the biggest, and most rewarding lesson learned has been that when you put language, political, and cultural differences aside, our international vendors share many of the same goals as we do. We both want our businesses to be successful and to provide for our families and the families of our employees. We value friendship. We want safe places to raise our children, and a comfortable lifestyle. As we travel the world, and sit down with our international partners over dinner, face-to-face, and talk one-on-one, we see that we’re really not so different. The similarities in our overall goals make it easier to do business, despite the cultural and geographic barriers between us."

Wow. As I said, a lot to chew on, and I would encourage you to read the full interview here.

Tifosi Optics

When Joe Earley and his wife Elizabeth founded Tifosi in 2003 to provide an affordable, high-quality sunglass for the cycling market, he knew he'd have to manufacture his product in China.

"For our product category there is no domestic production for sunglasses," says Mr. Earley, who cut his teeth repping a variety of cycling gear and accessories, giving him unique insights into the needs of retailers and cyclists. "Whether they are $200 or $5, they are all made in China -- it really wasn’t that much of a discussion for us."

Today, Mr. Earley's company employs 16 at its Watkinsville headquarters, and is on a steady growth path. According to Mr. Earley, the benefits of manufacturing in China are many -- cost, quality, speed, etc. But there are challenges, especially on the communications side.

"For the most part, you deal with the factory and while the English is not perfect, as long as you are communicating through e-mail, you're okay," he says. "English is the common language for business, but it has gotten easier with Skype, which allows you to talk to them and show them the product at the same time."

According to Mr. Earley, specificity is the key.

"We’ve had products come in and not be what we expected them to be in production. The bottom line is you have to be very detailed when dealing with Asian production. Every little thing needs to be spelled out, every finite little detail, with absolutely no room for interpretation, especially from an artistic standpoint. The look and cosmetics of things is critical for our product and the judgment of our partners is not the same as an American consumer’s judgment. You can’t leave anything up to chance when specifying things."

Okay, so how does all this benefit Athens? Well, the bottom line is we have two global consumer and business products quietly headquartered in our community. While we might not get the manufacturing jobs we used to, it is doubtful whether we would have these headquarters at all without their ability to compete on a global scale -- there is no way to do that when you are mass producing goods in America that could be produced overseas. Both of these businesses return significant tax dollars and provide top quality jobs for people up and down the economic ladder in the region, from marketing, to administrative, to logistics, to executive level positions. The ripple effects of global consumer and business to business companies like Tifosi and burton + BURTON are enormous and will continue to grow -- as long as their headquarters stay here in the Athens area.

Be sure you read the full interviews with Mr. Earley and Mr. and Mrs. Burton, and stay tuned for future stories where we inquire about the American products the Chinese are using, the UGA-China relationship, what the future holds in terms of Athens-China and whatever else comes up as The Inbox researches this topic.

Many thanks to those who assisted with our research for this post, and please comment or e-mail to let us know if you know of other Athens-China connections, or have ideas on where this might go.