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| Abdulrahman, Jasper, and Ahmed are welcomed to China |
There’s
a good chance I have never felt like an Emperor of China as much as I did
today. The arrival to our first site visit was a memorable one: 12 security
guards saluted the group as we walked to the steps of WanVog/Ashley Furniture
facility. We were escorted to the auditorium, where we had the opportunity to
hear from Mr. Denis Chan, Finance and HR Director, Ashley Furniture Industries,
who presented a dynamic business and market review. Ashley
Furniture sells home furnishing and accessories through two distribution
channels: independent furniture dealers and over 400 retail furniture stores.
The statistics shared by Mr. Chan demonstrated their commitment to being the
best furniture company in the industry, although the 80% turnover rate
suggested that labor at this plant is ruled by the same forces of supply and
demand that govern consumption. We then proceeded to move onto to a factory
tour, where we watched furniture being constructed, assembled, tested, and packaged.
Most of these tasks were manually performed by the concentrated Ashley
Furniture workers.
John Turney, an Executive MBA for Strategic Leadership student, (
Senior
Project Leader, Global Coolants & Chemicals, Cummins Filtration) shared his thoughts, "The
EMBA visit to Wanvog Furniture Industries, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ashley
Furniture was very enlightening. The facility was impressive. It is clear
that this manufacturing center is a keystone to Ashley’s pursuit of a global
retail strategy in China. Over the next few year it will be interesting
to see how well Ashley is able to execute their strategy in opening more retail
stores within the region".
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| Dr. Wansley, Mike Tober and Dave Young at Runbow Logistics |
Our bus then headed southeast to the headquarters of Runbow Logistics, one of
China's fast growing third party logistics service providers. Headquartered in
Shanghai, Runbow has branches in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen, Nantong, and is expanding
its national network. After demonstrating the company’s strong levels of
profitability, high annual sales, and successful execution of their growth
strategy, Mr. Travor Ge, Business Development and Key Account Management, commented
on Runbow's competitive advantage: "There are no dominating players. Emerging
locals are more flexible adapting to client's needs." Our visit ended with a tour of the distribution center.
