A board visit to China.

• Author: Emmett, Martin F.C.
• Position: Board of directors

Recently, China has been enjoying renewed attention in the business world. This once mysterious area seems finally on the verge of fulfilling the promise that has captivated foreigners for hundreds of years. While many companies are now rushing to invest in this promising market, Tambrands Inc., the maker of Tampax tampons, made the investment as part of a joint venture in the mid-1980s. Despite some rough spots along the way, I am happy to say that we now have established a strong manufacturing and marketing capability in China.

This past fall, we brought our entire Tambrands board of directors and policy committee to China to give them a firsthand understanding of the explosive development that is occurring and to show them what our business there is all about.

We began our trip in Hong Kong, where we met with prominent members of the business community to be oriented toward the mainland. From Hong Kong, we took a train to Guangzhou to view the extraordinary economic progress that has occurred in the New Territories. In Guangzhou, we visited a number of stores that currently sell Tampax tampons. The board spoke with sales people, store managers, and customers about local market conditions. Our group then flew to Shenyang, a city of more than 5.5 million people in northeastern China. Shenyang is the site of Tambrands' manufacturing plant. There, the board took part in a signing ceremony formalizing the increase in our ownership of the Tambrands' joint venture from 60% to 80%. In addition, Tambrands hosted a banquet for local government officials and business leaders in Shenyang.

Our next stop was Beijing. In keeping with our commitment to develop local management, we visited Beijing University where we spoke with a large group of students about our company and interviewed prospective trainees. The board toured local stores and businesses to develop a sense of economic growth in the capital city. In addition, we hosted a banquet in the Great Hall of the People. Among those who attended were several ministry-level officials and other national government...