2005 Sportfishing Summit
Business Seminars
Data and Statistics Forum
ASA’s Data and Statistics Committee organized a forum, hosted
by Committee Chairman John DeVries, Kreha Corporation of America, and
Rob Southwick, Southwick Associates, to provide an overview of data
commonly used by ASA staff and partners to identify anglers’ expenditures,
participation rates, habits and other related information. Seminar
attendees were asked to consider sportfishing market research as a
jigsaw puzzle, with each data source representing a piece of the puzzle
that when pulled together, provides a picture of the overall market
place.
A new partnership with SportscanINFO was announced.
SportscanINFO, a provider of current point-of-sale retail data for
the fishing tackle and other sports industries, will provide ASA members
with a 20 percent discount on their information services.
The Business Culture of China
Regarding doing business in China, the
personal relationship will always trump the formal contract according
to Chinese-American businessman Wayne Chu. Chu used a personal account
of his own business ventures in China—from his first welcome banquet to the many hidden costs
he discovered after contracts had been signed—to illustrate how
best to navigate the delicate cultural climate of the Chinese business
world.
The essential, and necessary, ingredient for doing business in China
is personal relationships. According to Chu, if one isn’t willing
to live in China for 3 or 4 years to develop these relationships, then
one must partner with an individual who has established multi-year
relationships. Personal relationships are necessary to navigate all
levels of Chinese business life: from blue collar supervisors to corporate
leaders to lower-level government officials to top-level government
officials. Regardless of the actual business contract—and such
contracts in China can be vague and brief—personal relationships
are the key to business success.
