MOVING TO THE FAR EAST 1966-1968
Motivation to Gain First Hand Knowledge of the Orient
After experiencing the various apparel product offerings from European sources first hand, I realized that the real growth opportunities were in the Orient. I had been developing various products through our offices in Osaka, Japan and Hong Kong for several years. Most of this work centered around taking the best selling products from US or European manufacturers and copying them at Far Eastern factories at much cheaper prices. The shortcoming of this strategy was product quality. The Macy Foreign Buying Organization represented stores that sold high quality products and their customers demanded quality goods even at lower prices.
Learning to conduct Product Development and Quality Control
For this reason I spent much of my time helping to bring the quality standards of these less expensive producers up to the level expected by our store customers. During this process I had a good education in textile fabrics and apparel construction. I attended 4 courses at New York University to gain a basic scientific knowledge of textiles and quality such as washing techniques, shrinkage control, abrasion and color fading. I also learned a great deal about apparel construction and garment sizing from the more knowledgeable store buyers and the Macy Quality Control department. This work was in many instances a slow process because communications not as sophisticated as they are in the 21st century. Communicating back and forth with our offices in Osaka and Hong Kong by means of airmail and telex took weeks to accomplish a simple step in improving the quality of an product. Samples were send back and forth by airfreight that usually took a week and was very expensive. Could I accomplish more faster by being located in the Far East where I could comunicate face to face with the manufacturers of these products? Would this experience help in my career development? The answer to both questions was yes.
Why Hong Kong?
As I built my knowledge base I was also increasing the amount of orders being placed through our Hong Kong office. Hong Kong and Taiwan manufacturers were offering the best values in Men's and Boy's apparel at that time. Japanese suppliers offered the best textile fabrics, but the apparel manufacturers were beginning to be more expensive so many fabrics were being shipped from Japan to Hong Kong for finishing into complete apparel. Since I had worked with the gentleman (originally for the UK) that opened and managed the Hong Kong office in our New York office before he moved to Hong Kong, we knew each other fairly well. When I expressed interest in moving to Hong Kong he was receptive and wrote to our mutual supervisor requesting that I be made Assistant Manager of that office.
A Business but also a Family Experience
Another reason for selecting Hong Kong was that relocating with my family (wife and three children) would be easier since Hong Kong had a sizeable ex-patriot community (British, American and other Europeans) and the living standard was good although not too expensive. Although Hong Kong in the 1960's was considered a good place for western families to live, there were some concerns with the Vietnam war close by (many US servicemen had R&R in HK) and later some political unrest in the colony itself (HK in the 1960's). It was however a good experience for both myself career wise and my family, especially my three oldest children who 10, 9, and 7 years old in 1967. My older children these many years later still have fond memories of their experiences in HK. They attended both a "British Government School" in 1966-67 and then the "American School" in 1967-68.
Fond Memories
My family still many years later has fond memories of those years. They start with our efforts to become familiar with HK before we arrived. We all had several meals in NYC's "Chinatown" to test our taste for real Chinese cuisine. We had a 7 day vacation in Honolulu, HawaiiI on our way out to HK. We also spent a few days in Osaka, Japan breaking up the long trip and also meeting the staff of Macy's Osaka Buying office. Finally arriving at Kai Tak airport in HK we were warmly greeted by members of the HK office staff. We spent several weeks at the Mandarin and Hilton hotels as our home furnishings were shipped by boat from NY. We immediately experienced a typhoon and flood within a few days of our arrival. at the same time, civil disturbances began in HK as a reaction by the local Chinese to the Cultural Revolution taking place on the Mainland. I immediately began travelling to Japan and Taiwan accompanying various groups of buyers from our US stores. I had attended classes in NYC after work to learn some Cantonese language and then continued with more classes in HK. But, most fun was picking up various colloquial expressions from my young Chinese colleagues in our HK office. I would then go home after work and immediately try them out with our Chinese maid (locally called an Amah). She would always laugh and ask who taught me those phrases. What a luxury it was to have a live in maid that was a built in baby sitter available 6 days a week. The Amah (her English name was Janie) had Sunday as her day off. My wife loved to do the cooking since Janie did the cleanup. We slowly developed a normal family life routine. Fortunately we met other young American expatriot families and developed a strong network of friends, enjoying a lively social life. Our youngest daughter was born at the end of 1968 which added an even broader set of experiences to our life abroad. Below are some photos to bring some realism and facts into this story. Click on Thumbnails to see full image. From left to right they show our vacation in Hawaii, a dinner party with members of the HK office, Janie with my three daughters and doll house, my passport showing the HK visa permitting us to live in HK as residents not just visitors.
Good and Bad: The Expatriot Experience
THE GOOD. There are many different aspects to working abroad as an ex-patriot. The exposure to the world outside the USA is invaluable. In 1965, it was somewhat unique depending upon the industry and the expertise needed from the ex-pat employee. The Macy's Foreign Buying offices were mostly staffed by local employees that had considerable knowledge about the locally made products and their suppliers. The Europeans staff usually sent a representative to visit our New York offices every year. On the other hand the Hong Kong and Osaka offices had expatriot management personnel that brought their expertise to the Orient so the exchange of experience was accomplished in two different ways. Personally I learned 100 times more in the 2 plus years I lived abroad then I did in the six years encountering the same problems long distance from New York. Nothing can beat the opportunity to have a face to face discussion about a business problem or opportunity. I saw the Orient more thoroughly through my own eyes than I need through the eyes of a local employee trying to convey the particulars of a business situation through long distance communication. After spending 2 plus years visiting numerous suppliers in several countries I was accepted as an expert in my field.
THE BAD. In the 60's, the global business mindset had yet to be established. I happened to work in an industry that pioneered the concept of international sourcing. However, ex-patriot experience was not always valued as highly as it is today. For this reason, ex-patriot employees were treated differently than they are today. Firms doing business with a great deal of international exposure now realize how valuable of overseas experience is to every executive employee and to the firm itself. For this reason, firms have learned to deal with the ex-patriot employee in a much more professional way than I was treated. In my situation, the Macy Corporate Human Resource Department did not have the knowledge or experience to deal with the needs of a young family living abroad with children. the education of my children became an issue that was only resolved after a good deal of stress being generated for my family. My advise to anyone considering living abroad as an ex-patriot employee is to spend a great deal of time researching the particular situation you are being offered particularly in regards to family matters. Take advantage of the lessons learned over the past decades in order to make your overseas experience as beneficial as possible from every aspect, both career-wise and from the family viewpoint. (Travel Log 1965 - 1968)