Since 9/11, the United States has faced a difficult balancing act between maintaining security and keeping the doors open to international businesspeople.
The issue arose during conversations I had with buyers from the Mideast and other areas during shows I attended in Asia this past winter. The U.S. visa process, it seemed, was so cumbersome that they were skipping High Point to attend shows in the Far East and Europe. And since most products were coming from China and other parts of Asia anyway, they figured there wasn’t any need to come to the States.
The issue surfaced again during a conversation I had after market with Peter Garner of Houston-based Garner International. He is a distributor who sells furniture to clients in the Middle East. Garner lived in that part of the worl...Read More
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Tom Russell
Associate Editor |
For years, husband and wife team Bob and Ida Holland ran a successful marketing, consulting and brand development business specializing in home furnishings. At its peak during the 1990s, Holland & Holland had 12 full time employees and some contract employees, ranging from copywriters and illustrators to photographers and printers. Since launching in 1971, it had done business with more than 40 furniture manufacturers and some big names in pharmaceuticals such as Bayer and Greer Labs.
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