Why has Saucony had two great years?
It’s basic and almost embarrassing to utter. We’ve undergone a 60-month program. Our goal is to be one of the best-managed companies in our subset. It sounds simple, but every decision you make you have to step back and say: Is this a best practice, or is there a better way to do it? In the last five or six years, it became evident that building a better mousetrap wasn’t enough. If you look at our metrics — inventory turn, day sales outstanding, accounts receivables — all the things an investment banker or an analyst would look at, we’re starting to come out at or near the top. Q: Is that why you moved production to China? A: It was certainly part of it. We were proud that we were an American manufacturer up until 1997-98. It wasn’t a craftsmanship deficiency. The technology of shoemaking became so costly it was only available in Asia. Ten years ago, Asia had the low-cost labor. Then they acquired the capital to put out efficient operating systems. We had no choice but to close our Ban
