Factory Man : How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local - and Helped Save an American Town (9780316322607)
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Bassett Furniture strategizes to court women buyers: James R. Hagerty, “Showing Furniture Makers the Softer Side,” Wall Street Journal, July 18, 1999.
Closing of W.M. plant: Ginny Wray, “Bassett to Close City Plant,” Martinsville Bulletin, May 22, 1997.
Bassett Furniture tries to cut its losses: Megan Schnabel, “Bassett Takes a $19.6 Million Beating in 1997,” Roanoke Times, January 10, 1998.
Apparel and textile job losses: Nearly a million were lost between 1976 and 1996, primarily due to the growth of imports; technological advances in transportation, communication, and production; and the worldwide search for markets, according to Mark Mittelhauser, “Employment Trends in Textiles and Apparel, 1973–2005,” Monthly Labor Review, August 1997.
Local reaction to W.M. plant closing: Ginny Wray, “Amid Shock, Few Expected Plant Closing,” Martinsville Bulletin, May 22, 1997.
Bassett Furniture sales in decline: In 1996, Bassett reported a net income of $18.5 million on sales of $450.7 million, according to Schnabel, “Bassett Takes a $19.6 Million Beating.”
Twenty-eight Bassett Furniture factory closures over three years: Megan Schnabel, “Bassett Furniture Industries Has a New Chief Executive Officer, But He’s an Old Hand at the Company,” Roanoke Times, March 29, 2000.
TAA participation rates: Government Accountability Office Studies, and Beth Macy, “The Reality of Retraining,” Roanoke Times, April 22, 2012.
Cost of razing the W.M. factory: Jessie Weston, “Plant Razing Tops $840,000,” Martinsville Bulletin, March 11, 1998.
Unemployment rate in Martinsville: Jeff Sturgeon, “Hampton Plant Cuts 120 Jobs,” Roanoke Times, December 30, 1999.
Chapter 17: Stretching Out the Snake
Interviews: Wyatt Bassett, John Bassett, Linda McMillian, Allen Farmer, J. “Doug” Bassett IV, Tim Prillaman, Bob Merriman, Pamela Luecke, Doug Brannock, Rose Maner
Chinese view of Americans’ work ethic: James McGregor, “Advantage, China,” Washington Post, July 31, 2005.
Increase in Chinese imports from 2000 to 2002: U.S. International Trade Commission, public conference, November 21, 2003. Domestic producers of bedroom furniture increased their imports from a level equivalent to 6 percent of their domestically produced shipments in 2000 to a level equivalent to 19.6 percent of those shipments in 2002, according to Wooden Bedroom Furniture from China: Preliminary Hearings Before the U.S. International Trade Commission, 17 (January 2004).
Vaughan-Bassett’s sales dive as result of imports: Profits sank from $14 million in 1999 to $6.4 million in 2000, according to Wyatt Bassett.
Closing of Bassett’s veneer plant in Burkeville: Allen Farmer, former veneer plant manager, interview with the author, November 13, 2012.
Vaughan-Bassett’s and other companies’ sales decline in 2001: Figures from public SEC statements, compiled and presented at furniture suppliers’ meeting, Galax, Virginia, July 30, 2001.
J.D. Bassett plants closure: Duncan Adams, “Bassett Furniture to Eliminate 280 Jobs,” Roanoke Times, November 29, 2000.
Two million copies of the Chinese-language edition of the WTO rule book sold: Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat (New York: Picador, 2005), 137–39.
Genesis of Vaughan-Bassett Express: Jim McIngvale, Thomas Duening, and John Ivancevich, Always Think Big: How Mattress Mack’s Uncompromising Attitude Built the Biggest Single Retail Store in America, (Chicago: Dearborn, 2002).
Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory in the Civil War: Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker, eds., The Reader’s Companion to Military History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996).
$1.2 million of pretax profits: “Furniture Veterans Bear Witness to How Trade Spats Split Industries,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2004; importing details from Wyatt Bassett, interview with the author, December 14, 2012.
Kuo’s videotaping at Vaughan-Bassett: “Furniture Veterans Bear Witness.”
China’s treatment of Taiwan: The one-China policy had its origins in 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek moved the seat of his defeated government to Taiwan; Chiang and Mao Tse-tung each insisted that his government was the only legitimate government of China and that it had authority over both the mainland and Taiwan. Though Taiwanese businessmen maintained strong economic ties to China, few Taiwanese citizens wanted to come under Beijing’s harsh Communist rule. China has long regarded Taiwan as a renegade territory.
Taiwanese factories moving to the mainland: Sheryl WuDunn, “Taiwan’s Mainland Efforts Widen,” New York Times, April 14, 1990.
Chapter 18: The Dalian Dance Card
Interviews: Rose Maner, Wyatt Bassett, John Bassett, Doug Bassett, Frank Tothill, Michael Moh, Joyce Phillips, Sheila Key, Joe Dorn, Joe Meadors
Furniture imports increase again: Denise Becker, “Chinese Imports Talk of Market,” Greensboro News and Record, October 17, 2002.
Furniture job losses tallied: Edward Cone, “Against the Grain,” Baseline 21 (August 2003): 55–57.
Larry Moh’s location for fiberboard business: The Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone was approved as a state-level development zone in February 2000, sixteen years after Dalian’s.
Industrialization of Leshan: The first foreign-based company was Motorola, which built a semiconductor plant there in 1995 (“Motorola Leads Foreign Investors in Development of Western China,” China.org.cn, March 28, 2001).
Opening of Larry and Michael Moh’s FFDM: Powell Slaughter, “China Plant Impresses Retailers: FFDM Has Eye on $100M Mark,” Furniture/Today, December 1, 2002.
Bo Xilai’s ascent in party politics: Dexter Roberts, “A Princeling Who Could Be Premier,” Bloomberg Businessweek, March 15, 2004.
Corruption scandal: Jamil Anderlini, “Bo Xilai: Power, Death, and Politics,” Financial Times, July 20, 2012.
Bo Xilai’s wife in jail for murder: David Barboza, “As China Official Rose, His Family’s Wealth Grew,” New York Times, April 23, 2012.
Russian companies accused of illegal logging: “Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers,” Environmental Investigation Agency, 2007 report. The practice was confirmed by undercover EIA investigators; see Raffi Khatchadourian, “The Stolen Forests: Inside the Cover War on Illegal Logging,” New Yorker, October 6, 2008. Several months later, Walmart announced it would investigate its suppliers more rigorously and joined the Global Forest & Trade Network, according to “What Not to Buy at Walmart,” May 17, 2011, cbsnews.com.
Growth goals of Dalian Huafeng: Research Office of Provincial Township Enterprise Bureau of the People’s Government of Liaoning Province, “The History/Growth/Development of Dalian Huafeng Furniture Co., Ltd.,” Liaoning Daily, August 9, 2003 (translated by Rose Maner).
Factory dormitory size: “Ju Qian (Capable) Furniture Factory Report,” China Labor Watch, April 2007.
Dalian Huafeng’s plans: Testimony of Wyatt Bassett, U.S. International Trade Commission, public conference, November 21, 2003. Summary of Vaughan-Bassett’s injuries caused by imports: Testimony of John Bassett, U.S. International Trade Commission hearing, November 9, 2004, available at usitc.gov.
Bob Timberlake: Richard Craver, “Designer Will End Ties with Company,” Winston-Salem Journal, December 11, 2012.
Joe Dorn’s earlier Cemex case: The antidumping petition resulted in a 58 percent duty on Cemex imports; see David P. Baron and Justin Adams, “Cemex and Antidumping,” case study, Harvard Business Review (January 1, 1994).
J.C. Penney’s dumping of Bassett Furniture: Testimony of Rob Spilman, Bassett Furniture CEO, U.S. International Trade Commission, public conference, November 21, 2003.
J.C. Penney alleges price was not the cause of dropping Bassett: Testimonies of Rob Spilman and of Jim McAlister, operations manager of quality and sourcing for J.C. Penney, U.S. International Trade Commission, public conference, November 21, 2003.
Chapter 19: Gathering the Troops
Interviews: Doug Brannock, Wyatt Bassett, John Bassett, Sheila Key, Rick Boucher, Doug Bassett, Joe Dorn, Steve Kincaid, Powell Slaughter, Rose
Maner
Jack Welch’s views on offshoring: Quoted in “Where America’s Jobs Went,” The Week, March 18, 2011.
Market’s state funding restored: Travis Fain, “McCrory Shifts—No Cuts for High Point Market Funding,” Greensboro News and Record, April 2, 2013.
Boucher’s influence in Washington: In 2007, Congress.org ranked Rick Boucher as the tenth most powerful member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2010, he lost his seat to Republican Morgan Griffith, a defeat analysts attributed to his support for his party’s cap-and-trade energy bill and growing conservatism in the coalfields.
Domestics companies’ importing statistics: Cited in the antidumping petition and Greg Rushford, “The Yankee Trader,” Rushford Report (December 2003).
Furniture Brands’ losses: Jon Hilsenrath, Peter Wonacott, and Dan Morse, “Competition from Imports Hurts U.S. Furniture Makers,” Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2002.
Furniture Brands’ investments in Asian plants: Dan Morse, “In North Carolina, Furniture Makers Try to Stay Alive,” Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2004.
Origin of Byrd Amendment: Tudor N. Rus, “The Short, Unhappy Life of the Byrd Amendment,” New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy 10 (Winter 2007): 427–43.
Retaliatory duties brought against American exporters: “Issues and Effects of Implementing the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act,” United States Government Accountability Office, September 2005.
Political unpopularity of the Byrd Amendment: The European Union and eight other countries challenged the authority of the Byrd Amendment in 2001, saying it “clearly flies in the face of the letter and spirit of the W.T.O. law,” according to Elizabeth Olson, “U.S. Law on Trade Fines Is Challenged Overseas,” New York Times, July 14, 2001.
Displaced factory workers not faring well: Based on the work of economist Lori Kletzer of the University of California, Santa Cruz, published in “Globalization and Its Impact On American Workers,” University of California, Santa Cruz, and Peterson Institute for International Economics, written as pre-conference paper, “Labor in the New Economy,” May 2007 (revised).
Workers pledge support of antidumping petition: Denise Becker, “Workers Rally in Fight Against Chinese Imports,” Greensboro News and Record, July 30, 2003.
Paul Toms’s initial support of petition: Denise Becker, “Furniture Industry Looking to D.C.,” Greensboro News and Record, July 16, 2003.
Hooker abandons support of petition: “Chinese Furniture Faces U.S. Tariffs,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2004.
Other companies abandon support of petition: Amy Dominello, “The Committee Battling Against Chinese Furniture Loses Two Manufacturers But Gains One,” Greensboro News and Record, September 10, 2003.
Supply disruptions predicted: Powell Slaughter, “Hooker Exits Antidumping Group; Five Others Join,” Furniture/Today, February 22, 2004.
Petitioners ridiculed for picking on China: Rushford, “The Yankee Trader.”
Factory employment figures referred to by Steve Kincaid: Nearly twelve million Americans, or 9 percent of the workforce, are employed directly in manufacturing, according to the National Association of Manufacturers and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012.
Sophistry preached by Sam Walton: George Packer, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), 104–5.
Bedroom imports continue to climb: Powell Slaughter, “Lawyers Tip Hands on Antidumping,” Furniture/Today, December 14, 2003.
John Bassett pressures suppliers to sign on: Powell Slaughter, “Suppliers Urged to Support Petition,” Furniture/Today, August 17, 2003.
“Because you’re an American”: Ibid.
Thirty-one companies in petition: Powell Slaughter, “Antidumping Clears Hurdle,” Furniture/Today, December 14, 2003.
“like a murder in New York City”: Powell Slaughter, “We Should Acknowledge Human Cost of Imports,” Furniture/Today, June 29, 2003, and Powell Slaughter, interview with the author, January 28, 2013.
La-Z-Boy employees dedicated solely to importing efforts: Amy Martinez, “As Layoffs Mount, Import Relief Sought,” Raleigh News and Observer, August 27, 2003.
“Jabberwocky economics”: Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, interview with the author, January 24, 2013.
Tariffs on steel imports: The WTO ruled the steel tariffs were illegal, and Bush eventually lifted them, after twenty-one months, citing an improving economy and cost-cutting efforts by domestic steel makers. Elizabeth Becker, “W.T.O. Rules Against U.S. On Steel Tariff,” New York Times, March 27, 2003.
John Bassett’s speech: Speech delivered at the High Point Rotary Club, October 16, 2003.
Incentives to lure Mercedes to Alabama: “Ten Years After Mercedes, Alabama Town Still Pans for Gold,” Savannah Morning News, October 9, 2002.
Engineering of Congressional Furnishings Caucus by Doug Bassett: Powell Slaughter, “Antidumping Petition Filed,” Furniture/Today, October 31, 2003.
China the world’s leading furniture exporter: Jim Morrill and Tim Funk, “Job Losses Strain Loyalty of Bush Allies,” Charlotte Observer, November 7, 2003.
Furniture likely to become China’s number one U.S. export: John Bassett testimony, U.S.-China Trade Relations, House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Trade, February 15, 2007, transcript available at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/transcript/transcript.php?programid=170038.
Chapter 20: Mr. Bassett Goes to Washington
Interviews: Charlotte Lane, Fran Bassett Poole, Joe Dorn, Wyatt Bassett, John Bassett, Jake Jabs, Rob Spilman, Powell Slaughter, John Greenwald
Vaughan-Bassett embracing lean manufacturing: Wyatt Bassett testimony, ITC hearing, November 9, 2004; figures compiled based on financial records in “Furniture Veterans Bear Witness to How Trade Spats Split Industries,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2004.
“North Carolina has-beens”: Clint Engel, “Retailer Views Mixed on Antidumping Effort,” Furniture/Today, August 17, 2003.
ITC’s vote tally for and against domestic producers: William Bishop, Hearings and Meetings Coordinator, U.S. International Trade Commission.
Estimate of legal fees for antidumping petition: Jerry Epperson, furniture analyst and investment banker, interview with the author, June 19, 2012.
Government spending to advertise new twenty-dollar bill: Betsy Streisand, “Need Change for a $20 Bill? Call Hollywood,” New York Times, September 28, 2003.
John Bassett III telling Rob Spilman that his factories could be picketed if Bassett refused to join coalition: Rob Spilman, interview with the author, May 2, 2013.
Statements from preliminary hearing: Culled from transcripts, U.S. International Trade Commission, public conference, November 21, 2003.
Jeffrey Seamans explaining company’s practices: Ibid., 234.
“the business of making futile gestures”: Transcripts from the U.S. International Trade Commission hearing, November 9, 2004.
Operating income losses and closures tallied: “Petitioners’ Final Comments,” memorandum to the U.S. International Trade Commission, prepared by King and Spalding, December 7, 2004.
Chapter 21: Factory Requiem
Interviews: Joe Philpott, Rob Spilman, John Bassett, Buck Gale, Paul Fulton, Steve Walker
Record unemployment in Henry County: “October Unemployment Rate,” Roanoke Times, December 6, 2003; statewide rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Lack of safety precautions in Chinese factories: Bob Spilman, interview with E. L. Briggs, American Furniture Hall of Fame Foundation Oral Histories, April 4 and 7, 2005. Confirmed in Rob Spilman’s interview with the author.
Number of Bassett Furniture stores: Testimony of Rob Spilman, U.S. International Trade Commission, public conference, November 21, 2003.
V-B/Williams plant closing: Krista Pierce, “Furniture Plant Closing Its Doors,” Sumter Item, June 29, 2004.
; Chapter 22: Million-Dollar Backlash
Interviews: Wyatt Bassett, James Riddle, Keith Koenig, John Greenwald, Tim Copeland, Reau Berry, Jerry Epperson, John Bassett, George Cartledge Jr., Mike Micklem, Marc Schewel, Jake Jabs, Jim Stout, Hope Antonoff
Wyatt Bassett on the gradual process of being dumped by a retailer: Wyatt Bassett testimony, U.S. International Trade Commission hearing, November 9, 2004.
Description of Lifestyle’s Forbidden City at Market: “Furniture Veterans Bear Witness to How Trade Spats Split Industries,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2004.
Sales losses after being dumped by angry retailers: “Chinese Furniture Faces U.S. Tariffs,” Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2004.
Furniture Retailers of America’s ads: Ibid.
“not the cutting edge”: Clint Engel, “Antidumping Issues Aired at Market,” Furniture/Today, May 2, 2004.
“There’s a neutron bomb”: Clint Engel and Powell Slaughter, “Retail Groups Says Antidumping Costs May Rise,” Furniture/Today, October 14, 2004.
Double-digit wage hikes in China: Chinese wages rose 10 percent a year between 2000 and 2005 and 19 percent a year between 2005 and 2010, according to Harold L. Sirkin et al., “U.S. Manufacturing Nears the Tipping Point,” BCG Perspectives, March 22, 2012; https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/manufacturing_supply_chain_management_us_manufacturing_nears_the_tipping_point/.
Reshoring movement: According to “Coming Home,” Economist, January 19, 2013, most of the multinationals bringing production back to the United States cited as their reasons the rising wages in Asia and the discovery of the hidden costs of moving production far away from corporate offices. See also Rana Foroohar and Bill Saporito, “Made in the USA,” Time, April 22, 2013.
Lack of couch staying power: Steven Kurutz, “Analyzing the Couch,” New York Times, February 27, 2013.
“porous antidumping rules are abused for commercial gain”: Daniel J. Ikenson, “Poster Child for Reform: The Antidumping Case on Bedroom Furniture from China,” Cato Institute, June 3, 2004.