Similar outlooks lead to success for local companies

One company has made the world a sweeter place, the other has helped travelers preserve their most pleasant memories.

One brings Tacoma to the world, the other gathers the world into Tacoma.

Both will find recognition Thursday evening as winners of Globe Awards as given by a revitalized World Trade Center Tacoma.

 • Receiving the Large Business Exporter of the Year Award, Brown & Haley was born 99 years ago in a city then known as a center of candymaking. Harry Brown first fashioned Almond Roca in 1923, and that chocolate-nut buttercrunch has gone on to become the flagship confection in a family of candies known from Shanghai to Saudi Arabia.

 • Honored as Small Business Importer of the Year, Smith-Western was founded in 1947 by World War II veteran Kyle Smith. Armed with a camera and an easy way with people, Smith visited small towns in the Northwest, speaking with shopkeepers and snapping the photos that graced the postcards he designed and sold. Under his leadership, and now that of his son, Skip, the company designs and markets souvenirs manufactured in Europe and Asia and sold primarily in Asia and North America.

Although both Tacoma companies enjoy international reputations, their respective chief executives hadn’t really met before this year, busy as they were.

Skip Smith, 62, regularly visits manufacturing plants in Asia and he directs operations at the company’s South Tacoma headquarters.

Pierson Clair, 64, spends his time shuttling between the company’s new Fife headquarters and Brown & Haley’s manufacturing plant in Tacoma’s Dome District.

The two met one Friday afternoon a few weeks ago at the Smith-Western showroom.

You two have met before.

Clair: I know he’s really smart.

Smith: He’s my hero for having so much money in the bank.

Actually, one of the strengths we share is the way we’ve built relationships, and how we appreciate our partners overseas and domestically – and the way we respect our long-term employees.

Clair: I want to become a customer of Smith-Western.

Smith: And vice-versa. These awards have led to visions of what we can do together.

What else do you have in common?

Clair: It’s about relationships, and keeping the company family-based.

There’s something else you can see in this room. The first time I came to Smith-Western, I knew it was contemporary. (Pointing to a rack of newly designed beverage containers:) These mugs are cutting edge.

Skip’s company and my company basically work pretty much the same. We treat people fairly. We treat people with respect. We do the right thing. Tell the truth.

Smith: Over the summer we had interns here from Pierce College, from India, Turkey and Brazil. One young man from India, he was observing. He asked, “How do you do that?” Do what? “Be so honest.”

If we don’t tell the truth, people don’t trust us. We tell the truth even if it’s something they don’t want to hear.

What do you think sets your businesses apart from others – that may not have won Globe Awards.

Smith: Being open-minded to new ideas. So many ideas are coming from others. I understand that my perspective is not the only one. On Jan. 1, I will have finished 40 years at Smith-Western. I’d like to make the next 40 easier. It’s product development, attitude. We need many more sets of eyes.

Clair: It goes back to being contemporary. It’s about embracing change. I don’t think you can fight change.

Do you see any specific synergy between Brown & Haley and Smith-Western?

Clair: There ought to be.

Smith: We’re planning that now. Our niche is the tourist arena. There is a huge category growing in food. Here we have two homegrown companies, we’re friends, we can do something collectively. We’ve been working together for two or three months.

Along with common practices and mutual success, have there been obstacles that you might have both faced?

Clair: Sound Transit (construction) has made it difficult for customers, employees and the trucks coming in. The city has done almost nothing to help.

Smith: The biggest obstacle for us, which turned into an opportunity, was the day in 1999 or 2000 when I read that we were moving from downtown because the city was building a convention center. We made lemonade out of lemons by negotiating for a new facility. At the time, we were planning renovations. I was offended that the city hadn’t had the courtesy to tell us when years before they begged us to stay there to be an anchor tenant in an otherwise bad part of town. I was offended by the lack of consideration.

OK. And what’s positive?

Clair: The state of Washington is an exporter’s paradise. And with the Port of Tacoma and Puget Sound, exporting becomes possible, whereas in most of the country exporting is seen as a difficult thing to do. We have several agencies to assist us with opportunities. The steamship lines also enhance our exporting.

Also, you’ve gotta love the dollar.

Smith: We’ve had good banking relationships. Commencement Bank has been wonderful. Also, because of the strength of the import-export industry in the region, we have an exceptionally strong import broker in ClearFreight.

Skip, What kind of an import map do you have?

Smith: We import from 12 countries. We do the bulk of our printing (for calendars) in Italy. That’s because of an old relationship. When the CEO of the company was a little boy in Italy, my father was a G.I., one of the liberators. My dad speaks Italian. Years later he met the man, he’s 73 now, and (the CEO) pledged that as long as he was there they’d give us the best quality work at the best price. And they do.

We go to Vietnam, Italy, Denmark, China, Taiwan, Thailand. I’ve been to Asia four times this year, and will be going one or two more.

Pierson, what about your exports?

Clair: We ship to more than 30 countries, and we can account for a presence in 45. We do significant business in Singapore. We have eight core countries that represent 80 percent of our international business. China and Hong Kong are our No. 1 international customers.

Why do you both think you’re taking home a Globe Award?

Clair: I think Brown & Haley in the last 10 years has focused on international trade. I think that trade grows jobs, grows the economy and promotes understanding. Our Roca, in an elegant way, takes Tacoma to the world.

Smith: I think it’s a combination of our efforts over the years to provide state-of-the-art tourist merchandise to merchants across the U.S. I think it’s a reflection of our employees. It’s a humbling honor to have been chosen in our community. I think it’s an acknowledgment of some of the new directions we’re going.

The World Trade Center Tacoma has asked that when you accept your awards, you reflect on how your business has changed since 9/11. Any idea of what you’ll say?

Clair: “Made in America” is more important. The world trusts American food products. There is never a question about the quality of Roca.

There’s the ongoing rise of the Asian economies, and the expansion of global trade.

Smith: We have to work harder to come up with new ideas. Before 9/11, we could rest on our laurels and have the same items for five years. That has changed. The “staycation” has changed the way we market to our customers. People don’t go as far as they did before.

C.R. Roberts: 253-597-8535
c.r.roberts@thenewstribune.com