US toys boss hopes to ride out political frictions
Jay Foreman, who has been in the toy business for more than three decades, can vouch for how fairly he has been treated by Chinese suppliers.
The president and chief executive of Basic Fun!, a global toy company based in Boca Raton, Florida, also hopes that China and the United States can continue to do business together despite the political difficulties and the supply challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our hope is that the Chinese, always tough and smart, and the US, who is always practical and also smart, can recognize how symbiotic our business relationship is and how detrimental it would be to both countries to allow some of the geopolitical hot-button points which have been around for a hundred years to interrupt an incredible, successful and symbiotic economic relationship that’s so important to both parties,” Foreman said on Wednesday.
He was speaking during a discussion on the current challenges of sourcing in China. The talk was organized by the US-China Business Council and the China Corner Office, a podcast hosted by Chris Marquis from Cornell University’s Johnson College of Business.
Basic Fun! produces many wellknown toy brands such as Uncle Milton, Play Hut, Tonka and Care Bears. Most of these products have been manufactured in China for the past three decades.
Foreman said the company is working frantically to overcome supply problems brought about by a lack of available shipping containers due to the pandemic, so as not to disappoint a lot of children at Christmas.
“Business is in a sense so good, almost too good, that we can’t get enough space on container ships to bring in all the merchandise that the consumers and the retailers are looking for,” he said.
Foreman has been working with Chinese companies in the toy industry since the late 1980s and has made more than 100 trips to China. He has witnessed the transformation of China’s manufacturing and the country’s rapid development.
He remembers when a minivan he was riding in had to dodge cyclists on the highway from the airport into Shanghai when he made his first trip to China.
Back then, the toys were made in State-owned factories, and trade was conducted with State-owned trading companies when he first started doing business primarily in the Shanghai area.
“It’s been really a win-win relationship, at least from my (perspective) because the people there are just serious. They just want to make money, to be successful and to prosper by working hard,” he said.
Although it took some time for the two sides to get on the same wavelength, the collaboration has been seamless now after three decades, Foreman said.
Despite labor costs rising in China, and manufacturing competition emerging in places such as Vietnam, Cambodia and India, Foreman said that innovation and resourcefulness have enabled China to maintain its competitive edge.
“They’ve created special machines that never existed before just to make (products) through automation and very little labor,” he said. “Chinese manufacturers find ways to innovate and automate.
“For the next 10 or so years, I think China will continue to be a cost-effective place because they’ll have that balance between labor and automation.”
However, Foreman said he is concerned about the friction in the bilateral relationship.
“The uncertainty now that’s happening in the geopolitical and economic (front) is really as challenging and volatile as ever,” he said.