Navigating the World of International Business.
From Scott Rankin, President of SMI

I’m amazed at the opportunities in front of me and the SMI organization. I want to thank outgoing president Reb Banas for showing me the process and techniques of running a first class organization like SMI. Reb made every part of the job fun and used his extensive knowledge to steer our association into new areas of technology and leadership. Reb guided SMI to new leadership heights with Lynne Carr and her staff, including Dina Sanchez, Jim Wood and Gary McCoy. As a result, SMI is poised for more growth and I can’t wait to work more closely with each of them.

I’m pleased that this issue is about international business, because much of my time as SMI president will be focused on international relationships. My career right out of college started with a German company in Germany. I learned quickly to adjust to the European business environment and made plenty of mistakes trying to fit into the German culture. But because of this I became very comfortable with the European lifestyle and learned that different cultures are fun and interesting.

In business we all feel that we speak the same language and understand each other with a common goal of making money and solving problems with our products. But the reality is each country and culture has its own rules and objectives. My favorite quote from one of my Chinese customers is: “That is normal.” Whenever I don’t understand or feel that I’m not being heard, he says: “That is normal.” In other words, stop fighting it and accept that it’s the way business is done in China.

The international business opportunities we have are going to be challenging and exciting. In some cases, we have to learn to change our ways of communicating and leave our set of rules behind. I’m excited about the prospect of learning more through the international network of friends and partners we’ve created. Our 2009 SMI meeting in Las Vegas included presentations from spring industry representatives from Japan, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. While we make many of the same springs as our foreign guests, it was interesting to see the many similarities and vast differences in the issues we face.

As I enter the honored position of SMI president, I’m aware that relationships with our international friends and competitors will be critical to our success. We have to see the problems they face and know that we may face those same issues now or soon in our own businesses.

SMI members have been there to help me and my company learn more about international and domestic business and the spring industry in general. My goal is to give each spring company in North America the same opportunity by becoming a part of SMI. This is a group of caring, knowledgeable and passionate springmakers. It is a support network that cannot be found anywhere else. If you need answers, this is the group that can help you. I look forward to meeting many of you this year, including at the upcoming wire Show in Düsseldorf. I hope you will seriously consider joining SMI to help your company navigate the world of international business.

Succeed with Passion,

Scott Rankin
President, Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co.
scott@vulcanspring.com