In merely a year, a Springfield architecture and interior design firm has put down roots in foreign soil and is poised to take on major projects in east Asia.

How did Butler, Rosenbury and Partners accomplish this? What is their secret?

“We were in the right spot at the right time with the right people,” said Tim Rosenbury, a partner at the firm.

It all started with a vision by the firm management that Asia could be the company’s new market.

“We were convinced (our move to China) could be big,” Rosenbury said.

Then came Hongtai Li, a Chinese native, who came to work for BR&P about a year ago. Both Li and the firm’s management were interested in exploring opportunities in China, a country with explosive economic growth.

Only a couple of decades into a market economy, China is trying to catch up with the rest of the world, and its companies are hungry for Western know-how and expertise. At the same time, American firms are searching for emerging markets in this booming part of the world, Li said.

And Li can connect Springfield to Asia.

In Dongguan, China, one of Li’s former classmates, “Arshen” Chen Lixin, is the chairman of Guangdong Walford Project Design.

For mutual benefits, China Square, a joint venture, was forged between BR&P and Walford, in which Chinese architects and BR&P representatives would work together on projects both in China and in the United States.

The goal was to combine Chinese resources and American know-how to compete for projects on the global stage.

But, as many of those who have done or tried to do business in China have learned, forging fruitful business relationships in China can be daunting for Westerners, who need to adjust to the differences between the two cultures.

And BR&P decided to have a long-term presence in China.

“I don’t think you can just fly (to China) for an assignment and leave,” Rosenbury said, commenting on conducting business in China.

“It’s more relationship than business (there),” he said. “Here, it’s more business than relationship.”

Then came the task of finding the right person at BR&P to build and lead China Square to success, Li said. Anyone who cannot work with another culture could quickly sink the enterprise, he noted.

“It takes a very special person,” Li said.

That special person turned out to be Stephanie Shadwick, a 2005 Drury graduate, who was tapped to head the 12-person China Square in Dongguan beginning in October.

“I was surprised,” Shadwick said. “I didn’t think I was qualified.”

The management at BR&P believed in her. “She is a people person,” Li said. “She is talented and confident.”

Shadwick did not disappoint. In the next six months in Dongguan, the young woman was able to mold the office culture at China Square into that of the American style rather than the Chinese way, which tends to be more laid-back and less efficient, Li said.

“I work hard to keep my job,” she said. “If anything goes wrong, I would be blamed.”

She got her Chinese peers to work hard by working side by side with them, Shadwick said.

The result? China Square quickly grew to be a firm capable of taking on Western-styled projects.

“There is little standards in China,” Shadwick said. “They don’t know how Radisson wants its hotel to be, how Hilton wants its hotels to be.”

Said Li of some hotels in China: “There is no service, no (power) outlet. They are not functioning very well.”

With more international travelers flocking to the growing China, there is a huge potential market for Western-style hotels, Li said.

And BR&P is there to get a share.

Now, China Square — hardly a year old — will be designing three high-end hotels in China, Li said.

With Shadwick back in Springfield, Ben Craig, a 27-year-old intern architect at BR&P, is now working with China Square in Dongguan.

Corey Sengstacken, 26, an interior designer, will fly to China in July for a 3Ï-month assignment.

“I’m pretty grateful for this opportunity,” Sengstacken said. “It will give me great experience. … I’m most excited. It’s pretty cool.”

The China office is helping BR&P and Springfield attract and retain bright graduates, Rosenbury said.

And it allows BR&P, whose reach was only as far as Columbia in 1989, to boast projects in the Far East.

“It’s energizing,” Rosenbury said. “… It will really force us to go beyond ourselves. As a result, we grow.”

So will young professionals such as Shadwick.

information from : www.news-leader.com

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