- 7 -
lens manufacturing facility was located in an industrial estate
in Waterford, Ireland (Waterford industrial estate).
During the 1970s and the 1980s, B&L was increasingly turning
its attention to international markets, including Southeast Asia
where B&L was experiencing rapid growth in the sale of its
products. Prior to 1972, B&L distributed its sunglasses and
other products in certain Southeast Asian markets through in-
dependent distributors unrelated to B&L (independent distribu-
tors) that sold products other than B&L products, including in
the case of at least one such distributor sunglasses produced by
a competitor of B&L. The independent distributors did not focus
on B&L products, and B&L maintained no direct contact with the
retail optical shops in Southeast Asia that sold its sunglasses
to consumers. In addition, B&L did not maintain any inventory in
Southeast Asia and experienced long lead times on product orders
originating in that market due to a delay in shipping products
from the United States to that part of the world. This was the
case even though during the early 1970s B&L was experiencing
rapid sales growth in Southeast Asia as that market began to
develop and its consumers could afford more luxury-type products.
In 1971, B&L opened an office in Hong Kong, its largest
market in Southeast Asia. Although that office, which it called
a representative office, acted as a liaison between B&L and its
independent distributors, it did not maintain any inventory or
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011