Keyboards account for the biggest slice of the sales pie at 16%, followed by floppy drives at 11% and video cards at 9%. The rest comes from an assortment of components, including CPUs, motherboards, hard drives and controller cards. Only a third of ASI's sales come from customers who buy between $100,000 and $500,000 worth a year. Those who buy in smaller quantities make up the bulk of sales.
Christine Chu graduated from Tang Ming College in Taiwan in 1979. She started the company eight years a short time after immigrating to the U.S. Two years later, in 1989, husband Marcel came aboard full-time. By 1990 ASI had developed its strategic business plan, what she calls "the ASI Formula". It entailed opening the first regional facility in Dallas. During the next years it added more warehouses to be move inventory closer to customers.
That exercise in cutting shipping time, Liang believes, accounts for much of ASI's success which has already won plenty of recognition. In addition to making Working Woman's Top 50 list, ASI also made the Inc. 500 which named Liang as a finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year. But awards aren't what interest Liang. She didn't even know about the Working Woman Top 50 until a few days before she was to attend the awards luncheon.
"Associates were coming up to me, shaking my hand and offering congratulations," she said after the ceremony.
ASI's eight warehouses take up 350,000 square feet. The space is used to provide customers a 99% accuracy in shipping orders and the ability to ship orders on the day they're received. Customers who are local to any of the warehouses even get free delivery. ASI also keeps a tech support staff of 20 and boasts an 80% "live-answer" rate, sparing customers from voicemail hell. To help employees stay abreast of developments, ASI holds several training sessions each week for technical and sales staff.
The business isn't the only thing Liang has been growing. She and husband Marcel have also been growing a family in their home in Fremont's Mission San Jose district. They now have a daughter in junior high and a son in grade school.
"When I first started in Sunnyvale in a 15,000 square foot building, the business was number one," recalls Liang.
"In five years I felt like the business was more successful; we started branching out and then I started feeling guilty about not spending more time with my babies. Family is the most important thing for me now."
[CONTINUED BELOW]
Maybe for that reason she has delegated the title of CEO to husband Marcel though, as
founder and 51% shareholder, Christine Liang could as easily have claimed it for herself. "That's the tradition," is her explanation as to why she bestowed the CEO title on her husband. She has chosen to assume a less visible role by focusing on the critical line duties of purchasing, finance and sales.
"I think in the PC industry, men still control the market," she told San Jose Mercury News. "But the more I work in this business, I believe that women have a lot of potential. The women I work with are all very smart and talented, and I believe that they all can definitely be successful."
