Then and Now: Brandenburg manages through global uncertainty

For James Brandenburg, president of U.S. operations for JVS Export, a family-owned textile manufacturer headquartered in India, the hardest part of his job isn’t selling home textiles to Walmart, Target and Hobby Lobby — it’s everything he can’t control.

“The operating environment is constantly changing because of global politics and conflict at this point, whether it’s tariffs, war or regulatory changes,” he said. “The owner was telling me that now we’re seeing impacts from the war, and we can’t get polyester and dye.”

And elections in India are affecting the workforce.

So, Brandenburg focuses on what he can control: “how we communicate to our customers about it. That’s the best we can do right now. We have to take the rest of it and just stay shifty on our feet.”

Retail is changing, he said. “We can’t just make good kitchen towels in India; now we have to tell stories and provide good online content. It’s a lot different than it was 24 years ago when I started. Then it was basically to get product from point A to point B. But the good news is that it’s still a people-driven business. We still have relationships and discussions with merchant teams about what the product should look like. So, the way the product gets to the consumer is going to change, the logistics will change, but I don’t think the people part is going away.”

As for the future, Brandenburg is focused on how “JVS needs to grow to remain relevant, because without our U.S. customers buying our products from our factories in India, there’s several thousand people over there who don’t have jobs. So, I’m trying to keep tabs on where the market is headed and like Wayne Gretzky said, ‘I gotta skate where the puck is going, not where the puck is.”

Brandenburg’s family moved from Iowa to Northwest Arkansas when he was 11. He graduated from Bentonville High School and then from Missouri State University. Wanting retail experience to enable his dream to own a golf store, he worked in Walmart’s store operations for five years, opening the first Walmart Neighborhood Market in Fort Smith.

With a growing family and wanting more control over personal time, he transitioned to the home office as import replenishment manager, then worked for a supplier. He’d worked with Britto Joseph, JVS owner, in his Walmart import days, and a chance meeting at Walmart with Joseph led him to his current role in 2003.

A self-described “towel salesman,” Brandenburg built the U.S. operations of the India-based textile company into a multi-million dollar, “small but mighty,” supplier, earning “Supplier of the Year” at both Walmart and Target.

He was named to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class of 2010.

“When you’ve worked with as many different buyers as I’ve seen over the years, you start to realize that the relationships that you build and the way you conduct your business is really the highlight,” Brandenburg said. “It’s the thing I’m most proud of. It’s been good to work with people who share the same values, whether that’s a commitment to doing the right thing, commitment to serving the customer the best way we know how, but also commitment to being balanced in how we approach work and personal life. It’s become more about relationships and the way we do business, rather than the measure of the business we have.”

Brandenburg credits his team for the company’s success. He tries to live by the Golden Rule. “I have to feel good about how I treat my people, how I treat my customers, my buyer customers, my retail customers, and feel good about the consumer who buys our products and their situations as well.”

While he acknowledges there is a lot he still needs to learn, because “we never stop learning,” he said. “I’ve learned not to get too high or too low.” So, he takes the time needed to “form the right perspective on how to tackle a problem.”

Brandenburg, married with two sons, is treasurer of the North American Board of Directors for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.