Ozarks Profile: Alex Budzinsky

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Decorize Inc. is a wholesaler and importer of a broad line of home furnishings, including accessories, accent furniture, wall art, lighting and other categories. The company produces products under three brands: GuildMaster, Faithwalk Designs, and decorize.com. Decorize uses its Springfield plant to manufacture and distribute some of its GuildMaster brand products. The majority of the Decorize products are designed by our staff in Springfield and Houston and are then produced to our specifications by manufacturers in the Far East ... . We sell to large retailers, such as Home Expo and Sears-The Great Indoors as well as to many medium- and small-size retailers throughout the country.|ret||ret||tab|

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What do you do? |ret||ret||tab|

As executive vice president and CFO, I look after the financial needs of the company, making sure that we operate as efficiently as we can with the resources that we have. I am also responsible for overseeing the legal and regulatory affairs of the company, including the filing of the various documents required of an American Stock Exchange listed public company. I also oversee the operational side of our business, including accounting and finance, procurement and logistics, and information technology. |ret||ret||tab|

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How important are computers and technology to your job? |ret||ret||tab|

Technology has become a very important element of current business activity. This is especially true of an industry that has recently begun to follow trends developed by other industries over the past two decades by moving production overseas to lower-cost producers and by moving to the just-in-time delivery model.|ret||ret||tab|

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In what ways do computers make operations easier for your company?|ret||ret||tab|

Computers enable the use of technology to generate and distribute vital information in real time. Our company is committed to continuing upgrading of our information systems and the operating processes with which they are intertwined. We are in the middle of another upgrade to our company's information and accounting system, which will provide us much more timely and more complete accounting information, as well as operational and logistics information. With such timely information, we can see what is happening in the company's business as soon as it happens and we can immediately determine whether we need to take steps to deal with a problem or to take advantage of an opportunity. Our managers are able to manage their departments more effectively if they can have real-time actual versus budget reports. |ret||ret||tab|

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What are some of the biggest challenges you deal with professionally?|ret||ret||tab|

In addition to being a fashion industry with continuous change and emphasis on fashionable new products, the structure of our industry is changing rapidly. The larger accessories companies are being acquired by much larger home furnishing companies. The growing shift to overseas sourcing, combined with the weak economy, continued downward pressure on prices and an uncertain buying environment puts a premium on a continuing program of controlling expenses and reducing costs. Attractive financing for growth is difficult to obtain, requiring a continuing concentration on operating within available resources.|ret||ret||tab|

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