Marjorie M.T. Yang (MBA '76)

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, The Esquel Group

Earlier Education
MIT, 1974
B.S., Mathematics

Other Jobs
Jardine Fleming, January-June, 1974
Having whizzed through MIT in 3 ½ years, Yang followed her father's advice and worked for this merchant bank in Hong Kong before graduation. "Since there are so few world-class mathematicians, he wanted me to consider other career choices."
First Boston Corporation, 1976-78

Why HBS?
"An HBS alum at Jardine Fleming told me I would need an MBA if I wanted to be taken seriously in business."

Hobbies
Ballroom dancing, painting

Recommended Reading
Einstein's Dreams, by Alan P. Lightman
"Written by a humanist/scientist, this is a compelling collection of fables focusing on various conceptions of time, as seen through the imagined dreams of young Albert Einstein at work on his theory of relativity."

Dubbed by Fortune as one of the most powerful businesswomen in the world, Margie Yang is proud to be part of an ever-growing number of Asian-born female executives and entrepreneurs. But she prefers to put the spotlight on The Esquel Group's 47,000 employees. "One of our guiding precepts," she says, "is to try to improve the livelihood of every member of the company."

When you go into a store looking for a stylish, well-made shirt, the designer brands jump out at you-names like Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, and Ralph Lauren. So do the button-downs and polos at top chains such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Brooks Brothers, Marks & Spencer, and Nordstrom. What isn't known to consumers is the name behind all these labels-a family-owned textile and apparel manufacturer headquartered in Hong Kong called The Esquel Group. With seventeen plants or offices in nine countries, 47,000 employees, and revenues of more than $500 million, Esquel makes more men's cotton shirts than any other company in the world.

Guiding the firm to such prominence has been Margie Yang, a combination of energy, style, and determination who gave up her job at First Boston Corporation in 1978 to help her then-ailing father start the company-and never left. The original business model reflects how far the world economy has come in just over two decades. "Mainland China was just opening up," Yang says. "Although joint ventures, not to mention private ownership, were not possible at that time, through a kind of barter system we could send machinery to the Chinese factories we managed. In return, we received shipments of apparel that we then sold to discount retailers in the United States."

With an initial focus on high quantity and low prices, Esquel was just part of the pack of Asian exporters shipping goods to mass markets in developed nations. But by the mid-1980s, the Yangs decided the time had come to differentiate themselves. They would concentrate on quality and meeting the needs of the most discriminating designers and retailers in areas such as product design and development, packaging, and merchandising.

To accomplish that, Margie Yang has focused her efforts on building an operation that relies on best practices and the latest technology for its competitive advantage. One recent HBS grad who works for her, she points out, is using probability and statistics to anticipate fluctuations in buyer demand and thus make Esquel's production planning as efficient as possible. Advances in engineering-from conserving natural resources such as energy and water to computerized color matching in the dyeing process-ensure considerable cost savings by eliminating wastage in materials and time.

"One of our guiding precepts is to try to improve the livelihood of every member of the company," says Yang, "so the benefits of these savings are passed on not only to our customers but to all our employees. In addition, we feel a responsibility to bring some good to the communities where we work. We're involved, for example, in a corporate program in one region of China where we work to encourage children to go to school-a campaign that also subsidizes the cost of books and transportation."

As part of her commitment to quality, Yang has also overseen Esquel's evolvement as a vertically integrated manufacturer, including the farming of long staple cotton in northwest China. "When I control my materials, I control my own destiny," she says matter-of-factly. Since the state wasn't rewarding farmers for growing this crop, which is a staple in fine shirts and other apparel, Esquel stepped in and started a joint venture five years ago in Xinjiang province. Yang and her colleagues also turn their attention to myriad other details-from making sure the fabric in the collar of a golf shirt still looks crisp on the eighteenth green to creating a button that won't break when laundered. All of these are among the many essential ingredients for success in a business where product life cycles are measured in months and where "new-and-improved" is a mantra.

Dubbed by Fortune magazine last year as one of the most powerful businesswomen in the world, Yang notes emphatically that she is part of an ever-growing group of female executives and entrepreneurs born in Asia who are making their mark at the highest levels. The Hong Kong community, she points out, has been especially supportive.

Yang's influence and leadership extend far beyond Esquel. A member of the MIT Corporation and the Gillette Company board, for instance, she participates in a host of activities, most of them having to do with education, the environment, and sustainable development. "As the beneficiary of a Harvard MBA, I'm aware of the crucial role that management education plays in a country's economic growth," she observes. "This is certainly the case in China, where I'm working with a number of Chinese and American universities, including Harvard, at the forefront of this effort."

Esquel's impressive growth notwithstanding, Yang doesn't see her job as anywhere near done. "We still have a long way to go before we reach our ultimate goal of bringing benefits to all our constituents through good management, high technology, and, of course, creativity," she concludes. "It's very important for us to set an example in Asia as a company that can be both viable and socially conscious. If we can continue to set that standard, others will follow in our path."