CSA receives warm response in China.

Cameron Smith of Cameron Smith & Associates in Rogers is back from a whirlwind trip to China where he and his team hosted 200 to 300 companies at a conference on the benefits of doing business in northwest Arkansas with Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Smith and six others met with 45 companies individually over two days in May, cutting their trip a few days short because of exhaustion but not before setting themselves up for plenty of follow-up trips to Shanghai and Beijing and also to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The goal of the trip was to lure more suppliers to set up offices in northwest Arkansas. Of the 1,200 or so teams in the area, only 15 are from China, where more than 50 percent of the hard goods sold in Wal-Mart are made.

"We have several [considering Northwest Arkansas]," Smith said. "You don't just snap your fingers and set it up, though. A lot of things have to take place first. We're taking baby steps with 11 or 12, and there will be more after that, I'm sure."

Smith said companies have approached him about sponsoring future China trips and it wasn't out of the question for him to consider sending staff of his recruiting firm to do follow-up work.

While much work remains in China, Smith has targeted several other countries for recruitment to Northwest Arkansas.

"We have companies calling us from India left and right and we know we need to get there," Smith said.