A-1 Lanes and the Currency Crisis of the East Asian Tigers *‪.‬

On July 2, 1997, Rick Baker, the president and founder of A-1 Lanes (a manufacturer and an international supplier of wood and synthetic bowling lanes), was having his morning coffee when he was devastated to learn that Thailand had devalued its currency, the baht, by 11%. Baker had an uneasy feeling there would be a domino effect across all countries in Asia because their economies were interrelated. If that happened, Baker wondered how it would affect the future of his company. Baker realized that the company faced several critical issues. First, 80% of A-l's sales were derived from countries in and around the Asian Pacific Rim. Second, the company had over $1 million in accounts receivable from this region. Third, in 1996 the company had taken out a loan for $500,000 on a new manufacturing facility to capitalize on the popularity and growth of bowling centers in Korea, China, and Taiwan.