Liu Jianguo, a Chinese executive at the helm of Honma Golf Co., upset Japanese managers when he refused to add indoor hitting bays to the company's golf shops in China.
Hitting bays are a fixture in Japanese golf shops as they offer visitors the chance to get the feel of new clubs. However, Liu favored the Chinese way, flaunting a gorgeous interior design that evokes the glamour of fashion shops.
The episode is just one example of how Liu has shaken up Honma Golf, a once-venerable Japanese golf club maker that is now emerging from the stigma of a mid-2000s bankruptcy under the wing of Chinese-controlled Marlion Holdings Ltd. Marlion Holdings acquired Honma Golf in 2010 in one of China's most visible takeovers of a Japanese company.