Gimme Five: Less is more

Arthur Nadata knows a lot about records: He's the only Long Islander to have earned the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award twice, while the company he formed with two partners on Oct. 22, 1982 has enjoyed an endless string of record-smashing quarters.

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Today, the Nu Horizons CEO and president is still so hands on at a company now boasting more than 25 locations around the world that he's seldom in his elegantly appointed office. He prefers being out in the bullpen, because that's where the action is.

The Melville-based electronics company - at leading distributor of components made by semiconductor manufacturers, one of the fastest growing companies on Long Island and one of five best-man aged companies as chosen by CMP's Electronic Buyers' News - posted a 100 percent sales increase and a 386 percent profit rise in the first quarter. It appears the $254 million company got so big, well, by the CEO thinking small. Read on.

Q: How do you take a company and make it one of the fastest growing on Long Island?

A: It's strategy. We're very specialized, very focused. About three years ago, we decided to reduce our supplier base, while our competitors continued to grow theirs. We're down to 27 from 52 other companies have 200 to 300 suppliers. We're very much in a niche. And we chose to focus on tier two and tier three level customers, while our competitors focus on tier one. In the industry we're a leader in demand creation - that's the buzzword these days.

Q: Is this what you thought the business would turn into?

A: Honestly? No. Nothing like this. We knew we had strong customer relationships from what we had done before. I signed personally for the loans. The business plan we gave the bank outlined how we would earn $3 million, then $5 million and $6 million over the course of three years. We earned $17 million that first year. We've always outgrown the market and the company has emerged to become a much different business. And it's not about price anymore' It's about what you can do long term for your customers.

Q: What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: A veterinarian. But I didn't have the brains for med school. I started working with my dad in '65. Back then he was selling components out of the trunk of his car. Then I worked in his warehouse for four years before I got to customer service. I'm an entrepreneur, sales and marketing kind of guy I really like wheeling and dealing on the phone.

Q: What are you doing to recruit employees?

A: The key to all of this is the caliber of people we hire. We all have weaknesses, so you have to surround

yourself with the best people you can find. Speed, flexibility and reacting to customers is the core of the business. We do a lot of training. It would be less expensive to set up regional training, but to bring people here to see the place and meet the people they talk to really motivates them. I love to motivate people. If you enjoy coming to work and making a lot of money, what could be better than that? When good people come along, we stockpile them. Even if there's no openings at the time.

Q: Why Nu Horizons?

A: I saw a car going over the bridge that had 'horizon' on it. But we couldn't get new, n-e-w was taken. So I thought up the n-u.