Good friends and business partners, Eric Chang (right) and Mosy Hu began their business careers vending in night markets. They moved on to organizing sales promotions in the Hsinchu Science Park before finally realizing their dreams by creating a successful sports marketing firm. (Jimmy Lin)	At the invitation of Bros Sports Marketing, the NBA scheduled its first-ever Taipei preseason game. It was Taiwan's biggest sporting event of 2009. In the photo, Carmelo Anthony (left) of the Denver Nuggets and Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers battle for a rebound. (courtesy of Bros Sports Marketing)

As the year comes to a close and we welcome the arrival of a new one, many of us are raising toasts at company parties that combine singing, dancing, and prize drawings with exuberant high spirits.

The year-end period in which companies reward their employees is the busiest of the year for Bros Sports Marketing. The company, known as the "head of entertainment" at the Hsinchu Science Park, organizes at least 15 Christmas and year-end parties before every Lunar New Year.

Bros made its name as an organizer of corporate events, and has also brought National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball teams to Taiwan for games. But how has the two-man team at the heart of Bros, boasting neither outstanding academic achievements nor connections in high places, been able to grow their firm into Taiwan's largest sports management company?

On a weekend afternoon in March 2010, the Los Angeles Dodgers prepared for what would be Major League Baseball's first game in Taiwan in 17 years, a matchup with players from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). Led by legendary manager Joe Torre, the Dodgers planned to field players that included superstar Manny Ramirez as well as two Taiwanese stars, pitcher Kuo Hong-chih and hitter Hu Chin-lung.

The excitement of 10,000 baseball fans permeated the atmosphere, but the weather failed to cooperate: the rain came pouring down shortly before the game was slated to begin. It then continued to fall in fits and starts, forcing crews to cover and uncover the field several times. After two hours of delay, Eric Chang, chairman of event or-gan-izer Bros Sports Management, cancelled the game. As bitterly disappointed fans filed out, heartbroken and teary employees of Bros, which had been planning the game for 10 months, forced themselves to buck up and handle ticket refunds.