Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 57

Reno Gazette-Journal PEOPLE 2E DORFMAN 3E MARKETS 5-7E 0 BUSIMESS SUNDAY JUNE 9, 1991 BUSINESS EDITOR: STEVE FALCONE, 788-6322 TopRfanagers: The results of a recent survey by L.DA investment Today's Profile: Dan Marriott Business: Nevada Shuttery Title: Showroom manager Address: 1280DE. Plumb Lane, Reno; near Costco. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.

to 5 p.m. Saturday. Disability insurance: what would happen to your financial security if you injured your back and were unable to work for several months? If you're like most people you dismiss these possibilities, believing you're immune to such misfortune. But you're not. Consumer advocates say many people should buy disability insurance to protect against such misfortune.

Read why, and how, in Business Monday Technologies of Rockville, might surprise those who believe mutual funds and investment advisory firms are the best investment managers. Over both the past five years and 1 0 years, bank trust departments have outperformed those two groups and insurance firms. When stocks took a beating in 1 990, bank-managed portfolios fell 3.2 percent, while those run by investment advisers slid 6.4 percent; insurers, 5.2 percent; and stock mutual funds, 6 percent. -H "5 ft .1. I 1 1 I customers want to go.

We do shutter jobs other places won't touch such as double-angle top windows, specialized arches and skylights. Why is your business different? Our showroom is the only one of its kind on the West Coast. It has full-size operational displays covering every wall, stand-alone, lighted displays and the only fully operational, full-scale arch shutter. We have life-sized, fully-lighted windows so customers can really visualize how windows will look in their home. They can see different materials and how they work in different light conditions.

What is your background? Eighteen years experience in window covering and furniture sales. Plans for the business: To open branch stores in other areas, starting with Las Vegas. Forecast: Fantastic. Many people are remodeling and updating homes. Nancy F.

Peek Description of business: We've been crafting interior and exterior wood shutters and window treatments for more than 1 3 years. This is the first anniversary of our 1 showroom. Specialties: Complete line of window coverings including shutters, mini-blinds, wooden blinds, vertical blinds and pleated shades. Price range: From $40 for a simple bathroom mini-blind to as high as London hot: Competition to London continues to heat up. Airlines not only are offering low summer fares, they're wooing frequent fliers with double mileage, too.

Now travelers can accumulate extra miles when they fly United, Northwest, British Airways and beginning July 1 American. It doesn't grow on trees: "51 percent of people surveyed said they would go 1 5 minutes out of their way to save 1 0, and 79 percent would spend 30 minutes to save $50." Money magazine Craig SailorGazette-Journal Marriott MANAGEMENT IBM chairman's comments may not indicate widespread trouble "I suppose his sentiment is fairly widespread among CEOs of many American companies. It's surprising to me that they don't often recognize that the company is the source of the problem," Bellace said. Corporate managers typically learn most of their management techniques on the job, she said. "Managers have never been told at IBM to challenge what IBM does to say maybe what we're making is not what the consumers want," she said.

"Now what you have are managers who are used to doing what they are See MANAGERS on page 4E since many fear they could lose their jobs due to the economy, DuBrin said. Quipped Chrysler Corp. spokesman Steve Harris, "We certainly don't have any complacent people in the auto industry." Akers' belief that employees are too laid back may be true in the middle-manager ranks at U.S. service-industry companies, said Janice Bellace, associate professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Unlike most U.S.

manufacturers, which compete against foreign-made products, service companies often face little or no foreign competition, she said. 1,876 partners and began basing compensation on profit generation and performance, not seniority. But some experts say Akers' charge that his workers are complacent and sluggish does not apply universally. "The relaxed attitude disappeared in the early 1980s (during the last recession) and since then productivity has increased," said Andrew DuBrin, a management professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. "The same number or fewer number of people are doing the same work.

Most of them are working very Akers' reported comments "a sign of the times" and said they weren't surprising. "We in American business thought we had guarantees of success," said the executive, Jon Madonna, chairman of the accounting and consulting firm K.PMG Peat Marwick. "I suppose IBM is a classic example of that that now there are a number of very strong competitors. "Everything we do we must do it for a lower price and it must be faster," Madonna said. Madonna knows what he's talking about: Peat Marwick recently undertook a painful restructuring in which it eliminated 265 of its door.

Akers' fusillade during an management seminar at International Business Machines Corp. may have reflected gut-level frustration more than careful analysis of the problems facing one of the nation's most important companies. But coming from IBM, the reports of his blunt criticism became a topic of conversation in executive offices nationwide. Though some managers may dismiss his outburst, his accusations may be on the minds of other porate chieftans as the nation contends with its first economic downturn in nearly a decade. One chief executive called By Bart Ziegler ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK Are American employees "too damn comfortable?" That's the charge IBM Chairman John Akers reportedly leveled at some of his own workers recently.

Akers, in an apparent fit of frustration, lashed out at his managers, complaining that employees of the computer maker were: "standing around the water cooler waiting to be told what to do" while the industry was in "crisis." He said those workers who don't measure up should be shown the "7 QUALITY CONTROL Is the recession a media creation? Si; Spies help firms improve service Secret checks: Companies are turning to mystery shoppers to evaluate employees and facilities. the major trends in journalism over the past two decades. Readers have demanded it. But has this new emphasis given the media a role in directing the economy? "I think the answer is nobody knows," said Everette E. Dennis, executive director of the Gannett Foundation Media Center at Columbia University in New York, who studies the long-term effects of media on society.

"But I know of no evidence that suggests that stories that are revelatory in any way and sometimes that means negative about business in any way discourages economic development. I don't think there's any evidence of that at all." There may be no evidence, but there's considerable opinion. "I think it helps feed what's happening," said Steve Friedman, executive producer of NBC Nightly News. "It pushes the train down the track, but I don't think it starts the engine," both in recessions and expansions. Richard Curtin of the University of Michigan surveys 5,000 consumers every month on their attitudes about the economy.

"The media play a role, but a limited role, in changing public attitudes toward the economy and their own financial situation," he said. By John J. Byczkowski GANNETT NEWS SERVICE Like a motorist stranded along the highway, newspaper headlines raise a hand toward oncoming traffic: Trouble ahead. Spending is falling, construction is slowing, banks are failing, unemployment is rising. But does anyone stop? Many people, particularly in the business community, believe the economy would improve if the media would stop telling people how bad things are.

"The consumer takes for gospel what the paper prints, what the commentator on TV says," said Ron Joseph, owner of the Joseph Auto Group in Cincinnati. "If you say there's a war, there's a war. If you say there's a recession, there's a recession. People's habits are directly related to what the headlines in the morning paper say, to what the TV newscasters have to say. "I don't think things are really that bad," Joseph said.

"We've talked ourselves into a recession. There's a lot of people employed, there's a lot of production, there's a lot of good things happening. And I believe that the news media should concentrate on the good things happening." Increased coverage of business and the economy has been one of By Wayne Melton GAZETTE-JOURNAL A spy lurks in Reno-Sparks stores and shopping malls, fast-food restaurants and eateries. "It's nice to feel you have an impact," said Michelle, who asked her true name not be revealed. Michelle works part time as a paid informant.

Perhaps she'll be the woman in front of you at a hamburger stand this afternoon. Or she could wait behind you in line this evening at the major department store. Her usual work attire is everyday clothes, and she said there's never any problem blending into a crowd. But don't worry. It's not necessarily customers she's observing.

Her usual targets are store personnel, products, food quality or cleanliness. Yet store or restaurant workers aren't usually told her identity. They're unaware she's employed by an out-of-state "mystery shopper" firm, which she doesn't want identified. Its clients are store chains and service businesses. These companies hire the mystery shopping firm to do the spying.

Other than making profit, their ultimate goal is to help clients increase customer totals. After making her secret checks, Michelle sends a written report to her employer. It then uses the information to recommend business improvements. THIS PROCESS IS vital to many firms as they battle for cus- See QUALITY on page 4E Disney sues 200 retailers for illegal use of characters Paul HorrVGazette-Joumal 'Mystery shopper' keeps employees on their toes Mermaid" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." The California lawsuit cites copyright infringement involving watches, charms, pins, stuffed animals, cakes, mugs, dolls, pinatas, costumes, statues, T-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatsuits and other clothing, according to Disney. In Oregon, the items in question are T-shirts, caps, pins and clocks.

Both lawsuits seek to stop the infringement and collect damages. The entertainment giant's consumer products division reported revenue of $574 million in 1990, up 40 percent from the previous year. Operating income surged 19 percent to $223 million last year from 1989. Most of the revenue is delivered by Mickey Mouse items. By comparison, Disney's film entertainment unit, including movies and television shows, earned $3 1 3 million last year on revenue of $2.25 billion.

Tormey said lawsuits are a last resort in the company's battle against piracy. No 'Inside gaming' Gaye Delaplane is on assignment. Her column will return in two weeky By Dail Willis ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES Walt Disney Co. has sued more than 200 retailers and distributors, claiming that counterfeit goods bearing the image of Mickey, Minnie and their cartoon pals cost the company money and good will. Disney moved to clamp down on bootlegged merchandise with lawsuits filed last week against 123 retailers and distributors in California and 99 more in Oregon.

The lawsuits claim copyright infringement and unfair competition in violation of federal copyright statutes. The counterfeits include watches, pins, T-shirts and other items that bear the images of Disney characters. "The damages are incalculable," John J. Tormey III, a Disney lawyer in New York, said Thursday. He said unlicensed products with Disney characters cost Disney money and can hurt its reputation and good will if the products are inferior.

Disney characters involved include Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pinocchio, Scrooge McDuck and film characters from "pick Tracy," "The Little bathrooms for cleanliness. In some cases, Michelle also grades the inside and outside of a facility for overall cleanliness. On visits to fast-food restaurants, Michelle gives the exact time of her visit. How many seconds did it take to give and receive an order? What was the employee's name, and did he or she give a pleasant greeting? There are times when the company sends Michelle pictures of appropriately prepared food, such as pizza. She then takes the food home and compares.

Does the pizza look right, with the correct amount of pepperoni? There are times when Michelle must ask for a specific item. Is the employee helpful, and does he or she encourage her to make a purchase? Does the worker know about the item and explain how it operates? Sometimes Michelle must buy an item and then return it to the store within a few hours. What are the employees' attitude when they learn she's returning the product? Are they helpful, or are they grumpy? If there's a fitting room in the department, Michelle has to go inside and evaluate it. On her employer's request, she also checks By Wayne Melton GAZETTE-JOURNAL Michelle remembers when she spied on a Reno lingerie shop, and something unexpected happened. "My daughter bought edible panties, and she ate them before I got a chance to look at them," said Michelle, who asked that her true name be kept secret.

Michelle admitted her usual assignments are far from being "Mission Impossible," as she checks the quality of local businesses. Paid by an out-of-state tery shopper" fiyn, she visits local stores or restaurants without telling her identity or that she's grading them. "It's not as glamorous as you might make it sound," Michelle said, adding she has an extensive list of things she often must check. Among them: Sometimes she must enter a specific area of a department store and wait at least three minutes for an employee to approach her. If that doesn't happen, she's supposed to find a worker and make a note of it in her report.

On occasion, she must grade the attitude and appearance of an employee..