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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1984)
Page 12/The Battalion/Wednesday, October 3, 1984 MATTRESS SET $79.75 * Present this ad and get $10.00 off on any mattress set purchase. One coupon per mattress set. Bed frames $15.00. Texas Furniture Outlet 712 Villa Maria CATALENA HATTERS Specializing In Custom Made Hats and Expert Felt Hat Renovations Old hats Made Like New Just in Time for Winter Wear •Cleaned •Reblpcked •New Sweat Bands •New liners •New Ribbons •Reshaping Fanny Farmer uses gimmicks, changes views Japan: Seniority plan is rapidly decaying United Press International United Press International New Arrivals 1 Hat Accessories Gift Certifications Class of '72 Satisfaction Guaranteed Downtown Bryan 203 N. Main 822-4423 When is Your Rental No Socror At All? WHEN OVER 30,000 PEOPLE READ IT IN THE BATTALION G«f» into circvlotion! I#* ov* clotftifted tection ditploy I your rontol »•»■*»€•» . . it*t a fast, •R r ic»«nt way to do businoti? GUILDERLAND, N.Y. — A French confectioner is using gim micks and exotic delicacies coupled with a change in consumer attitudes to turn 65-year-old Fanny Farmer into a major force among U.S. sweets companies. Fanny Farmer Candy Shops Inc., currently worth $55 million, has de veloped an aggressive sales and image campaign under the new ownership of Poulain S. A. of Paris, a major baking company. Poulain hired William Jorgenson, formerly of Terson Co. Inc., to re store Fanny Farmer’s reputation. While at Terson, Jorgenson was re sponsible for the Oh Henry! and Raisinets candy lines. “We have to return the product to the superior standard it used to en joy, and give people more value for their money,” Jorgenson said in an interview during a recent store opening in Guilderland. Quality of merchandise and service, including gift-wrapping in company-owned stores, are also part of Jorgenson’s success formula. Fanny Farmer has changed its product, replacing sugar with milk chocolate to improve the taste, Jor genson said. Health concerns about chocolate have disappeared because of the countless warnings about po tential health dangers from various types of food. The company also has pulled its brand name boxes out of drug stores and other retail locations it doesn’t own in an effort to enhance its image for quality. Soon, truffles — named after the French delicacies unearthed by hogs — will be added to the product line in an appeal to the upper income consumers who indulge themselves with chocolate and candy, he said. Jorgenson said the company is re sorting to some basic sales gimmicks to boost sales, such as a drastic cut in opening-day prices to lure shoppers to new stores, and direct-mail adver tising to coincide with the three big candy-giving holidays, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Christmas. Fanny Farmer sells 55 percent of its prod ucts for those three holidays, he said. The changes come at a time of slow growth in the confection indus try. Americans bought 4 billion pounds of candy in 1983, up from 3.797 billion pounds the previous year, the U.S. Department of Com merce said. Chocolate accounted for more than half the candy bought in 1983. A two-year rebuilding campaign will close 60 of 325 existing stores while opening 100 in other cities, Jorgenson said. Regions such as Cincinnati, where the company has just two stores, will lose Fanny Farmer products, while areas such as upstate New York, New England and Florida will see an influx of new shops. “We’ll open wherever the traffic is good,” Jorgenson said. TOKYO — The swift pace of in dustrial growth in Japan made the nation’s management system a model praised the world over, but critics say the global recession has highlighted its flaws. A stifling seniority system has thrust an army of paper pushers into positions of authority and alienated a growing number of talented junior managers. Some critics point to the movement of promising young exec utives to less rigidly structured American and European companies. Others predict the gradual ero sion of the seniority system and cite the practice of acquiring executive personnel in a nation where mid-ca reer job changes were nearly un heard of 10 years ago. Still others note the growing num ber of middle managers promoted beyond their skills and incapacitated by fear of work, depression and alco holism. “As soon as you create a seniority system you’re going to have people who move to positions that are be yond their capacity to fulfill,” said Jon Woronoff, author of “Japan’s Wasted Workers.” “There’s going to be a lot of dead wood ... and younger workers are going to be frustrated. There’s very little you can do about it. They made a pledge to these people when they were in their 20s. If they were good boys, they would rise to the top.” The system was well suited to a fast-growing economy with a young work force, but at the present time it’s turned out to be the most dumb system anyone could have adopted, he said. Critics like Woronoff say the trou ble began with the slack growth peri- ts of T 1970s. It created a deadlock of mid dle and upper level executives hired in the glory days of the 1960s when economic growth surpassed 10 per- ally. cent annually. With growth now around 4 per cent, many Japanese companies find themselves with so many senior managers with too little to do that they’ve created a name for them — windowgazers. A recent Labor Ministry survey showed that 57.6 percent of the na tion’s businesses had employees in that category, a figure that is likely to rise as the rapidly aging population pushes for an increase in the tradi tional retirement age of 55. Japanese labor law compounds the problem by stipulating that em ployees laid off before that age l>e compensated with severance pay higher than usually is paid in the United States. “The seniority system is one of the least efficient factors in Japanese organizations,” said Mo- moru Nakamura, a vice president in charge of investment banking in Merrill Lynch’s Tokyo office. Junior executives with American MBAs are the easiest targets for the new breed of headhunters setting up shop in Tokyo, but they are not the only ones. Seasoned executives who find themselves pushed into “win dowgazing” jobs or forced to retire at 55 also are lending their talents to overseas competitors. Nakamura said the differences ods following the oil shocks of the between U.S. and Japanese manage ment are hard to handle at first. Japanese firms have found the trend can work to their advantage. Some have taken the unusual step of commissioning headhunters to lure unwanted senior employees away to other firms — a kind of outplace ment service that makes room for more talented middle managers. * * * * * * * * * + IF * * * + * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * + * Jf * * * * * * JF * JF JF >F JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF >F JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF THE RIG SMITH STORY Last Spring, Bill Prej c our former Stai Representative re% from office in order to to work for Texas As This allowed Gov. White (Dem.) to Special Election tofiUj; vacancy. Would believe he set election duringAflu Spring Break? He Why? To keep theA| from voting. He knew* could make a differenjj There are only 45,t registered voters Brazos County (wliit alone makes upti; State Representatl District.) Therea: 37,000 students at Al s o obviously Ifw register to vote and we can make difference. As it out, many Aggiesdii register to vote andvt absentee for Richard Smith ’59. He the only experience: conservative independent candidi who can go to Aual and get the job done. Richard Smith AS’Miii; Just a part of the disti A<S?M is a commii THIS MONTH’S REQUIRED READING LIST: BUSINESS ETHICS 201 Howard Hughes’ secret plan to “t>uy” the U.S. government. SOCIOLOGY 205 Veterans (and casualties) of the sexual revolution. Ell POLITICAL SCIENCE 304 Interview with Salvadoran President dose Duarte. PHYSICAL ED 409 The crazy world of college football by Dan <Jenkins. MUSIC APPRECIATION 307 The 1985 Playboy Music Poll. FILM APPRECIATION 204 A review of Sex in Cinema. FASHION <5? CULTURE 108 Christie Brinkley in clothes of the times; plus punk hair styles. ANATOMY 400 PTovember Playmate Roberta Vasquez. NOVEMBER PLAYBOY: Must reading for students who take their studies very seriously JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF jF JF >F JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF JF >F >F JF JF JF JF JF >F JF JF JF JF JF JF JF >F JF JF JF JF >F >F JF JF JF JF JF JF JF >F JF JF JF >F JF JF JF JF JF JF JF >F JF JF JF jf jF JF JF >F JF >F JF JF JF JF >F JF >F JF JF JF JF >F JF JF JF >F JF and a concern that Aggies share. It ended that over 13,000 p voted last March, candidate, Rlchar; Smith, lost by 29 (to force a runoff), two tenths of one pe: of all the votes cast March our candidate The conservativi Republican lost to White’s chosea Democrat, Neeley Lem That was the Specii Election. The Battalion Editorial! Board c ailed ttf scheduling of the Special Election by Us Democrats “an attack £ Texas AG?M students, s taff and facultj members.” The StudeaB Senate passed a resolution in oppositiE to the setting ofth:! election date whea Aggies could not vote Governor White (Dem! refused to even see to student governmen leaders concerning issue. The Biyan-Col Station Eagle Editoria. Board said, “Let’s face this whole thing smack of partisan politics most p etty lei “...Democrat Party officiu had described March H as a ‘convenient day 1 foi the election.” Convent to keep the Aggies frok voting. Convenient® the Democrats to unfair!; help Neeley Lewis. On Nov. 6, we have chance to prove that ft won’t be pushed arouti again. Richard and Neeley Lewis are on the ballot again-- time in a fair fight. W will determine winner, if we register t vote (the deadline is 6) and then vote onl 6. Mark White and ® Democrats can’t set to 5 election when theAgg® can’t vote. It’s up tons! Se MORAL: TOGETHER W2 CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE Th ney i: worn* Fight Th Nelki Melai crimi Texa: tleme the s Howe attly Hi ft J If you want to W jf make a difference, £ join Aggie GOP or AT NEWSSTANDS NOW. J call the Smith jf headquarters at 1984, Playboy J 846-0047. jf. Political ad Paid For by jF The Richard Smith Campaign W.< ethic; meet aldini amei stater man > Th comn that dine; I The comp ingto, that presi ethics from Ports. Fet Monc that ; detail band’ P-Zac Fei correi sccou new a He no m comp Wi,