Philadelphia Business Journal articles from August 1993

Philadelphia Business Journal archives from August 1993

How to work with a stockbroker.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Have you laid out an investment strategy, or do you need help doing so? Do you know your business's vulnerability? That is, what could go wrong and what would be disastrous? How much...

Four airlines prepare to fly into Phila. (Philadelphia)
August 30, 1993... Here they come -- the start-up airlines with lots of promises. Fly cheap to Pittsburgh, Boston, Miami and Chicago. Maybe even fly out of Philadelphia's Northeast Airport, which currently doesn't even handle commercial traffic. The...

ILA pickets disrupt Holt N.J. terminal. (International Longshoremen's Association; Holt Marine Terminal)
August 30, 1993... An attempt to have Teamsters unload a merchant ship for only the second time in the Port of Philadelphia -- a traditional stronghold of the International Longshoremen's Association -- brought hundreds of threatened dockworkers to picket lines...

Convention centers nationwide alter work rules to gain an edge.
August 30, 1993... In Chicago, blowing up balloons could get you in trouble with unions. That's the type of convention hall rule that pops out at exhibitors. With other large sites to choose from, meeting planners aren't looking for surprises. What they want...

How to select a business consultant.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Precisely what consulting services do you need? Does your request for proposal (RFP) detail your business, your situation and the problem(s) you need solved? * Ask colleagues for...

Lukens molds its future with steel plate. (Lukens Inc.) (Company Profile)
August 30, 1993... It may seem odd to think of a steel manufacturer as a growth company, but that's exactly what the folks at Lukens Inc. want. "Our strategy is to be a quality growth company," Chief Executive Officer R.W. Van Sant said last week after Lukens...

How to select a law firm.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Ask friends, business acquaintances, your family lawyer and your accountant for referrals. What do the people who make the referral like about the firm they're recommending? * What level...

How to select an employee benefits consultant.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Do they appear to have expertise in benefits? * Are they responsive to your request for proposal (RFP)? In substance? In date due? Does the proposal seem tailored to your RFP or generic?...

How to select a general contractor.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. Most businesses that hire contractors do so only once, so the learning curve is steep. Business managers have heard at least one horror story about residential contractors who flew the coop before...

Profits rise strongly in 2nd quarter for 125 Philadelphia-area firms.
August 30, 1993... The Philadelphia area's public companies posted a healthy 18 percent increase in profits for the second quarter over last year following a national trend of improving corporate profits. Net income rose to $1.5 billion in the second quarter...

How to select an environmental services firm.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Define the type of work you need: Consultation? Analysis? Remediation? Write a thorough request for proposal (RFP): Are you facing a one-time, single-event situation, such as yanking a tank...

How to select an overnight carrier.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Only one criterion matters: Reliability. Does the importance of the package arriving on schedule exceed its dollar value? Peace of mind. * How convenient is pickup or drop-off? Do...

PNI officials, unions still talking as deadline on contract nears. (Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.)
August 30, 1993... Talks have come down to the wire at Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. No one wants a repeat of the bitter 46-day strike in 1985 that cost more than 4,000 strikers $12 million in lost wages and PNI $50 million in revenues. But bargaining over...

How to select an insurance broker.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * What brokers will other companies recommend? Word-of-mouth in this industry is often the most efficient way to get names of brokers to interview. One broker suggests asking a friendly...

How to select a computer for business.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * What will you do with your computer? Create gorgeous graphics presentations and slides? Process words? Manage data bases or spreadsheets? Track sales contacts? Send or receive data? * Do...

How to select a computer service company.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * What are the consultant's relationships with vendors? Do the vendors offer the technical support and extra training that will keep your consultant in-the-know? What about the consultant's...

How to select a travel agency.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Who is the agency? Who are the key contacts, locally and at headquarters? What's the number and location of their offices? How long have they been in the travel business? * How big is it?...

How to rent office furniture.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Is your company growing? Or shrinking? Rearranging or reorganizing itself too fast to make furniture a wise investment? * How long do you plan to stay at your current location? Would...

How to select a bank for a business.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. Look for a winning combination of price, quality and reputation. * If your business borrows:. Does the bank make loans (less facetious a question than it sounds)? * Who's your lending...

How to select a printing company.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. Printing is a creative process. Printers sell a product that's not in a catalog and that doesn't exist until you buy it. So the more you understand the process, the more satisfied you're likely to...

How to choose telephone equipment.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * What do you need? If you don't know, you might be dazzled into buying more than you need. If you shop for price alone, you might not buy adequate equipment. * How much traffic does your...

How to select a voice mail system.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. Know your current needs and your probable growth. If you need a voice-mail system to answer phones and take messages for a dozen people, don't be talked into a puzzle of functions that enable your...

How to select a cellular telephone service.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * How expensive is the phone? Scratch that, because the cost of the phone is infinitesimal -- sometimes free -- if purchased with a service agreement. The cost of the phone is soon overtaken by...

How to select a long-distance telephone carrier.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Why it's so complicated. There are 350 long-distance carriers operating today. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising. The Big Three are gobbling up lower-ranking...

How to select an MBA program.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * How convenient is location? With more than 700 MBA programs in the country, and the demand for places diminishing, you can be picky. Compare and contrast these factors. * How important is...

How to select a managed health-care service.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * How stable is the plan? How big is it? How steady or rapid was the growth? What's been the financial performance? Is the strategic direction of the owner for the long term to provide health...

How to find child-care services for employees.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Do you need on-site or near-site centers? Pro: Eases search for child-care. Parents can spend time with children while commuting and during breaks. Eliminates travel time for pickup and...

How to select a property management firm.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Does the firm have a proven record? Can it obtain the maximum return on your investment? Who are its current clients? How long has it been in business? What's the perception of attorneys?...

How to obtain small-business financing.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Prepare a current balance sheet. List all assets. If you're applying for a start-up loan, estimate your balance sheet for the day you begin operation. State the amount of money you will invest...

How to lease shared office space.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Is the location convenient? Is the rent affordable? What costs extra? Phones? Meeting services? Coffee? Hidden expenses? * Who will answer your phone? If they will: how quickly? How...

How to select a site for a business meeting.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Does the reason for the meeting determine the site? If it's an incentive sales trip in February, do you want a warm-weather resort? If it's a management retreat, do you want a relaxed...

How to select an accounting firm.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Determine what accounting services you need: auditing, tax advice, management advice, preparing loan applications or accounting? Do you need the firm to handle multiple locations?...

How to select a pension fund manager.
August 30, 1993......Ask yourself these important questions. * Will the manager help minimize your operating costs? Does the firm rely more on quantitative models or "hands-on" security analysis? Does the manager have competence in your particular...

Riverfront roulette: Casinos talk big money to landowners.
August 23, 1993... Two big bets are on the table that riverboat gambling will arrive in 1995. Who's in the game? Who may win and lose? What will be the impact? Here's the deal: We can fit two monster boats, 50,000 square feet each. You'll net $100 million a...

Phila. gambles casinos will grow economy. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)(includes related article) (Riverfront Roulette)
August 23, 1993... When Mayor Edward G. Rendell went to Wall Street to sell investors on Philadelphia, he told how the city's economy was reviving. That hope included riverboat gambling. "It is by no means a panacea," Rendell told the audience in the...

Tiffany's makes office calls to busy executives. (Tiffany and Co.)
August 23, 1993... When Barbara Bokan goes shopping, she prefers Tiffany's. But if you see her on the street with the classic blue Tiffany's shopping bag, she may be at work. Bokan runs Tiffany & Co. Philadelphia's new executive shopping service, rolled out...

City aviation office would move back to airport. (USAir Inc.; Philadelphia International Airport)
August 23, 1993... Four years ago, USAir wanted to expand at Philadelphia International Airport. It wanted more offices, a scarce commodity at airports. The city's solution: It moved its own headquarters a couple of miles away to an industrial park. Now, the...

Strike deadline looming at PNI: Courier-Post also may be hit. (Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.)
August 23, 1993... Call it the power of the presses. Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.'s new $299.5 million printing plant wields a lot. Pitted against each other are 10 unions seeking to protect jobs and wages, and a company pressured by the huge press...

Retailers are courting space in the renovated Plaza. (the Plaza at Pennsylvania's King of Prussia shopping center)
August 23, 1993... Frowned upon by discriminating shoppers who prefer the Court, the Plaza at King of Prussia will show the first signs of a retail renaissance this fall when the first new specialty stores open after the first phase of a major facelift for the...

Check please! (regional counties finance depressed areas) (Regional Report: Montgomery County)
August 23, 1993... Countries picking up tab to help job-starved areas Lynn Banta's start-up business lasted longer than the county-sponsored program created to nurture it. When she decided to incorporate her training and consulting firm, Banta chose to...

Casinos gamble on expanding throughout the US. (gambling industry) (Industry Overview)
August 23, 1993... The high-growth, fast-buck prospects for renewed riverboat gambling on the Mississippi and here in Philadelphia are part of a trend that has made casino stocks one of the hottest growth sectors in the market. So far this year, gaming industry...

Worker dissatisfaction can prove costly for small firms. (Small Business)
August 23, 1993... If employees at Asher's Candy don't like the way Jack Asher says hello or doesn't say hello, they'll say so. To Asher, chairman and chief executive officer, it's music to his ears to hear criticism of how he manages people. Even though it...

The future of King of Prussia's historic house at crossroads. (Regional Report: Montgomery County)
August 23, 1993... One of the oldest and most recognizable members of the King of Prussia community may soon become the latest traffic fatality of Route 202. The King of Prussia Inn gave its name to the booming commercial region. Now the increasing congestion on...

Medical college seeks cure for confusion after merger. (Medical College Hospitals in Bucks County and Ellis Park, Pennsylvania) (Regional Report: Montgomery County)
August 23, 1993... When people get sick, they go to a hospital. But what do you do when the hospitals you run are suffering from an identity crisis? Finding a remedy for that problem is one of the jobs that has fallen to Meg McGoldrick, chief executive officer...

Hatboro passes the hat to spruce up shopping strip. (Hatboro, Pennsylvania) (Regional Report: Montgomery County)
August 23, 1993... Hatboro's main shopping street is like a good but aging suit that needs pressing, a longtime businessman observed recently. "I don't think it looks shabby yet, but it could do with a bit of dressing up," said Clyde Gephart, who has seen the...

Confab makes products most people won't talk about. (Confab Cos.' toilet products) (Regional Report: Montgomery County)
August 23, 1993... Maybe it's for the best that Confab Cos. is a private company. Its factories make sanitary napkins, adult diapers and panty liners. Not the stuff people talk about in public. But Confab and its manufacturing arm, ICD Industries Inc., buck...

Cop shops are joining tenant list in the region's shopping malls. (malls include facility for local police)
August 16, 1993... Police walk their beat on the parquet hardwood floors of Franklin Mills Mall the way they used to walk Market Street. "Malls are essentially becoming Main Street USA," said Richard Hollinger, a professor of sociology at the University of...

Kensington, Neumann scrap merger. (Kensington Hospital breaks off talks with Neumann Medical Center)
August 16, 1993... Kensington Hospital has broken off talks with Neumann Medical Center, putting to rest an unlikely scenario that would have seen the smaller Kensington gaining control of the larger Neumann. "We have terminated discussion with Neumann," said...

Philadelphia pays $4 million for Neumann loan. (Philadelphia, Pennyslyvania; Neumann Medical Center)
August 16, 1993... City Hall was forced last week to pay for a $4 million loan to troubled Neumann Medical Center, despite lengthy negotiations in recent months to avert the cost. Philadelphia guaranteed the private loan in 1988 as part of an effort to keep...

Strike looms as unions keep negotiating with PNI. (Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.)
August 16, 1993... Newspapers live and die on deadline. Midnight, Aug. 31 looms at The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. That's when 13 union contracts expire and a threatened newspaper strike could make headlines. Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. is...

Bond manager profits from inefficiency. (Morgan Grenfel Group manager David Baldt)
August 16, 1993... Philadelphia native David Baldt is building a reputation. Lately, the bond funds managed by Baldt for the international investment firm Morgan Grenfell Group have been doing very well. In the 12 months that ended in June, Baldt's municipal...

Center City hospital had history of financial woes before Cooper. (Cooper Healthcare of Pennysylvania changes its name to Cooper Hospital Center City)
August 16, 1993... Shortly after taking over management of the Eighth and Race street hospital nine months ago, Cooper Healthcare of Pennsylvania decided to change the facility's name to Cooper Hospital Center City. In what was to be a temporary measure, the...

Philadelphia is seeking empowerment through urban zones. (Philadelphia applying for new federal enterprise zones)
August 16, 1993... Philadelphia is working on its pitch to get one of the new federal enterprise zones included in the Clinton administration's recently approved budget. The six urban zones, redubbed earlier this year as empowerment zones, are designed to help...

Reform glitch: Few N. J. insurers planning 'bare-bones' policies. (New Jersey insurance companies not interested in offering basic health insurance packages)
August 16, 1993... A new glitch has surfaced in New Jersey's efforts to implement its Health Care Reform Act, which was signed into law late last year. An overwhelming majority of the insurance companies that do business in the state have shown no interest in...

Pumping new life and profits from old exercise equipment. (Play It Again Sports sells new and used sports equipment)
August 16, 1993... That $300 exercise bike, collecting dust in the basement, can be more than just a source of guilt and a symbol of broken New Year's resolutions. Well-intentioned fitness spectators can sell their "used" equipment to Play It Again Sports, a...

City still lacks exhibit guidelines for unions, decorators at center. (Pennsylvania Convention Center)
August 16, 1993... Planners for a computer trade show this week are hoping union workers won't byte if exhibitors step on their toes. The mood around the hauling, hanging and hammering can get testy, they said. At Philadelphia's new convention hall, cooperation...

Labor secretary Reich urges small firms to think big. (Robert Reich)
August 16, 1993... If he weren't secretary of Labor, Robert Reich could earn his living on the consulting circuit, advising companies on the ways to compete more effectively. He has been promoting a plan called the "Workplace of the Future" that embodies several...

Bucks hospital and its president regain fiscal and physical health. (Delaware Valley Medical Center, Carl E. Brown) (Health Care Services Guide)
August 16, 1993... It was a strange twist of fate that the physical health of Carl E. Brown and the fiscal health of them both started failing simultaneously. By the late '80s both the man and the hospital were in critical shape and their futures were uncertain....

Electronic maps help travelers navigate in unfamiliar cities. (Zagat-Axxis CityGuide software)
August 16, 1993... You're on a business trip with a full itinerary planned for the following day. In the evening, the home office calls with last-minute changes: The morning meeting to be held four blocks from your hotel has been moved clear across town. Besides...

Environmental cleanup firm turning dirt into gold. (Roy F. Weston Inc.)
August 16, 1993... Weston is now the third-largest hazardous waste design and engineering firm in the nation. Roy F. Weston Inc., a local environmental services firm, has been awarded a $10 million contract to clean contaminated soil at a Superfund site in...

Local hospitals set up centers to help keep travelers healthy. (Philadelphia, Pennyslvania) (Health Care Services Guide)
August 16, 1993... Hospital travel health centers try to help travelers avoid becoming patients, although it may also be a good way to introduce people to the hospital. Getting medical treatment in a foreign country can become a chancy and expensive...

More local hospitals build outpatient care centers. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) (Health Care Services Guide)
August 16, 1993... The two facilities operate seemingly on opposite ends of the hospital spectrum. One is an urban teaching hospital that has performed more heart transplants that any other Philadelphia hospital, but also carries the burden of being one of the...

This hospital uses acupuncture to treat drug addicts. (Girard Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) (Health Care Services Guide)
August 16, 1993... Drug addicts in treatment at North Philadelphia Health System's Girard Medical Center have decided that they would rather stick needles in their ears than in their arms. About 120 addicts are using the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture...

Trend: taking private properties public. (real estate investment trusts)
August 9, 1993... Looking for capital in the only place they can find it -- the stock market -- several of Philadelphia's biggest developers are planning to take their private properties public as real estate investment trusts. The Rubin Organization is...

N.J. firms bemoan redtape; say rules are ruining business.
August 9, 1993... "Trenton Makes The World Takes" -- the message that spans the Delaware River mocks the manufacturing losses within the state's capital. "Somebody should get on that sign and repaint it," said Assemblyman Jose Sosa, a Republican from Mount...

Price Club pulls out of local market. (Price Co.)
August 9, 1993... Effectively abandoning the Greater Philadelphia market, the Price Co., the giant warehouse club, closed the doors of its Maple Shade, N.J., store last week. Its closing comes nine months after Price shut its other location in the market at...

Dart rivals taking aim at close range. (dart business)
August 9, 1993... For Andrew Tabas, making a point isn't as important as selling one. Tabas is in the dart business. Four years ago, the 46-year-old Philadelphia native opened the House of Darts International Ltd. in Montgomery County. "I used to play...

Port employers seek sweeping job-related cuts. (Port of Philadelphia)
August 9, 1993... Leaders of the International Longshoremen's Association said they wanted to know what it would take to revitalize the Port of Philadelphia. They knew that local rates and work rules were driving shippers, and dockworkers' jobs, to less...

Plan on your water bills going up and up and up. (Philadelphia water customers)
August 9, 1993... Philadelphia's water customers should expect their rates to go up steadily just about every year for the rest of the decade. The city water department -- finishing a $2.2 billion borrowing on Wall Street -- told investors that gradual rate...

Chestnut Hill, Roxborough hospitals ponder collaboration. (link-up plan)
August 9, 1993... With health-care reform looming on a state and national level, it's hard to find a hospital that isn't talking to somebody about a merger, affiliation, or partnership. At Roxborough Memorial and Chestnut Hill hospitals, officials have...

Customer-service is its element as Nordstrom enters the market. (Nordstrom Inc.)
August 9, 1993... If you are loaded down with shopping bags, this store won't penalize its employees for leaving their posts to help you carry them out to your car. Philadelphia shoppers are about to be treated to a new high in customer service. Seattle-based...

Foreign firms nuts about Ultrafast's bolt technology. (Ultrafast Inc.)
August 9, 1993... For a nuts-and-bolts operation, Ian Kibblewhite's outfit is in pretty good company. Ultrafast Inc. of Malvern hasn't yet introduced its product but has struck exclusive deals with international customers from two continents. The buyers,...

Local banks in a whirl of merger mania this summer. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
August 9, 1993... Back filling. Rounding out. Expanding at the margin. Concentration of market share. And no big deals . . . yet. That's how Wall Street analysts and industry officials describe the latest round of acquisitions by the region's big banks. The...

Little room for big tenants. (options few for prospective big tenants) (Real Estate Month)
August 9, 1993... You won't hear city officials advertising it, but now is a terrific time for a big company to move its headquarters to Philadelphia. Some of the newest, sleekest, best real estate in Center City can be leased for well under $22 per square...

Preserving and putting to use a historic mansion. (Aldie Mansion) (Real Estate Month)
August 9, 1993... Doylestown's Aldie Mansion, once a crumbling wreck in danger of demolition and now a self-sustaining enterprise, demonstrates how architectural remnants can best be preserved, said Clifford David Jr., executive director of the Bucks County...

Interior designer Parker starts company with '90s mentality. (Kenneth Parker Associates) (Real Estate Month)
August 9, 1993... In April Kenneth Parker launched a Philadelphia-based corporate design firm that bears his name -- for the second time in his career. Parker's first company, Kenneth Parker Associates (KPA), which he sold in 1987, had 160 employees and...

Compilation of chief executives shows agreement not debate. (CEOs of the Delaware Valley on Clinton's economic proposals)
August 9, 1993... Industries Inc., Teleflex Inc. Personal: Married, two children Clinton plan: "The final version has, of course, not been approved by Congress. I would have liked to have seen more spending cuts. At least $1 cut for $1 tax raised."...

Recent events are beating up insurers.
August 2, 1993... Place your bets. How much do you wanna put down that a hurricane won't rip apart one of the nation's largest cities? Or that terrorists won't try to blow up a landmark financial building? Or that massive rain or snow storms won't...

Ad agency Saatchi will open branch. (Saatchi and Saatchi Company PLC)
August 2, 1993... Win some, lose some. London-based Saatchi & Saatchi is about to open a branch in the city to promote Silo's $70 million account and is looking for more. At the same time, Wieden & Kennedy lost Philadelphia's largest ad account when its...

SWIF surplus has climbed to $105 million. (State Workmen's Insurance Fund)
August 2, 1993... State officials reported the surplus of Pennsylvania's state workers compensation fund more than tripled in the last year, only 60 days after two legislators warned of the fund's potential for collapse. An actuary's report on the State...

Pic-A-State lottery firm is betting on good odds after court ruling.
August 2, 1993... Now that a federal court has given its OK, Pic-A-State plans to expand it operations in Pennsylvania. The Lakewood, N.J.-based seller of big-jackpot out-of-state lottery chances wants a thousand locations across the state within the next two...

Three local health-care companies are planning to issue stock.
August 2, 1993... Three local companies aren't letting Wall Street's phobia of health-care stocks deter their plans to go public. Renal Treatment Centers Inc. of Berwyn, HEM Pharmaceuticals Corp. of Philadelphia and a new Medical Real Estate Investment Trust...

Rehab hospitals object, but Medicaid plan passes. (rehabilitation; Medicaid reimbursement plans)
August 2, 1993... Despite objections from more than a dozen rehabilitation hospitals, a new Medicaid reimbursement plan has been approved by enough Pennsylvania hospitals for the state Department of Public Welfare to enact the measure. Rehabilitation...

Few have their feathers ruffled by 6 cent gasoline tax proposal.
August 2, 1993... After the vociferous debate over an energy tax, what now appears most likely to come out of Congress is a 6 cents per gallon gas tax, making all the yelling seem now like much ado about not very much. Nevertheless, Philadelphia's stake in an...