Austin Business Journal articles from October 1990

Austin Business Journal archives from October 1990

Austin's Motorola straddling globe. (Motorola Inc. Communications and Electronics Div., Austin, Texas) (company profile)
October 1, 1990... Austin's Motorola straddling globe With geopolitical developments in the 1990s making it more and more necessary to sell products around the world, Austin's second largest high-tech employer (behind IBM) has parlayed a mixture of innovation...

Safer antifreeze arrives. (Chief Auto Parts Inc.'s S.A.F.E., environment-friendly auto coolant) (product announcement)
October 1, 1990... Safer antifreeze arrives Charles Allen, manager at the Chief Auto Parts store on FM 620, said last week he already had convinced one customer to pay an extra $1.50 for a gallon of antifreeze the company is advertising as non-toxic and...

World renowned Gore-Tex maker secluded in Manor. (Gore-Tex fabric, W.L. Gore and Associates Inc., Manor, Texas) (company profile)
October 1, 1990... World renowned Gore-Tex maker secluded in Manor At the W.L. Gore and Associates facility near Manor, accountants and other clerical staff sit in the big corner offices with views of the verdant, golf-course-like grounds, while well-paid...

Spencer joins Sematech team. (William J. Spencer begins as SEMATECH's new president, CEO) (company profile)
October 8, 1990... Spencer joins Sematech team William J. Spencer, Sematech's new chief executive officer and president, hit the ground running - and flying - in his first day on the job last week. After introducing himself to Sematech workers, Spencer, who...

NCNB expansion faces opposition, (NCNB Corp., Texas, North Carolina expansion)
October 8, 1990... NCNB expansion faces opposition The parent company of the biggest bank in Texas is meeting resistance in both this state and North Carolina, as community activists link up to air their grievances about lending practices. NCNB Corp. of...

Austin snags Houston firm. (Design Edge, Austin, Texas)
October 8, 1990... Austin snags Houston firm An industrial design company that does work for Dell Computer Corp. and NASA announced last week that it has moved its headquarters from Houston to Austin. Design Edge, which was founded in 1986 by two former...

Hughes firm files for bankruptcy protection. (Al Hughes' Steiner Ranch Development Corp.)
October 8, 1990... Hughes firm files for bankruptcy protection Steiner Ranch Development Corp. filed bankruptcy last week to stop foreclosure on its property northwest of Austin and to encourage a settlement with its creditors. The Resolution Trust Corp....

Survey ranks Austin fifth in nation. (Fortune Top Ten Cities for Business survey)
October 8, 1990... Survey ranks Austin fifth in nation Austin's large resource of college graduates helped earn it the ranking as the fifth best city in the country for businesses to recruit workers, according to a survey in the Oct. 22 issue of Fortune magazine....

Austin Surplus Lines. (names Bart Koch general manager) (Newsmakers)
October 8, 1990... Austin Surplus Lines Austin Surplus Lines added BART KOCH as general manager and JIM McDONALDS as marketing representative. Aug. '89 Aug. '90 change

EDF ready for Texas battles. (Environmental Defense Fund) (Cover Story)
October 15, 1990... EDF ready for Texas battles Austin possesses what at times seems to be an army of watchful environmentalists. That army has grown even stronger with the arrival of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), which marks the opening of its Texas...

Austin companies say they already comply with new disabilities act.
October 15, 1990... Austin companies say they already comply with new disabilities act When President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) this summer, the measure was hailed as a sweeping victory for Americans with disabilities. Many...

CompuAdd will follow the sun. (CompuAdd Corp. expands product line)
October 15, 1990... CompuAdd will follow the Sun Austin's CompuAdd Corp., which has built its fortune on the manufacture and sale of personal computers, is expanding its product line to include workstations, the faster, more powerful kin of personal computers....

Plans for Bee Cave Road shopping center revived. (Westlake Hills, Texas)
October 15, 1990... Plans for Bee Cave Road shopping center revived Plans to develop 50 acres of land near the intersection of Bee Cave Road and Capital of Texas Highway into a shopping center are being revived by a Chicago company. Robert Baldwin, one of the...

HEB signs lease for retail outlets at Sixth and Lamar. (HEB Food Stores)
October 15, 1990... HEB signs lease for retail outlets at Sixth and Lamar Although HEB Food Stores has signed a lease to build a retail outlet at the northeast corner of Sixth Street and North Lamar Boulevard, the San Antonio-based company isn't sure what type of...

New baby boom boosts businesses. (juvenile products)
October 15, 1990... New baby boom boosts businesses Manufacturers say a new generation of older, wealthier first-time parents is creating a boom in designer clothing, electronic gadgets and other high-priced baby equipment. "Juvenile products is a $2.5...

Big retailers feel pinch. (survey in Texas)
October 15, 1990... Big retailers feel pinch The largest retailers in Texas are beginning to feel the effects of a downturn in consumer confidence resulting from national economic trends and the crisis in the Middle East, a recent study found. Arthur Andersen...

Abilene businessman calls for bank boycott. (Rogers Dennis, NCNB Texas National Bank)
October 15, 1990... Abilene businessman calls for bank boycott A more-than-disgruntled Abilene businessman is leading the charge for Texans to boycott the largest bank in the state, NCNB Texas National Bank. NCNB Texas has assets of more than $30 billion and...

Many firms rely on EAPs for drug counseling. (employee assistance programs) (Drugs in the Workplace)
October 15, 1990... Many firms rely on EAPs for drug counseling Though drug testing has received the most attention recently, other programs to deal with employee drug problems are much more popular with Austin companies. A recent survey by the Texas Society...

Firms answer drug concerns with testing. (Drugs in the Workplace)
October 15, 1990... Firms answer drug concerns with testing Because the problem of illegal drugs has constantly polled high among the concerns of the American public, it is no surprise that companies are acting to eliminate drug use on the job. Following...

How one company's drug testing policy works. (Texas Instruments) (Drugs in the Workplace)
October 15, 1990... How one company's drug testing policy works Texas Instruments has been testing all its employees for illegal drug use since Jan. 1. A computer located in Dallas selects a varying number of employees each work day for testing. Because the...

Whole Foods goes after fast food in latest ad campaign. (grocery market chain)
October 15, 1990... Whole Foods goes after fast food in latest ad campaign Whole Foods market takes on the fast food industry in its newest consumer education campaign that urges the public to "junk fast food before it junks you." The grocery market chain,...

CTEC. (Newsmakers)
October 15, 1990... Calendar Oct. 15 "Reaching for Tommorow - Today," Austin Women's Chamber of Commerce meeting, with speaker Mary Scott Nabers, Texas Employment Commission; business card exchange, 5:30-6 p.m.; program, 6-7 p.m.; $8 for non-members;...

Continuum hits bonanza with purchase of company. (Computations Holdings Ltd.)
October 22, 1990... Continuum hits bonanza with purchase of company The Continuum Co.'s acquisition of an Australian company will expand its product offerings and provide it with new markets. The deal also saved the company millions of dollars in research and...

Manor hopes track traffic grows. (Manor Downs horse racing track opening)
October 22, 1990... Manor hopes track traffic grows The early results from Manor Downs are in and it wasn't a photo finish. The horse racing track, which finally opened Oct. 11 after months of delays, was only slightly more than half full on any of the four...

Austin vies for fusion project. (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)
October 22, 1990... Austin vies for fusion project Austin is in the running again. This time Austin is one of four U.S. cities competing for a five-year, $1 billion international project to design the world's first energy-producing fusion reactor. The...

Bookstop cuts jobs in consolidation.
October 22, 1990... Bookstop cuts jobs in consolidation About 60 Bookstop workers will be affected by the discount book store chain's consolidation of its finance and systems group into those of other Barnes & Noble divisions in New York City area. Some of...

Radian gets big EPA contract. (Environmental Protection Agency)
October 22, 1990... Radian gets big EPA contract The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $26.9 million contract to Radian Corp. to provide technical support for regulatory development for consumer commodities industries. During the five-year...

CTI posts third quarter loss. (Communications Transmission Inc.)
October 22, 1990... CTI posts third quarter loss Communications Transmission Inc. lost $3.6 million, 35 cents per share, in the third quarter. That's down from the company's loss of $14.9 million, $1.43 per share, in the 1989 third quarter. CTI's third...

Motorola reports earnings increase.
October 22, 1990... Motorola reports earnings increase A 12 percent sales increase helped boost Motorola Inc.'s third quarter earnings to $102 million, 78 cents per share, from $89 million, 69 cents per share, in the 1989 third quarter. Earnings for the first...

Apartment rates rise as market gets tighter. (Austin, Texas)
October 22, 1990... Apartment rates rise as market gets tighter Apartments rents aren't the bargain they used to be in Austin. That news belies an analysis that recently rated Austin the second least expensive city to rent a one-bedroom apartment. The study,...

Minority Business Guide boosted by big firms. (published by Austin Business Journal)
October 29, 1990... Minority Business Guide boosted by big firms The fate of minority-owned businesses in Austin is a matter of serious concern to a number of major firms in this city, a fact underscored by the strong support the first Austin Minority Business...

Pizzeria owner burns over city's expensive red tape. (Pizza Nizza's Mark Skiles on building his restaurant)
October 29, 1990... Pizzeria owner burns over city's expensive red tape Mention his new flashy yellow-colored Pizza Nizza restaurant and Mark Skiles' boyish face lights up. But turn the conversation to the 10 months Skiles spent struggling to get the project...

Eastern Europe attracts Austin business's attention.
October 29, 1990... Eastern Europe attracts Austin business's attention Austin business are looking with greater interest at the possibility of doing business in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe now that the trade barriers of the Cold War are crumbling. "I...

UT business school in the nation's Top 20. (University of Texas)
October 29, 1990... UT business school in the nation's Top 20 Business Week ranked the University of Texas among its top 20 business schools earlier this month, crediting student complaints with spurring improvement. Associate Dean James Deitrick says the...

Corporate America wants minority suppliers. (National Business League convention)
October 29, 1990... Corporate America wants minority suppliers America's corporations, for reasons ranging from federally mandated targets to internally established goals, often strive to utilize minority suppliers. Yet minority-owned firms often find it...

RTC's 'Minority Outreach' misses Austin businesses. (Resolution Trust Corp.)
October 29, 1990... RTC's `Minority Outreach' misses Austin businesses Benefits to the minority- and woman-owned real estate businesses in Austin as a result of the Resolution Trust Corp. outreach seems negligible now, but may be growing, as the program is...

Austin businesses have professional helpers to ease them into international trade profits.
October 29, 1990... Austin businesses have professional helpers to ease them into international trade profits Help is available, much of it for free, to companies thinking about marketing their goods in other countries. Locally, the Capital Area Small...

Schlotzsky's takes its buns elsewhere. (Schlotzsky's Inc.'s ad account)
October 29, 1990... Schlotzsky's takes its buns elsewhere Schlotzsky's Inc. and U.S. Creative parted company earlier this month over what representatives of each called "creative differences." U.S. Creative Inc. designed and produced television, radio,...

Suzannes Shops Inc. (Newsmakers)
October 29, 1990... CHARLES E. GRIFFIN has been named president and chief operating officer of Suzannes Shops Inc.