San Antonio Business Journal articles from November 1992

San Antonio Business Journal archives from November 1992

Towering success: Motorola pact jump-starts local high-tech firm. (Motorola Inc. Land Mobile Products Division; Location Data Systems)
November 27, 1992... One might say local high-tech firm Location Data Systems was slapped together at the last minute. In July of last year, LODA founder Ron McPeake learned that a division of Motorola Inc. needed a device to monitor the aircraft warning lights...

State's self-insurance plan draws interest of big firms. (Texas)
November 27, 1992... After years of paying sky-high rates for workers' compensation insurance, large Texas companies eager to cut costs are lining up to get information about the state's new self-insurance plan. The Texas Workers' Compensation Commission, which...

Marriott split could be plus for San Antonio.
November 27, 1992... Officials at Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott Corp. and hospitality industry analysts are buoyed by Marriott's recently proposed split into two companies, one made up of its profitable hospitality-management businesses and the other its debt-ridden...

AFCEE draws environmental firms to city. (Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence; San Antonio, Texas) (Special Report: Business & the Environment)
November 27, 1992... Environmental firms are packing their bags for San Antonio, hoping to clean up on contracts from the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence at Brooks Air Force Base. The year-old AFCEE is directing the environmental cleanup of U.S. Air...

Land under dome important part of construction saga. (Alamodome multipurpose stadium) (Special Report: Business & the Environment)
November 27, 1992... With the Alamodome multi-purpose stadium nearing completion and rapidly becoming a new feature of the city's skyline, an untold story lurks beneath the stands and outside its architecturally distinct facade. This story is about compliance...

Tesoro taps new market with oil-spill remover. (Tesoro Petroleum Corp.'s PES-51 device) (Special Report: Business & the Environment)
November 27, 1992... It took nearly 1 1/2 years to convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it worked, but San Antonio's Tesoro Petroleum Corp. is finally coming to shore with a product that can clean up oil spills on rocky coastlines. A Tesoro...

Shelter from the storm. (tax shelters) (Special Report: Tax & Investment Planning)
November 27, 1992... Better to know the best shelters now rather than running for cover in downpour of new taxes Prepare to pay at least 38 percent of your income toward taxes in the top personal marginal federal income tax bracket beginning in 1995. No matter...

United Services Advisors Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
November 27, 1992... 7900 Callaghan Road, San Antonio TX 78229 NASDAQ -- USVP United Services Advisors and its wholly owned subsidiaries provide four types of services: investment adviser to institutions and other persons; transfer agency and record keeping;...

Banks increase pay to recruit directors as liability increases.
November 20, 1992... San Antonio-based banks pay their directors as much as $1,000 per board meeting and as little as nothing, despite the increasing liability directors have assumed because of federal laws and regulations. Statewide, the trend is toward higher...

Large advertising agencies reshuffle decks: West, Christian split, divide roster of clients. (Taylor/Christian Advertising Inc.'s split into Taylor/West Advertising Inc. and Creative Studio of Roger Christian and Co.)
November 20, 1992... The principals of Taylor/Christian Advertising Inc., San Antonio's ninth-largest advertising agency, have amicably split. Bill West, the firm's chairman and chief executive officer, now heads Taylor/West Advertising Inc. (Taylor is West's...

Sosa starts own agency; Inventiva shops Dallas, adds Ramirez, Murphy. (Robert B. Sosa's Sosa Communique; Inventiva Inc.'s hiring of Jesus Ramirez and Victoria Murphy from Ornelas and Associates) (Large Advertising Agencies Reshuffle Decks)
November 20, 1992... Inventiva Inc., the Hispanic affiliate of San Antonio's second-largest advertising agency, The Atkins Agency, has made some major management changes and is "regrouping," according to Inventiva Chief Executive Officer Heberto Gutierrez....

Kinetic Concepts Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
November 20, 1992... 3440 E. Houston St., San Antonio TX 78219 NASDAQ -- KNCI KCI is the leading supplier of rental medical equipment to healthcare providers worldwide. The firm offers healthcare providers access to a 45,000-piece rental medical equipment...

Bexar County appraisal protests, suits drop in '92. (property appraisals)
November 13, 1992... County to reduce property values by $1.8 billion Bexar County's controversial property appraisal process is nearly finished for 1992, and the county received fewer appraisal protests and lawsuits this year than last year, according to Bexar...

Baptist Memorial plans outpatient centers. (Baptist Memorial Hospital System)
November 13, 1992... Baptist Memorial Hospital System has broken ground for a new $9 million medical office building and outpatient center at Southeast Baptist Hospital and is contemplating another to support its North Central Baptist Hospital. The medical...

Home Depot poses daunting challenge for Builders Square. (Home Depot Inc.; Builders Square Inc.)
November 13, 1992... Battle stations! Man the hardware department. Spruce up the garden center. Add some intensity to the lighting section. The home-improvement war has begun. The opening salvo of what promises to be a bruising fight was fired this month with...

A nib for every scribe. (Jeffrey Gossen's pen store) (Case Note)
November 13, 1992... Jeffrey Gossen's pen portfolio boasts variety Presidential hopeful and Dallas businessman H. Ross Perot recently needed a new nib, or tip, for his Parker Spanish Treasure fountain pen. Because he is so partial to the pen, made of silver...

Santa Rosa's home health care agency in growth mode. (Santa Rosa Health Care Corp.) (Case Note)
November 13, 1992... Hospital system a part of Medicare fee study Santa Rosa Health Care Corp. has completed the first year of a three-year government study that could alter the way the fast-growing home health care segment of the industry is reimbursed by...

Realtors see benefits in setting up mortgage brokerages.
November 13, 1992... Is one-stop shopping the future for San Antonio's residential real estate market, or just another competitive wrinkle? Some area Realtors are betting that affiliating with their own mortgage brokerage will provide homebuyers with the...

Low-priced checks causing headaches for some banks.
November 13, 1992... Checking account holders that buy checks through mail-order firms may think they're saving a bundle of money. But their savings could be short-lived. Some financial institutions are claiming that those checks are rejected more frequently...

Sosa, Bromley views marketing through global glasses. (Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar and Associates) (Special Report: Hispanic Business) (Case Note)
November 13, 1992... Three years ago, when American Airlines hired local Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar & Associates to handle its Hispanic marketing for the western United States, the airline was flying in the face of the commonly held belief that Hispanics, particularly...

Government takes another look at Section 8(a) program. (Small Business Administration's minority contracting program) (Special Report: Hispanic Business)
November 13, 1992... Recent questions over the management of the Small Business Administration's Section 8(a) minority contracting program have prompted the federal government to re-evaluate the program. And that has local minority contractors keeping a close eye...

Bundling clears buying path for U.S. goods sent abroad. (financing for export-import activities) (Special Report: Hispanic Business)
November 13, 1992... For nearly 60 years, a federal agency known as U.S. Export Import Bank (Exim) has been helping exporters get financing to produce and sell their products to other countries. Now, with the spotlight on increased trade with Mexico and Latin...

Minority contract numbers little changed from last year. (Special Report: Hispanic Business)
November 13, 1992... If the number of city contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses were on a report card, San Antonio city leaders would write "needs improvement" in the margin. City contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses for fiscal year ended...

Diamond in the rough: turnaround specialist Karena Hotels Texas hopes to work its magic on Radisson hotel. (San Antonio, Texas) (Directory)
November 13, 1992... When Karena Hotels Texas won the management of the Radisson Hotel San Antonio Market Square last month, it embarked on a new path -- third-party management. And San Antonio-based Karena hit the ground running with its new focus. Early...

Taco Cabana Inc. raises $22.3 million. (Taco Cabana International Inc.'s initial public offering)
November 6, 1992... Local Tex-Mex chain completes successful IPO Taco Cabana Inc. has completed its initial public offering, raising approximately $22.3 million for corporate use in the public stock sale. Taco Cabana, a locally based chain of Tex-Mex fast-food...

La Cantera 'entertainment village' mulled.
November 6, 1992... A California-based real estate consulting company is working on the master-planning of the La Cantera area that's home to the $100 million Fiesta Texas musical theme park. The Business Journal has learned that part of that plan may include a...

Stone Oak bank becomes solvent, escapes 'disaster.' (Stone Oak National Bank)
November 6, 1992... New investors have stepped forward to pump even more funds into recapitalized Stone Oak National Bank. "It's like being pulled back from the brink of disaster," Robert Schumann, Stone Oak's president, says about the new investor interest....

Shareholder group demands 'a voice' in Tesoro's future. (Tesoro Petroleum Corp.)
November 6, 1992... A group of Tesoro Petroleum Corp. investors is asking for some changes in the San Antonio firm's board of directors and a refinancing of what they claim are the company's burdensome debts. Banded together under the name United Partners, the...

Having it their own way: litigators take control of their own destinies and leave multipractice firms behind. (Special Report: Law & Business) (Industry Overview)
November 6, 1992... They were armed with a reputation for being the hot shots of the legal field and had racked up phenomenal revenues in time of recession. So in the early 1990s, many San Antonio trial lawyers left their large multiservice firms behind to run...

Littlefield, Adams & Co. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
November 6, 1992... ASE -- LITFLD 4311 Dividend, San Antonio TX 78219 Littlefield, Adams & Co. is engaged in the business of imprinting and distributing athletic and leisurewear products through two wholly owned subsidiaries, Collegiate Pacific Co. and...

Foam cushion maker to create 65 jobs in expansion. (National Foam Cushion Manufacturing Inc.) (Company Profile)
November 6, 1992... North Richland Hills-based National Foam Cushion Manufacturing Inc. plans to create up to 65 new jobs in the San Antonio area as part of a recent round of expansion. The firm, which previously only manufactured foam carpet underlay, is...