Corporate Detroit articles from November 1991

Corporate Detroit archives from November 1991

Neon delivers plenty of punch wrapped in a small package. (Chrysler Corp.'s new subcompact car, the Neon)
November 1, 1991... A flight of fancy -- or a glimpse into the future? The Neon is probably a bit of both. Looking like it popped out of Woody Allen's sci-fi send up, "Sleeper," it's a design that Chrysler is nonetheless quite serious about. With growing...

Local firm heads Gulf cleanup. (Marine Pollution Control Corp. MPC Environment cleans up the Persian Gulf)
November 1, 1991... Talk of smart bombs and photos of oil-covered birds have disappeared from the nation's newspapers. But the environmental devastation left in the wake of the Persian Gulf War hasn't disappeared as quickly, reports David Usher, president of...

The Professor launches a Border attack. (Little Professor Book Center; Book Inventory Systems Inc.)
November 1, 1991... Little Professor Book Centers, the Ann Arbor-based franchisor, is developing some bigger stores these days -- and wants some bigger investors for them. Following the lead of a Columbus-based franchisee, it has developed a "superstore" concept...

On-call bankers in private practice. (Bank of Bloomfield Hills caters to wealthy depositors)
November 1, 1991... Most banks would be in worse trouble than a savings and loan scandal if they had as few customers come through their doors each day as the Bank of Bloomfield Hills (BBH) does. On a typical day, only three or four customers visit the BBH, but the...

How Cambridge grew. (Cambridge Homes)
November 1, 1991... Since 1986, the Guidobono brothers' Cambridge Homes has increased its business tenfold. Mark Guidobono, of Novi-based Cambridge Homes, tells a story about his coming of age. It was 1985, and the Guidobono family owned an 80-acre parcel of...

Jousting with giants. (labor attorney Ted Sachs.)
November 1, 1991... Labor attorney Ted Sachs could have made millions as a litigator for corporations. He decided to fight them instead. Three days before the U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to hear his case, labor attorney Ted Sachs was holed up in a D.C. hotel...

Family feud. (Steve and Edgar Hagopian's feud cause customer confusion.)
November 1, 1991... The two Hagopian brothers went their separate ways in 1976, and haven't spoken since. Here's how it happened. The year was 1921, and a young Armenian, Haroutun Hagopian, woke up one morning and decided he'd had enough of the living hell his...

Sudden jeopardy. (the failure of Executive Life Insurance Co. and Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co. worry pension investment companies)
November 1, 1991... Almost any life insurance company used to be considered a safe pension investment. Not any more. For some retirees and company pension plans in Michigan, the moment of reckoning is here. Consider Freudenberg-NOK, a Plymouth-based...

Trial by fire. (Franklin Savings Bank becomes a full bank, Franklin Bank N.A.)
November 1, 1991... A Southfield thrift had to be creative -- and more than a little gutsy -- to get regulators to convert it into a bank. When Southfield-based Franklin Savings Bank filed its application to become a true bank with federal regulators, the latter...