European CEOs Should Be Careful What They Wish For (int'l edition)

Europe's managers should consider two crucial issues that follow from their desire for higher pay and stock options (''Eager Europeans press their noses to the glass,'' Special Report, Apr. 19). If U.S. managers make more than Europeans, it's because Americans work more. Will European managers be willing to give up evenings, weekends, and vacations the way U.S. managers regularly do? Or will the Europeans want to have their cake and eat it, too?

As for options, Europeans should be careful what they wish for. Options are not going to do them any good unless the Europeans have the tools and flexibility (such as rationalizing fixed costs) to unlock the value of the options.

Saurabh Shah
New York

Don't Judge Management by Stock Performance (int'l edition)

Huge executive paychecks based on stock performance reminds me of the fable about the crowing rooster who believed he made the sun come up (''Executive pay,'' Special Report, Apr. 19). A better view is that collapsing commodity prices and Alan Greenspan's reduced interest rates spurred price-earnings ratios to record highs. This created 5,000 unearned points on the Dow.

Should not management be graded on increases in productivity, sales, revenues, earnings, and efficient employment of assets? If bonuses were tied to dividend increases, we would have more of them, regardless of earnings. Stock prices are a fallible gauge of management worth.

Dick Davis
San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Japanese Working Women Owe Nothing to the U.S. (int'l edition)

''Make way for women with welding guns'' (Asian Business, Apr. 19) says that Japanese women finally could get into men's work as a consequence of American influence. Consider the statement by essayist Seisho Nagon: ''Ladies in respectable families should go out to work in a government office instead of dreaming of the fake happiness of married life....'' Seisho Nagon lived in the early 11th century, when most European women were illiterate and just sweeping floors.

The invisible social activities of Japanese women are not a consequence of social structure but rather that of women's choice. Examples are seen in the much higher chance of Japanese women (than men) of being elected to central as well as local government.

Akira Hasegawa
Kyoto, Japan

Would-Be World Traders Need to Be World Travelers (int'l edition)

So Ford Motor Co. is having trouble selling cars in Japan? And the French are dipping into nationalist sentiment over the prospects of Ford winning the bid to supply cars to civil servants (''A car wreck of a car strategy,'' American News, Apr. 19)? While amusing, such examples heighten the importance of ''doing your homework'' culturally.

Twice a year, I take students and adults on foreign trips. We have been to Europe, the South Pacific, and Russia. A major objective is to introduce students to different cultures, albeit briefly. The experiences are reinforced in the classroom. An understanding of a culture will enable these future leaders in business and in politics to mesh cultural realities within a true global economy.

I often think, when reading or hearing such anecdotes as Ford's travails in Japan, that we need to take engineers and executives on such tours--not just a sojourn through superior class hotels and air-conditioned limos that bypass local lifestyles. If rabid nationalism is to be conquered, it must be experienced and embraced so that we can fully understand how to sell a product or an idea with the aim toward a true global community. Having been in business at management level before deciding to teach, I am convinced that cultural exchanges for our youth are a major step toward achieving that goal.

Michael Streich
Winston-Salem, N.C.

What Could Be Better Than Basic Research? (int'l edition)

The successful mix of basic and applied research promoted by Bell Laboratories is something that should be followed by other companies (''An ivory tower that spins pure gold,'' Science & Technology, Apr. 19). Applied, focused research is essential for continued, commercial development. But basic research, in directions perhaps oblique to that of the company, can also be valuable. Basic research can act as a form of intellectual gymnastics. Just as a football player benefits from weight training in a gym, so can an applied scientist benefit from ''working out'' his brain on problems often more intellectually challenging than what his normal directed effort entails. Basic research expands one's vision and encourages the mind to stretch.

The inverse also applies to Ivory Tower academics toiling in their university labs and offices. There's nothing like breaking away from quantum mechanics once in a while to do a little combustion research.

In the good old days, back in the late 1950s and '60s, laboratory astrophysical research was done by such companies as Westinghouse, United Technologies, and General Dynamics. They might be well-served if they allowed their applied research staff to get a little fundamental once in a while.

James Mitchell
Professor of Physics
University of Rennes
Rennes, France

New Hope for Civil Servants (int'l edition)

''An uncivil servant'' (Asian Business, Apr. 5) brought hope for civil servants around the world as they strive for transparency and answerable government and administration to serve the people. In some jurisdictions, although there is existing legislation, the applications of these for the protection of the public generally have not been put into effect. The deed of Bhatia seems to be a real feat, and I hope we will see a lot of Arun Bhatias around the world. He should be encouraged.

Dick Ng Sui Wa
Port Louis, Mauritius

Bananas Are the Caribbean's Bread and Butter (int'l edition)

Contrary to the opinion expressed in ''This banana war is no laughing matter'' (American News, Mar. 22), the ''war'' is anything but trivial. The banana industry is the life blood of many Caribbean islands, representing close to 6 million people collectively. The gross domestic product of these territories is directly linked to the performance of banana exports. Therefore, the economies and the ability to trade with multinationals in the U.S. are dependent on revenues generated from this.

Further, without these islands as a tourist destination once their economies have been decimated, what do you think will be the likely impact of goods and services obtained from U.S. companies, or the likely impact on commercial airlines that fly Caribbean routes?

Also, consider that if the owners of banana plantations are unable to survive and feed their families, then the likelihood of marijuana plantations becomes a reality. The market for the illegal drug certainly will not be the EU. There is more than ''a little at stake.''

Terrance A. Mahon
St. Thomas, Barbados

Gene-Altered Plants Will Breed New Problems (int'l edition)

I am a computer consultant, so no one will label me a Luddite, but the issue of lab-based plant sciences scares me, as mankind once again blindly stumbles down the path labeled future without pausing to look behind (''The next green revolution,'' Cover Story, Apr. 12). Genetically altered crops are a continuation of a U.S. agricultural history of ''magic bullets,'' which solve an impending crisis only to create their series of hurdles.

For many crops, bugs are so resistant to commercial spraying that the fields must be cleared of human activity for up to 48 hours after pesticide-application. The inclusion of BT, a naturally occurring pesticide, in the cells of potato plants, for example, will inevitably bring about a Darwinian resistance toward the bacteria, as only those bugs unaffected will survive. BT is used by organic farmers, all of whom would be devastated by simple change in nature.

There have been no long-term studies about the effects of digesting such altered plants as modified corn, simply because these items, though currently in supermarkets, have not existed for more than a decade. Yet in a shameful display of bending to corporate desires, both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food & Drug Administration have refused to regulate or enforce labeling of genetically altered crops. While some believe the reaction in Europe, where genetically altered foods must be labeled, is uncalled for, Americans are choosing to remain in the dark about the processes that put food on our nonrural middle-class tables.

Rich Werden
White Plains, N.Y.