Readers Report
The Pritzkers: Proud of Marmon's Results
"The House of Pritzker" (People, Mar. 17) mentioned Marmon Group Inc., an international association of autonomous manufacturing and service companies, which was co-founded by my brother, Jay, and me. You commented that Marmon, during tough economic times in 2001 "reported a nearly 60% decline in net earnings." It is important to note that the 2001 earnings included a significant nonoperating charge resulting from the adoption of Financial Accounting Standards Board Rule 142, related to goodwill. On a comparative basis, without the nonrecurring impact from this accounting pronouncement, Marmon's earnings decline would have been 25%. In the same period, the average profit for companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index went down 34%. We certainly beat the averages. Given the difficult environment for our products during that period, I'm proud of our results.
Robert A. Pritzker
President and Chief Executive
Colson Associates Inc.
Chicago
Kodak's Wide-Angle View
There are many paths to the printed picture, and Kodak is the only company that offers customers and consumers access to all of those paths ("Big Yellow's digital dilemma," The Corporation, Mar. 24). We are making picture-taking easier for everyone. No company is better positioned than Kodak to help people print pictures in a digital world.
Kodak has 10 times as many photo kiosks as its nearest competitor. Our EasyShare line of consumer digital cameras, hailed by industry critics for their ease of use, is gaining in market share. Kodak's Ofoto Inc. is the leading online photofinishing service, with 6 million members. We are a leading seller of ink-jet paper for home printers, and our partnership with minilab manufacturer Noritsu Koki Co. will allow us to gain market share in a market that has just begun to evolve from optical printing to digital. Kodak will continue to pursue a strategy of making digital photography easier by providing the greatest selection of routes to the printed image as possible.
Michael P. Benard, Director
Communication & Public Affairs
Eastman Kodak Co.
Rochester, N.Y.
Are the "Embeds" Giving Us the Straight Goods?
When I read Frederik Balfour's "A journalist among soldiers" ("Beyond the war," Cover Story, Mar. 24), I was struck by his statement that he was one of nearly 600 journalists "chosen by the Pentagon" to be integrated with the troops in the Persian Gulf. Even if the U.S. military does not actually censor the journalists' reports, the Pentagon's role in deciding who gets the coveted opportunity to report from the battlefield will cause the journalists themselves to be very careful not to emphasize civilian casualties, refugee crises, military blunders, friendly-fire incidents, or any other matters that might make the Pentagon look bad. I regret that media outlets accepted this terrible arrangement that interferes with freedom of the press. We shall need to turn to foreign media for less biased reports.
Teresita Haag
Sebastopol, Calif.
Editor's note: BusinessWeek's Balfour, embedded with the logistics arm of the 3rd Infantry Division, contributes weekly dispatches from Iraq, most recently "The final hours before war" ("High stakes," Cover Story, Mar. 31), and "'Critical supplies...are unaccounted for"' ("The doctrine of digital war," Cover Story, Apr. 7).
Diplomacy: Is There a Time for Drawing Lines in the Sand?
"The high price of bad diplomacy" (Commentary, "Beyond the war," Cover Story, Mar. 24) captured the concerns that many of us have about how the Bush Administration does business, not necessarily about the "ends" but about the "means." American businessmen work with partners around the globe, whether in a majority or minority configuration.
We spend lots of time and effort to create consensus, a necessity for long-term relationships that lead to long-term profitability. Decisions made by fiat cannot succeed over time, and one learns, often painfully, it's not what you say but what people hear. Grudging agreement is a lot better than hostility and resentment.
Stephen Berger
New York
In 25 years of reading BusinessWeek, I can remember very few articles that touched me more than "The high price of bad diplomacy." Nussbaum managed to describe superbly the sentiment in the minds of an enormous number of non-Americans all around the globe: How is it possible that a leading power such as the U.S. allows such regrettable and avoidable diplomatic mistakes to be perpetrated on such a thinly defined and constantly changeable stated set of reasons? We are going through times when it seems that America is considering every non-American to be a potential anti-American. As it now stands, and although it may not be considered that relevant for the time being, even some of your friends are actually starting to fear you.
Carlos I. Castro
Rio de Janeiro
Yes, it is bad diplomacy -- bad diplomacy by France, one of our allies, with 10,000 American graves in Normandy. I am European-born, speak fluent French and German, and have a huge network in Europe. I talk every morning to key people in five or six European countries, travel to Europe every four weeks, and know better than most what is really going on. My friends in France feel Jacques Chirac has seriously erred.
One must understand the motives of our opposition. France, Germany, and Russia have allegedly continuously supported Iraq with weaponry, in spite of the existing sanctions. This will all turn up in due course: Made in France. Made in Germany. Made in Russia.
What bad diplomacy? Now the U.N. has a record of failure.
Edward Lifmann
Alexandria, Va.
The Bush Administration's policy of "disdain, disregard, and disrespect for treaties, allies, and friends" has already impaired our international standing and will have repercussions for our economic security as well. It is important for a business publication to take a stand against such a shortsighted vision on the part of this Administration.
Please keep sending the message!
Bob Buuck
Bloomington, Minn.
Editor's note: The writer is former chairman and CEO of American Medical Systems Inc.
Who Runs Corporations? Certainly Not Capitalists
The very title of the book Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists ("The real enemies of free markets," Books, Mar. 10) reveals the biggest myth in our economic system: that corporations are run by capitalists. Unlike such visionaries as Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie, who used their own resources and creativity, today's corpocrats risk not 1 cents of their own funds. Aided by a bunch of puppets (a.k.a. directors), these charlatans pay themselves outrageous salaries, and live lavishly on unlimited expense accounts. Those who "resign" (i.e., are fired) walk away with packages that make bank robbers seem like philanthropists.
Mack A. Moore
Professor of Economics (emeritus)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta
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Copyright 2003, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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