Get Four
Free Issues

Subscribe to BW
Customer Service


Full Table of Contents
Cover Story
Special Report
Up Front
Editor's Memo
Readers Report
Corrections & Clarifications
Technology & You
Media Centric
Business Outlook
The Business Week



News & Insights
Global Business
Finance
Economics
People
Info Tech
Feedback
Executive Life
Executive Life -- Parker on Wine
Personal Finance
Inside Wall Street
Figures of the Week
Ideas -- Books
Ideas -- Outside Shot
Ideas -- The Welch Way




MAY 14, 2007
Readers Report

Being A Good Corporate Citizen Helped Accenture Win In India

"How accenture one-upped Bangalore" (Info Tech, Apr. 23) was enjoyable, but it overlooked a critical part of Accenture Ltd.'s (ACN ) success. As it rapidly expanded its employee base in India, it also invested in Indian nongovernmental organizations. This sent a strong signal to tens of thousands of potential employees that Accenture would be a good corporate citizen. The group I run, Room to Read, opened a large number of school libraries and computer labs in poor communities as a result of this investment.

As India's talent wars heat up, companies would do well to emulate this example to prove to potential employees that they are investing in India for the long term and looking out for the country's continued development.

John Wood
Room to Read
San Francisco


Small-Business Owners Are Eager For Health-Care Reform

The National Small Business Assn. is the nation's oldest nonpartisan small-business advocacy group and has been pushing for broad health-care reform since 2004. While we would echo some of the concerns of unfair or misappropriated fees on small businesses that could accompany certain reform proposals, small businesses are absolutely not "opposed to change," as "Stopping reform before it starts" (Health, Apr. 16) claims.

In 2004, two years before the landmark Massachusetts law was enacted, were leased a proposal outlining a system that would require all individuals to have health insurance, provide subsidies for low-income individuals, establish a basic benefits package, set limits on rating and underwriting, and redefine tax incentives to let individuals deduct health-care costs. A recent national survey shows that more than two-thirds of small-business owners would support such a system.

Since our failing health-care system is based on employer-provided insurance, and small businesses comprise 99% of all employers, small business not only supports reform, we demand it.

Todd O. McCracken
National Small Business Assn.
Washington


Back to Top

Why Business Needs Transparency And Oversight

"The new brain drain" (The Welch Way, Apr. 23) included several comments by Jack Welch about the media and the public despising or distrusting business.

As an investor, I personally lost nearly a million dollars in wages and stock investments involving company decisions that would warrant mistrust. Yet I do not despise business leaders or the CEOs who run those companies.

Still, if Welch had absorbed the devastating pension and investment losses that so many working Americans have experienced, he might better understand why transparency and oversight protection is required to balance the playing field.

Richard Teremi
Mattawan, Mich.


Back to Top

Want Your Starbucks Latte In A Real Cup? Just Ask

I felt compelled to respond to the letter "At Starbucks, charisma—but no mugs" (Readers Report, Apr. 30) regarding not being able to drink coffee out of a ceramic coffee cup ("Saving Starbucks' soul," Marketing, Apr. 9).

I visit my local Starbucks (SBUX ) frequently and always have a pastry and my morning coffee in a ceramic cup. A customer only has to request a ceramic cup when ordering. My son, a former barista, told me about the secret ceramic cups that are available for in-house use.

René A. Diaz
Redondo Beach, Calif.


Back to Top

Carbon Emissions: Impede Progress, Pay A Penalty

Your story Climate wars: Episode two" (Environment, Apr. 23) reports that "heavier coal burners...say treating utilities equally would give the lower emitters a windfall." That, of course, is the point. Utilities that have been socially conscious should get a windfall. Those that have avoided reducing emissions and, in many cases, fought dishonestly against the science of global warming deserve to pay a penalty for their poor judgment.

John Mitchem
San Jose, Calif.




Back to Top


TODAY'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

  1. America's Best Place to Raise Your Kids
  2. These Men Could Kill SarbOx
  3. This Year's Holiday Hit Toy: Zhu Zhu Pets
  4. A Big Loophole in Cap and Trade
  5. Wall Street Plays Hardball

Get Free RSS Feed >>
  MARKET INFO

Portfolio Service Update

Stock Lookup

Enter name or ticker



Media Kit | Special Sections | MarketPlace | Knowledge Centers
McGraw-Hill Cos.