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The article discusses the decline of Eastman Kodak's financial performance in the U.S. as of 1983. It is noted that the decline is due to the fluctuating strength of the dollar. In addition, the company is also having trouble in making and marketing new products. Overall performance includes decreased sales of 6 percent to $10.2 billion, while its net earnings slipped from 51 percent to $565 million.

The article focuses on recent developments related to business enterprises in the U.S. Last fall National Education Corp. (NEC) put it about that it would like to acquire DeVry Inc., its arch rival in the vocational school business. After all, NEC may have the largest, number of students, but DeVry is bigger in vocational school revenues. Oil wells have a distressing habit of running dry, says Gordon Brunton, 62, president of Toronto-based International Thomson Organization Ltd. That's why Thomson chooses to pour its North Sea oil profits into publishing, its original business, instead of oil, the business that made it rich.

Discusses the increased use of robots in Japan, where they are used in companies of all sizes, as well as in hospitals, restaurants and concert halls. In contrast, US companies have found robots an embarrassing failure, despite the fact that robots were invented in the US. Advantages of robots; Solution to labor shortage; Reasons for US problems with robots; US robots comeback. INSET: `I'm a guru when I get to Japan' (interviews US robot inventor....

The article presents information on investments in farmland in the U.S. Nationwide, farmland prices edged up 3% between February 1987 and February 1988, according to the Department of Agriculture. A study by Ibbotson Associates, Chicago-based economic consultants, found that between 1960 and 1984 farm real estate produced a compound annual return of 11%, a performance outpaced only by Asian stocks and over-the-counter securities. Farmland beat the stock market, easily beat the bond market and outpaced gold. As an inflation hedge, farmland has an advantage over gold, it pays an annual return. INSET: Farmer knows best.

The article offers criticism regarding investments in a vacation home. If someone has bought a vacation home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, three years ago, one would have told himself that it was an investment. Within a year, similar homes would have been selling for as much as 40% more. The softness is even apparent in Malibu, California, where the U.S. motion picture industry stars and film executives pay more than $1 million for 30-foot lots. However, just because the prices are down, doesn't mean that one can invest in buying a home. INSET: Second-home deductions, by L. Saunders..

Discusses the opportunities Du Pont faces as a result of pressure from environmentalists, particularly the creation of an environmental services firm, as well as environmentally sound products. Agricultural chemicals; Auto paints and coatings; Plastics; Hazardous waste site cleanup.

The article focuses on functional electrical stimulation (FES) which uses low levels of electrical current to stimulate movement in paralyzed arms and legs. Researchers are beginning to look at FES as an incremental improvement in a paraplegic's capabilities. FES could prove useful to only a fraction of the disabled. Nevertheless, FES is about to take its first hesitant steps outside the lab. In the Spring 1990 the U.S. Veterans Administration and the U.S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration will award a contract worth up to several million dollars to develop and manufacture 200 FES prototype systems for patients with paralyzed upper bodies.

The article reports on the development of recycling technologies by U.S. manufacturers which convert waste products into commercial goods. Examples include chemical company Dow's use of chemical by-products in dry-cleaning fluids, the purchase of copper recycling firm Nassau Metals by telephone service provider AT&T for the reclamation of copper wiring for reuse, and recycling of scrap metals by chemical company 3M for manufacture of coat hangers.

The article profiles Peter McCausland, founder of gas distributor U.S. Airgas. Topics discussed include his educational background, his work as general counsel for MG Burdett Gas Products, and his success following Airgas' acquisition of small gas distribution company Connecticut Oxygen. The growth of Airgas' sales to 25 million dollars in March 1986 is mentioned.

The article focuses on the failure of the expert systems to transform the business sector in the U.S. as expected. It discusses the success of Charlie, a computer system used by automaker General Motors as a replacement for its ace manufacturing engineer Charlie Amble who resigned in 1986, the failure of early field tests of a system designed to free credit analysts of automaker Ford Motor Co. from approving routine car loans and the other problems faced by companies using expert systems.

The article focuses on the efforts of chairman Donald Frey in restructuring the overall assets and investments of Bell & Howell Ltd. in the U.S. Frey has diversified into core units with significant shares in mail-handling equipment manufacturer Phillipsburg and publisher Merrill, and partnerships with Paramount and Columbia Pictures. He also added financial executive Gerald Schultz to the company, who is expected to takeover the management after Frey retires.

The article discusses the good management of Walgreen Co. which made it a profitable drugstore chain in the U.S. The chain plans to add a considerable amount of stores for the current year and the earnings of Walgreen are expected to increase by the end of the fiscal year. Meanwhile, the rival chains are expected to have a slowed growth, due to leveraged buyouts. Such buyouts would so load them with debt and would allow the expansion of Walgreen to be hobbled for years.

The article reports developments in the life insurance industry in the U.S. as of mid-June 1986. It claims that the declining farm income and very high farm debt are turning major insurance firms like Prudential, Metropolitan Life, and John Hancock into farmers. It presents the opinions of such experts as MONY Agricultural Financial Services' James Melton, U.S. Department of Agriculture economist David Trechter, and Iowa State University's William Murray on the developments.

The article focuses on the taxation of the Hudson Foods Inc., the seventeenth largest poultry producer in Rogers, Arkansas. Hudson has earned 8.5 million dollars on sales of 185 million dollars in the fiscal year that ended September 28, 1985. Under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, Hudson is able to defer 7.6 million dollars for its entire federal tax bill. The IRS has required companies to use cash accounting instead of the accrual accounting when computing its taxable income.

The article focuses on Jerry Cohen, a partner at law firm Kohn, Milstein, Cohen & Hausfeld and former chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Anti-trust Subcommittee, and his role in the class action lawsuit filed against Pan American World Airways, Trans World Airlines (TWA) and British Airways.

The article focuses on Tinkham Veale, an engineering graduate of Case Institute of Technology, who retired after confounding a successful group of light manufacturing companies. In 1965, when Veale was 50 years old, he began buying family-owned companies and making their proprietors his partners. But before Veale could start acquiring, he needed a vehicle, a publicly traded one, and preferably one that could shelter earnings from companies he could then go out and acquire. To make sure that the selling management does not rest on its oars, Veale typically pays owners of his target companies only 60% of the purchase price in cash.

The article focuses on Bandag Inc., the world-class supplier of retreaded tires for trucks and buses in Muscatine, Iowa. Bandag was founded in 1957 by Roy Carver, father of the present chairman and talented entrepreneur Martin Carver. In the present, the company sells precured rubber, equipment and supplies to a worldwide network of more than 1,000 dealers. The corporation's growth is visible where it has 25.5 percent operating margin against 10.1 percent for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and it has 22 percent return on equity.

The article discusses the business strategy and developments of Hyatt Hotels Corp. in the U.S. J. Patrick Foley, president of Hyatt, vice chairman of Braniff Airways Inc. and point man for the Pritzker family which controls both companies talks about the worst decision in the business strategy of Hyatt. The mistake was the decision of the Pitzkers to bring the bankrupt Braniff Airways back to life in March 1984 as a full-fare airline.

The article focuses on automobile leasing and renting services. There have been lots of discussions regarding the virtues of leasing versus owning a personal automobile. By crunching numbers a certain way, a case is made that monthly payments will be lower in the case of a lease rather than financing a car the conventional way. The leasing company or dealer, obviously, buys cars in large numbers and therefore has more leverage with the manufacturer. The other big advantage to leasing is the small amount of cash that has to be laid out up front.

This article focuses on the popularity of savings bonds in the U.S. The savings bonds have outperformed six-month treasury bills and at least equaled money market funds since their inception in November 1982. Interest earned on savings bonds is not paid until the bond is cashed in. Nor is federal tax payable until the bond is redeemed. So, high-bracket earners can use savings bonds to defer interest income until they fall into lower tax brackets. Savings bonds are sold with face values large and small, ranging from $50 to $10,000. They sell for half their face value.

The article presents information about Standard Oil of Ohio, also called Sohio. 55% of its stock is held by British Petroleum Co. PLC. While many bigger companies are restructuring, Sohio is expanding. Under Chairman Alton Whitehouse Jr., it is pouring billions into exploration, refining and marketing, it is even thinking about a major infusion of capital into its money-losing minerals subsidiary. While other industry leaders worry about takeovers and the stock market, Whitehouse can concentrate on the oil market. Like other oil companies, Sohio has been hurt by falling petroleum prices.

This article discusses certain issues concerning the $4.5 billion aid poured into Continental Illinois by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in September 1984 that prevented what would have been the largest bank failure since the Great Depression. After preventing the failure, the government fired the bank's ten most senior directors. The dismissals were an unusual move, designed to treat Continental as a failed bank and to win back the confidence of the financial community. But they are being seen as just one sign of the government's new effort to force bank directors to hold management to sterner standards.

The article offers information on various stock quotes available in the U.S. Stock quotes provides information on stocks, bonds, commodities, options and mutual funds for consumers who want eliminate their brokers. This includes Pocket Quote by Telemet America Inc., DowPhone by Dow Jones and Co., and Quotdial by Quotron Systems Inc. Furthermore, information on prices, address and telephone number is also presented. INSET: Trading by computer.

The article reports on the challenges encountered by businesses in entering the nonwoven fabrics sector.

The article profiles Arthur del Prado, president of Advanced Semiconductor Materials International N.V. (ASM), and offers information on the company's return on equity from its U.S. operations for the first nine months of 1983.

The article discusses problems facing First Jersey National Bank chairman Thomas Stanton Jr. concerning the bank's three-million-dollar loan to Brazil and mentions elements of the bank's international loan portfolio.

Looks at the advanced technology behind the vision company, Cognex Corp. Cognex advanced from the past decade as one of the winners in the high-tech race of trying to replace human eyesight with computers and cameras. Like every other vision company, however, Cognex ran into some early technical glitches going from the lab to the factory floor. Problems they faced; Outlook for the future; Details of the technology.

Shows how William Ruckelshaus, chairman of Browning-Ferris, has his hands full trying to turn things around at the troubled garbage giant. How earnings and the stock are taking big hits; Changes being made; Problems being experienced; How a quickturnaround isn't likely; Ruckelshaus' career and reputation; Room for growth.

Comments that lots of people think waste companies are recession-proof, but what's happening in New England suggests otherwise. The changed economics of garbage; Small operators hurt by the garbage shortage; Others hurt by the decline in garbage; How even trash is subject to the law of supply and demand.

Discusses how Lawrence Greenberg of Fidelity Select Environment Services Portfolio has redefined the definition of environmental stocks to reflect the change in the industry. Picks through the top environmental outfits.

Discusses how Reuter, Inc. lost a bundle with what seemed like a promising recycling idea: it built a costly plant before figuring out who its customers were going to be. Troubles experienced almost from the start; Poor management decisions; Economics problems of the plant; Hopes to pull itself out of the hole.

Explains how Shearson's Multiple Opportunities fund has been a disappointment for investors, but not for Shearson, which has raked in $53 million in fees and commissions. The most efficient funds; Advice to investors.

The article reports that Washington D.C.-based Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union has filed lawsuits for unit holders of Shearson Union Square Associates, a limited partnership. The company is reported of not paying distribution to its unit holders since 1988. It states that the union is involving itself for the cause of the investors as it is apprehensive that management of hotels, that are financially weak, will decertify it.

Tells how gardeners understand the economics of a good backyard compost pile, and now Archie Albright and Peter Sellew want to convince towns to use composting techniques. How they are going about this; Why towns should use compost piles; International Process Systems; The process.

The article focuses on the future of environmental companies, in the U.S., going public at a rapid pace. The waste and pollution control is expected to be a $200 billion industry by 1994. Less than half of the 61 environmental companies have outperformed the S&P 500 since their initial offering. Industry stalwarts like Waste Management, Browning-Ferris and Chambers Development have already made big money in the environmental business, and they can be judged by more conventional benchmarks, including quarterly changes in earnings. But with the fledgling companies, it isn't always so. It can take years to translate environmental legislation into sales and profits. Most of the players in the environmental business today are local or regional, working in particular niches of the business. Though they may have high hopes of expanding nationally or moving into other areas of pollution control, the fact is that few so far have succeeded.

The article presents information on story stocks, a kind of no-price/earnings stocks. Right now, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 25% on the year, investors are flocking to companies with easy-to-understand products and supposedly limitless potential. Speculative issues start looking reasonable as price-to-earnings multiples on more established companies expand. A classic story stock is New Image Industries Inc., a California-based computer company that came public in August 1989 at $6.50 a share and jumped to $10 on the first trade. The prevalence of story stocks gets the professional short-selling community drooling.

This article reports that more and more takeover deals are being torpedoed by toxic waste liabilities in the U.S. According to Robert O'Brien, head of leveraged buyout lending for Bankers Trust Corp., five or six years ago environmental liability was a technical point people dealt through. Now it's a major consideration. The new awareness of toxic waste is changing the way businesses are bought and sold, and corroding stock prices in chemicals and other manufacturing industries. Wall Street is scrambling to figure out which companies are sitting on hidden toxic liabilities and who will pay. The estimated cost of cleaning up the nation's 10,000-plus toxic waste dumps: a staggering $500 billion over the next 50 years.

This article discusses how minimills such as Nucor Corp., of Charlotte, North Carolina, which are leading a frontal attack on the major steel companies competing for the hot and cold-rolled sheet market in the U.S. Nucor has good reason to go after the flat-roll market. Sales of traditional minimill products such as wire rods and reinforcing bars are growing 1% a year at best. Flat-roll isn't growing any faster but it accounts for 40 million tons--52% of total U.S. industry-shipments-plus 7.5 million tons, or 36% of all imports.

The article focuses on how the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. keeps itself from sliding into bankruptcy. Executive director Kathleen Utgoff stresses the reasons on why the agency's deficit has increased. Help has come through legislation that makes it tougher for companies to abandon pension obligations. The legislation has also raised insurance premiums from $8.50 to $16 per employee. This results into having a positive cash flow.

This article looks at the increasing capital investments in factory automation by U.S. companies, noting that automation is already common in Japanese factories. Topics include automation of a cellular telephone manufacturing facility in Illinois by Motorola, Inc., construction of a computer-controlled baking plant in North Carolina by food company Nabisco Brands, and development of an automated automobile assembly and finishing plant in Georgia by General Motors.

The article focuses on mutual funds. The Vanguard Windsor Fund has been impressively run by Wellington Management Co., and has attracted 5.1 billion dollars worth of customers. Like Hollywood producers, mutual fund sponsors have tried to attract customers with new versions of their biggest hits. The results, known as "clone" funds, have included a number of successful mutual funds. The weighted average financial performance of a number of mutual funds is simply the performance that the manager would have had by combining the individual funds into one big fund.

The article focuses on the municipal (muni) bond funds in the U.S. as of April 4, 1988. Topics include interest rates, bond prices, and diversification of investment portfolios. The author discusses legislation concerning tax-exempt financing for apartment buildings and private industry. Particular focus is given to a chart of high-yield municipal bond funds released by securities analyses provider Lipper Analytical Services.

The article reports on the company of Dr. Robert Becker, Healthcare Compare Corp. (HCC), one of the largest business of utilization review in Downers Grove, Illinois. Beckers collects savings on corporate employees' health care cost. However, one of HCC reviewers, takes down basic patient information, creating a computerized chart used to determine whether the proposed treatment falls within national standards.

The article focuses on the business strategy applied by the Sun Distributor LP in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company concentrates more on services and not on products. Its philosophy is to provide special services and quick delivery to its customers. It was found out that manufacturers are shifting to just-in-time manufacturing. In fact, its Specialty Metals has been producing small runs of bolts and bars.

The article offers information on venture capital funds in the U.S. Stephen Warner, president of Merrill Lynch Venture Capital Inc., said that venture capital funds have been one of the best-performing investments. The traded closed-end funds including Narragansett Capital, Diebold Venture Capital and Boston Capital, gave small investors a chance to invest in nascent companies. Furthermore , an investment's true value is determined only when it is written off or the fund unloads its stock.

The article analyzes the investment in a Third World fund. Fund manager J. Mark Mobius scours the world for investment opportunities. Mobius, 51, is the Hong Kong-based manager of Templeton Emerging Markets Fund. The brainchild of noted investment manager John Templeton, the closed-end fund raised $107 million from investors. It was a plausible endeavor. Poor nations must have capital, especially equity capital, if they are to raise their citizens from poverty. At the same time, the suppliers of capital should do pretty well for themselves.

The article reports on the status of the U.S. chemical industry in 1987. Topics discussed include factors behind the success of the industry in 1987, companies that launched initial public offerings (IPO) during the year and Dow Chemical as one of the most profitable company during the period. Also discussed are the profitability and growth performance of individual companies, such as National Distillers, Morton Thiokol, Avery International and BF Goodrich. INSET: Monsanto's unconventional marketer.

The article discusses the disappointments of several newsletter writers turned portfolio managers in the U.S. Retired Air Force intelligence officer R. Max Bowser of the Bowser Growth Fund lamented that they always apologize for their unfavorable performance since it went public in 1984. The Value Line Centurion, owned by Arnold Bernhard of the Value Line Fund, also has not been keeping up with the market. Edson Gould's Edson Gould Fund also went into bankruptcy after Gould's death in 1976. INSET: Buy Bolivia, short Brazil.

The article discusses about the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), a nonprofit founded by James Cloonan in Chicago, Illinois. The author cites the success story of the group, including its revenues and Cloonan's compensation. Moreover, the reasons on why AAII follows the charitable format are addressed.

The article focuses on the success of Stone Container Corp. chairman Roger Stone in the paper business in Chicago, Illinois. People thought Stone was crazy when he bought shares from other paper companies when the industry suffered from financial crisis in 1983. However, Stone proved his critics wrong when his stocks climbed up. In addition, Stone's smart strategies resulted to enormous payoff and sales are expected to reach $3 billion from $427 million in 1982.