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Few can argue that business has received a great deal of criticism lately; political payoffs and international bribes alone have dimmed business's credibility. It is only natural to wonder, therefore, about the quality of today's business leaders and whether as a group they are able to deal with the needs of a changing society. One way to begin to deal with that question is to examine the backgrounds of today's top managers to determine just who they are and to see if they differ from their counterparts of 75 years ago. The authors of this article covered the literature on business executives and conducted their own study of 444 executives in 1975. Without making any judgments about the values of the executives they studied, the authors conclude that today's business leaders are for the most part a homogeneous group, more similar to each other, in fact, than were their predecessors. What does this homogeneity mean for this group's social responsiveness? Although the authors do not pretend to have the answer to this question or others, they do offer a number of ideas that will set HBR readers thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketing executives claim to be market-driven, but when it comes to distribution they are too often complacent--content with outmoded distribution channels and ignorant about what their customers want in the way of shopping outlets or service add-ons. Worst of all, too many executives underestimate how the inducements of distribution can enhance competitive strategy. The authors, long-time marketing specialists, take us through an eight-step process for designing a distribution system that really performs. They call for in-depth study of what services and conveniences the company's customers value. They show us how to segment the market according to customer preferences and work back to a plan for a more responsive and profitable system. Although the authors encourage us to imagine ideal distribution channels, their emphasis is on caution: the distribution system is particularly difficult to change. At several crucial stages, their process calls for getting outside checks and hard data for such different things as market segments, company objectives, and the projected costs of new distribution outlets. They also explore how to distinguish an industry's laws from practices that might appear to have the force of law. The climax of the process is an off-site meeting at which top management tests its prejudices against the evidence that researchers have painstakingly gathered. This step-by-step process brings clarity to a critical aspect of doing business. Indeed, the authors contend, managers will find it worth going through even when it does not mandate wholesale changes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents several letters to the editor in response to articles in previous issues including "Can You Standardize Multinational Marketing?," by Robert D. Buzzell in the November-December 1968 issue, "Materials Management as a Profit Center," by Dean S. Ammer in the January-February 1969 issue, and "Danger Ahead! Safeguard Your Computer," by Brandt Allen in the November-December 1968 issue.

A significant piece of legislation expected to be considered in the upcoming Congressional session is a bill calling for the creation of community-owned development corporations in disadvantaged areas. The purpose of these corporations would be to gain ownership and control of the economic resources of their communities. They would benefit from tax incentives and other advantages over nonmember businesses. Drafted in the spirit of black separatism, the bill represents a radical change in public policy. In the author's view, the proposal is a dangerous and shortsighted approach to solving the crisis of the ghettos; and, rather than speeding the necessary economic revolution there, enactment would retard it. He calls for a balanced approach to ghetto development, involving maximum, but flexible, community participation and encouragement of entry of "outside" companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The violent assault on retail businesses in Watts, in the summer of 1965, showed how bitter and resentful many Negroes were toward stores serving the area. Numerous riots since then have demonstrated that the situation was not unique to Watts. A fundamental cause of this bitterness, the author believes, is the presence of an inefficient, unethical business community in ghetto areas. The poorest segments of our affluent society are being served by the least effective members of the nation's distribution system. A program to revolutionize the economic structure of these areas is needed, and such a program is proposed in this article. The program is based, not on consumer protection, insurance, or technical assistance principles, but on the concept of investment guarantees and credits to retailers who build branch stores in ghetto districts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the ethics of common corporate marketing practices. A sample of corporate executives, business school students, blue-collar workers, and housewives were asked to evaluate a mouthwash manufacturer's utilization of a large-scale advertising campaign to make people feel that using the company's product will make them more popular socially, where 1 is completely ethical and 7 is completely unethical. Nearly 55 percent of the executives supported this type of campaign, while it received support from only 44 percent of the students, 28 percent of the blue-collar employees, and 17 percent of the housewives, showing that a gap clearly exists between the views of businessmen and other groups in most cases, which could possibly lead to backlash from consumers.

Presents letters to the editor of "BusinessWeek" regarding articles found in previous issues of the journal. Responses to the article "Old. Smart. Productive," regarding the employment of older people; Discussion of the article "An onslaught of hidden ads," regarding product placement; Response to the article "Beaning in on nano gold," regarding investments in nanotechnology stocks.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to previous articles including "The new super-dealers" in the June 2, 1986 issue, "Trade has Reagan caught between principles and politics" in the June 9 issue and :The '20s and the '80s: Can deflation turn into depression" in the June 9 issue.