Will Wedgwood survive

April 1, 2009

Dear Sir,

Your Wedgwood article was most interesting. It is good that Wedgwood has survived this latest trauma, but I wonder for how long. Wedgwood is quintessentially 'English' and I wonder how that fits with most of it being manufactured in the Far East? I also wonder how Wedgwood customers will perceive Wedgwood products which have traditionally been manufactured in Stoke-on-Trent, England when they are "Made in Indonesia"?

Wedgwood, prior to going into administration, had already transferred all of its bulk production to Indonesia, some 80 percent of its total production and yet it still couldn't turn a profit. Will it manage to do that by sending out the remainder? I think not, especially when so much of its higher earning sales markets will be put off buying English ceramics by "Made in Indonesia".

If KPS goes the route of sending all but the very highest priced prestige products to Indonesia to be produced, it can only be a matter of time before Wedgwood is again in financial trouble. The approach ought to be to maximise the potential of the Stoke-on-Trent factory along with the tradition and skills available and market the product appropriately. There are still many successful ceramics companies in the UK and in Stoke-on-Trent, the heart of the UK ceramics industry. Wedgwood should still be a successful part of that. I somehow doubt that KPS will listen. And I am sure you've guessed already that I used to be part of that once great Wedgwood company.

ALLEN HANLEY

Stoke-on-Trent

UK

Silence leads to suspicion

April 4, 2009

Dear Sir,

The news that Planning has given the approval for the fish processing plant would appear to suggest that this is a done deal. It was reportedly recommended that before this project went ahead there be a full public discussion of the issue. This has not happened to the best of my knowledge. It is claimed that the facility will be run by the private sector. If such people exist why have they not already invested their own money in the facility? If Government is convinced this is economically viable – where is the business case analysis to support the spending from the public purse?

Who are these private sector persons who will run this business after we have all paid to establish it? What financial benefits will Bermuda gain from this in the long run? Why is all of this not the subject of free and open discussion together with publication of the related facts and figures?

The Environmental Protection Director declines to discuss a matter of considerable public importance with the legitimate media. Why? It is mind boggling that this is going ahead without the public (who are after all paying for this) being able to understand the business rationale. Why is this facility, that will exploit our resources, being pushed forward while its sponsors are unwilling to share the financial and business case analysis with us? They may well have a reasonable case to make but it cannot be made silently.

Silence only leads to suspicion and concern. One cannot help but speculate that the financial and business case analysis has not actually been carried out. Did somebody propose what on the surface may sound like a good idea and it got adopted without analysis? Is this being built on the basis of "build it and they will come?"

If so is that an acceptable approach in an economic environment where Government has competing needs for such funding? As taxpayers, we have a right to understand the business case and rationale for the facility. It seems highly likely (whether it is intended to or not) that this facility will encourage long-lining. If so why is Bermuda willing to encourage a fishery that is universally deplored? As previously outlined (see letters to the Editor of February 17) there are significant reasons, supported by substantial scientific weight, why a long line fishing industry should be reconsidered but the public have yet to see any adequate argument to support it.

How will the "take" from this new commercial fishery be monitored? Will it be the quotas already "allotted" to Bermuda? Are those quotas valid? What evidence does the Government have to accept those quotas? How close is the current artisanal fishery to fulfilling those quotas?

Might we not be building a facility that will be redundant if the quota is already close to being fulfilled? Or worse might this plant result in our exceeding the quota? I hope that somebody in Government will be willing to answer the questions posed here and that the Opposition pushes for answers before any public money is spent constructing the plant.

COT IN A SHORT STREET

Southampton

Two gallant gentlemen

April 7, 2009

Dear Sir,

In town yesterday I was attending to a long list of chores. About half way through my list, to my absolute horror, upon opening my car door, a large spider jumped into the interior of my car and proceeded to run underneath my driver's seat. I was paralysed. I stood for minutes wondering how to coax out the monster myself but the task seemed too great. Driving the car was out of the question.

I hate to admit in public the true extent of my arachnophobia, but at that moment I realised asking for help was my only option! I was fortunate indeed, two gentlemen came to my rescue and treated me with gentleness and respect – treatment not reserved for the spider once they found it, thank goodness. I would like to say a public thank you to the two true gentlemen for rescuing me yesterday.

SPIDER WOMAN!

Smith's

Jeffersonian warning

April 3, 2009

Dear Sir,

A reminder:

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." – Thomas Jefferson

STUDENT OF HISTORY

Warwick

The moral of the story

March 26, 2009

Dear Sir,

What else can go wrong with tourism? Better yet, will "they" ever get it right? This morning for example, the Director of Tourism, William Griffith revealed in an article in The Royal Gazette, for several months the Department's website has been out of date and now "$2.5 million is earmarked as Tourism website gets repaired and a major makeover". Mr. Griffith sold the Harmony Hotel to the Bermuda Government about a year ago and moved to the top position in Tourism. Guess what? His old hotel is still on several websites as an inexpensive place to stay. In reality it is now the home for those that protect and serve us – the Bermuda Police Service.

We agree, surfing the net for a place to stay at destinations around the world, is the first step in planning a vacation/business trip. However, the old thrust of calling on agents, and promotions in major cities to let major travel suppliers know Bermuda representatives are in town, without a doubt, paid off. Today it is "Take me to the ball game to the tune of $650,000". I know it is wrong to marginalise people but we wonder how many who paint their faces to show team support at these games can afford to come to Bermuda?

Former Minister of Tourism, C. V. (Jim) Woolridge never minced his words in saying Bermuda could not survive on the hot dog or hamburger crowd. Indeed the numbers and the more sophisticated traveller came to our shores. So why aren't we directing our advertising efforts to those that can afford our prices? And now we are in serious trouble and this commenced well before the world financial crisis. Would you believe ten years of promises to put heads in beds on our island has never materialised, and the yellow brick road to recovery has turned into a road to nowhere. All of this reminds me of the story of Howard Johnson. It is a story of failure similar to Bermuda.

Howard D. Johnson, with only an eighth-grade education, began his business in 1925. He bought a news stand and a medicine store next to a train station in Quincy, Massachusetts, and added a soda fountain.

He took one of his mother's recipes and made different kinds of ice cream that were rich in butterfat. People loved all "28 Flavours". Using ice cream as a springboard, he opened more roadside restaurants. The father was a visionary entrepreneur who capitalised on the interstate highways built by the Eisenhower administration after the Second World War. Soon, hundreds of restaurants blossomed along toll roads, turnpikes and highways in the eastern United States. He also established motor lodges adjoining the restaurants to further capitalise on America's love affair with the automobile. The synergy was stunning and fuelled tremendous growth.

But as the company was hitting its stride and expanding quickly, the father – suddenly and inexplicably – resigned and put his son in charge. When he left in 1960, Howard Johnson delegated to his son, Howard B. Johnson, an American business icon with more than seven hundred easily-recognisable restaurants with their bright orange roofs and cupolas capped by Simple Simon and the Pie Man weather vanes.

The sheer momentum created by the father's vision kept the company growing for several years after his departure. In fact, in 1965, Ho Jo's sales were greater than those of Burger King, MacDonald's, and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined. But his son was not up to the task of sustaining such a large company over the long haul, particularly when consumer trends were changing so rapidly in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The company did little marketing, pinched pennies on menus and staffing, and failed to upgrade its buildings. Because he was in over his head, the son couldn't see the enormous opportunities at his feet if he changed the company's business plan. Ho Jo's could have concentrated on being a coffee shop, but Denny's woke up to the opportunity first. The company could have concentrated on ice cream, but Baskin-Robbins and Haagen-Daz took it head-on and licked it. Howard Johnson's could have concentrated on fast food, but McDonald's, Burger King and KFC ate its lunch principally because the relative newcomers specialised in one type of menu and located restaurants in towns off exit ramps instead of on the highway.

The company could have focused on motels, but Holiday Inn and Marriott left it no room to grow profitably. Stuck in a land of missed opportunities and rising prices, Ho Jo's was forced to start closing restaurants and motels during the 1970s. A British conglomerate, the Imperial Group, bought Ho Jo's for $630 million in December 1979 in a well-intentioned attempt to turn it around.

But the sad reality was the Ho Jo's time had come and gone. The company was sold six years later for $300 million – less than half the original purchase price. The message here: Don't put people in charge when they show they do not know what they are doing. And now, we all know the rest of the story! Surely Bermuda can begin with an inspired business plan?

TOPPY AND SAUNDRA COWEN

Southampton