8C
BUSINESS^e Cl^aTlotte
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Cooking for scholarship
Continued from page7C
Phillips has managed to introduce students
to is peanut punch, which is made fix)m
peanuts and milk Phillips also prepares
snacks such as red plumbs and red mangoes.
Phillips who says she is goir^ to start prepar
ing breakfast meals soon, charges $7 for box
limches, $1 for appetizers, and $3.50 for
drinks.
“A lot of American students were reluctant
to try (peanut pmch), but once I gave them
samples they hked it,” Phillips said. “The
most popular dish is the curry chicken.
because they are familiar with that and they
stick to what they know.”
Candace Bucchan, a close friend of
Phillips’, said she’s often asked what dishes
ai'e best.
‘Tve heard a lot of the faculty say they real
ly enjoy it,” said Bucchan, who is also a
native of 'Irinidad. “Sometimes they ask my
recommendations of what food they should
try but it depends on the individual. Some
people don’t like things that are too spicy or
something with seafood in it, and Goldie tries
to make it according to their taste.”
Fast-food ads on urban programs
Continued from page7C
for example, it has embraced organic products
from baby clothes to fish caught in ecologically
fidendly ways.
And the company which has long been
shrouded in secrecy is tryir^ to appear more
transparent. Late last year, it sponsored a
debate among a group of economists about
whether Wal-Mart is good or bad for the econ
omy And it’s holding its second annual media
conference starting Tuesday near its
BentonvUle, Ark., headquarters, to share infor
mation about the company fix)m its plans to
improve its stores to updates on its employee
health care proposals.
The changes are Wal-Mart’s response to crit
ics, particularly union-backed groups, who
have long argued that the company has
exploited the business model of folksy founder
Sam Walton, putting profits before its own
employees and towns and cities where it does
business.
“The notion that Sam Walton cared about its
workers, and the community, tiiose positive
aspects have gone,” said Chris Kofinis,
spokesman for WakeUpWalMart.com, a cam
paign group funded by the United Food and
Commercial Workers. He described the recent
ly announced moves as a series of public rela
tions stunts.'
Analysts say that althou^ Wal-Mart is ixsed
to succeeding, it has no guarantees in this
endeavor, especially since its core business
model - built arovmd offeiing ina*edibly low
prices - won’t change.. ^
“The culture remains fiugal and very focused
on costs and price ...It is going to be very hard
to change the culture of tiie company” said
Charles Fishman, author of “The Wal-Mart
Effect,” a book on the company’s impact on the
national economy “Their image of thanselves
is powerfully fixed, and our image as shoppers
is very powerfully fixed.”
In fact, as part of its ongoing cost-cutting
campaign, Wal-Mart plans to become more
rekant on part-time workers, which currently
acOuUiit for about 20 percent of its work force.
Some analysts say Wal-Mart actually wont
be fixated in the future on offering the cheap
est prices, but wOl try instead to offer the best
value in different merchandise categories. A
few years ago, customers would not have imag
ined Wal-Mart selling $5,000 diamond rings or
$2,000 plasma TVs, but the retailer is now
offering attractive deals in more upscale prod
ucts.
“I think that Wal-Mart has come to the real
ization that it cannot be fociised on low-prices
alone,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of
America’s Research Group. “They need a
broader offering.”
Wal-Mart, whose officials declined to be
interviewed, has a lot at stake. Its stock has
fallen 20 percent over the past two years, and
is now trading at about $45. And the company
is finding it harder to sustain profit growth in
the high teens as in previous years as it strt^-
^es with higher expenses. For the year ended
Jan. 31, Wal-Mart said net sales were up 9.5
percent to $312.4 billion and net income rose
9.4 percent to $11.2 billion, or $2.68 per share.
Wal-Mart has also had very pubhc legal prob
lems, fi-om child labor law violations to charges
of gender discrimination. It’s also fighting leg
islation aimed at making the company more
generous with its health care benefits; the leg
islation was in response to chaiges that many
Wal-Mart employees have had to turn to state
Medicaid programs for health care.
Meanwhile, the discoimter also faces very
vocal opposition to some of its store openings
and suffered embarreissing revelations that
former top executive Tbm Coughlin stole
money fiom the company
That’s why some critics look at some of Wal-
Mart’s recent generous overtures with skepti
cism. Kofinis questioned Wal-Mart’s expansion
plans for the inner dty He wondered about
Wal-Mart’s real intent behind its proposals for
local businesses and store ejqiansion in urban
markets.
Opponents have also questioned the compa
ny’s recently announced improvement of
health care benefits for part-time workers,
which includes shortening the waiting time to
be on the company’s health plan. Opponents
say that move is undermined by Wal-Mart’s
much less publicized plan to rely on more part-
time workers, who are less expensive than full
time workers to keep as they don’t enjoy the
same level of benefits.
Kofinis believes a larger percentage of part-
time workers - JPMorgan’s Charles Grom esti
mates it could be up to 40 percent over the next
12 to 18 months _ will lead to an unhealthy
environment at Wal-Mart.
‘You are basically creating a turnstile envi
ronment, that is based on exploitation and one
that minimizes building positive relationships
with the company,” Kofinis said.
On the Net:
wvw.wakeupwaltmrt.com
www.wabmrt.cotn
Black-owned businesses boom
Continued from page7C
cantly educated people,”
Alford said. “There’s a black
middle class like never
before.”
Black-owned businesses
are not concentrated in any
sector. The largest sector
was health care and social
assistance, vrith 246,000
back-owned firms. The sec
ond laigest was other ser
vices, such as personal ser
vices, repair and mainte
nance, vrith 210,000 firms.
...New York state had the
most black-owned firms,
with 129,324. It was fol
lowed by California, Florida,
(Georgia and Tbxas.
BiDil breaking new ground
Continued from page 7C
ular genes and proteins,” said
Dr. Flora Sam, 'a Boston
Medical Center cardiologist
who has prescribed BiDil.
That could have big impli
cations for dn;^ marketing in
an era of personalized medi
cine.
“The more specialized the
medicine gets, the smaller
and smaller the tai^et audi
ence for a drus' sets.” said
Nancy Barlow, president of
Xchange, a film specializing
in highly targeted drug mar
keting.
While mass media cam
paigns aren’t likely to disap- nies.
pear, industry experts say so-
called “opt-in” marketing - in
which patients respond to
more-direct pitches via e-mail
or at seminars — could
become more common with
personalized medidne, along
with community events like
those promoting BiDil.
“It’s going to require a dif
ferent approach - more tech
nology-based, one-to-one
marketing, where you really
do get to speak to individuals
one-on-one,” said Sheri
Rosenblatt of ad agency FCB
Healthcare, whose chents
include large drug compa-
The Rev. Ceceha
GreeneBarr dishkes mass-
media drug ads, so when an
acquaintance who is also a
BiDil sales representative
asked her about hosting a
session at her church, Trinity
Afiican Methodist Episcopal
Church in Detroit, she signed
up.
A NitroMed medical liaison
discussed heart health and
BiDil wifh two-dozen parish
ioners at what was billed as
"Dinner with the Doctor,”
also featuring a low-fat meal.
“It was not a hard-core
pitch at all,” said GreeneBarr.
Energy behind utility’s business
Continued from page7C
anything to me. In fact, sometimes I think
they just weigh you down. You should use your
gifts, talents and your treasure to make other
people’s lives better. When people cross yoiur
path leave a positive impression.
EB: Yom' position puts a lot of demands upon
your time. Describe something you do just for
you.
LB: The networking I do with other women
I do because I want to do it. It enriches and ful
fills me. I have a circle of fiiends, and it is a
very small drcle of fiiends, that I call on when
I need advice, and when I need hfting up. I
think it’s important for women to support and
encourage and uplift each other because we are
all struggling with some of the same issues and
balancir^ the demands of life. It’s wonderful to
have other women who you can go to and be
yourself You can peel away all of the layers
and you can just be. You can share your vul
nerabilities with them and not be afi’aid of how
the information is going to be used. You know
they are going to take that information and be
honest with you and share their advice with
you and hold it in confidence. It’s important
that you can find women you can confide in
and be your true self in the midst of
This conversation will continue with Barber
and our other honorees on the evening of May
4. Among other things, find out why Barber
took a year off at the height of her career jour
ney
■Say Yes To Success!
“Dr. Arrington teaches you bow to lead a healthy,
balanced and successju! life
Dr. Carl Amn^tonj Director of Market Expansion
As Long As You Don’t Give Up!
Along the journey to success, we can
be sure that at some point we will face
disappointment. It is a natural part of
living. No matter the area of life, some
times we will be disappointed with our
results.
When it comes to pursuing our
dreams, we should be prepared for not
always achieving out goals. We set
goals, not because we know we will
always teach them, but to give us
something to work towards. At least if
we set our aims high, it is more likely
that we will at least get part way to
where we want to go.
But meeting discouragement along
the road to success, is one of the most
difficult things that we can encounter.
When we are faced with
disappointment, our first reaction may
be to give up on our dream. We may
feel that it is too difficult to achieve
what we want from life. It may seem
that no matter what we may try, nothing
seems to work. At other times, it may
feel like we have no support from the
very ones that we thought would be
most supportive of our efforts to
achieve what we have always wanted in
life.
However, giving up is actually the
easy way out of any situation. To
resolve that we will keep on until we
find a way to teach our dreams is what
really takes courage. The greatest test of
our courage is to face defeat without
giving up on our dreams.
When you encounter disappointment
on your way to success, decide within
your heart that you will keep striving to
find some way to make your dreams
come true. Just don’t give up!
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