Moore

It is an interesting phenomenon in the world of finance that a minority shareholder in a publicly held company can mount enough bluster to engineer a takeover. Then, in the name of shareholder equity, the raider will slash jobs, sell assets and gut pension funds so that the stock price rises. Then, sated with profits from stock options, salary and bonus, the raider melts away with a new pool of capital, ready for the next venture. This is the ultimate in capitalism. An entrepreneur, greedy for the growth, takes a company public. Growth ensues, but bureaucracy piles up until mismanagement sets in. Reorganizations follow as

How marketing with manufacturers can strengthen the sale. It might be sufficient to conduct thorough research, produce detailed proposals and drop off a few catalogs when selling solutions to clients. But if the expertise of manufacturers is not added into the mix, it may not be enough. When offering a complete solution sell these days, it is the teamwork between the distributor and manufacturer that can provide the extra power needed to win over large re-gional and national accounts—even ones that might have utilized directs in the past. This was just the case for Jim Constantin, product manager for Source4, Roanoke, Va., who competed

Moore is slashing personnel. Standard Register is downsizing. Precept is breaking up. Transkrit is gone. These changes may prove significant to the rest of the industry, but the news is not necessarily bad. Moore's almost indiscriminate layoffs are an attempt to get its personnel numbers in line with its earnings. However, some of its volume will become available to the distributor market because of regional business needs and be-cause many of Moore's salespeople will become distributors and bring their clients along with them. The layoffs by both Moore and Standard Register may bolster the number of experienced press operators and prepress professionals, as well

The once undisputed king of the forms industry has fallen upon hard times. Plagued by unchecked costs and flagging U.S. sales, Moore Corporation has suffered a series of quarterly losses, causing its board of directors to take serious action. Following its third quarter $7.9 million loss, the company accepted $70.5 million of subordinated convertible debentures from an investment group led by Theodore Ammon. Some of the strings attached to the investment were the addition of four new seats to the board of directors from Ammon's group, including Robert Burton, who has been named president and CEO of Moore. Judging from the postings on Yahoo's

ProForma Adds 500th Distributor — The Cleveland-based ProForma distributor network has added its 500th franchise. ProForma One Stop Marketing, Memphis, Tenn., has been opened by Kurt Wulff, a former sales representative for Moore. Wulff said that the decision to establish the distributorship was based on quality-of-life issues. Wulff chose ProForma because, "It will allow me to have more free time and minimize financial risk." ProForma was third among the Top 100 Distributors with sales of $175 million. The company expects to top $200 million in total sales for the 2000 calendar year. Precept CEO Deason Resigns Doug

ISO 9000 is rapidly becoming an industry standard but is it for you? By Demian Faunt Brand X Labeling company recently received a phone call from a distributor threatening that ei-ther Brand X become ISO 9000 compliant or the distributor will take its business elsewhere. This scenario is becoming increasingly familiar as more and more companies are adopting what has become the benchmark in quality systems, the ISO 9000 quality management system. Many companies become ISO certified to control the quality of products and services. Some need ISO 9000 compliance to become more competitive. Some companies have to obey a regulatory body that requires certification and