11/5/99 Discovery
Channel's Epicurious Thanksgiving show features Jack and Dot Angley, Mass.
cranberry growers, and Pine Island Bog in N.J., check local air times HERE.
Cape Cod Times covers Makepeace
survey results
11/3/99 Media interest in the future of Ocean
Spray and the cranberry industry continues with the publication of a story by Robin Lord
in the Cape Cod Times (11/2/99) titled "Growers want more data on merger
strategy." Ocean Spray spokesman, Chris Phillips said that the fact that most growers
asked for more information was more important than the 57% who supported a merger. He is
quoted as saying about the survey result: "it was based on limited knowledge."
He called the poll "a partial barometer" of the views of growers and said that
"the final decision has to be made on a full set of facts." Read entire
story HERE.
From the New Bedford Standard Times (11/1/99),
"Pressure on bog owners builds" HERE.
Press release from Ocean Spray on Harvest Photo
contest HERE.
What the experts have to say on
selecting a new CEO
10/30/99 The article, "Changing leaders:
The Board's role in CEO succession," from the Harvard Business Review, and the
expert's answers to the eight questions below, are summarized HERE | Easy to print version.
"Firing the boss"
10/29/99 Why wasn't Ocean Spray CEO Tom Bullock fired
outright? Consider the following quotes from an article in The Economist:
".......sacking the boss ultimately comes down to the judgment of a firms
directors. Yet boards find many excuses for doing nothing........ It would look bad; it
would be hard to find someone better; it would show that the corporate strategy had been
less brilliant than the board had told shareholders......when a chief executive leaves
under a cloud, his career is wrecked and he is unlikely ever again to run a firm of
similar size.... Buying out the boss may be the fastest way to give a company a fresh
start. A fresh start is exactly what many companies need. " Read article from The
Economist HERE.
The Ocean Spray board would be well advised to consider the
following questions as they seek a new CEO:
- What can a company do to ensure a successful succession?
- How should management-development and succession processes be
managed?
- How should the board work with the sitting chief executive
during the process?
- What makes for a strong CEO candidate?
- When should outside candidates be considered?
- How much competition should be encouraged among potential CEO
candidates?
- What role should executive search firms play?
- What role should former CEOs play after they are succeeded?
These questions are discussed by a panel of experts in a
roundtable discussion, "Changing leaders: The Board's role in CEO succession",
published in the May-June, 1999 issue of The Harvard Business Review, The entire article
is available for download for $5.50 HERE. The
article is summarized HERE | Easy to print version.
USDA News
"The farm economy stinks"
10/28/99 According to Secretary Dan Glickman,
answering questions in a news conference yesterday, not only does the farm economy stink,
but "lurching, ad hoc style, from one patchwork emergency bill to the next is not the
most effective way to help farmers.'' AP
story here | Text of remarks here
Snapple features holiday cranberry drink
10/26/99 Snapple has introduced a seasonal
cranberry- raspberry smoothie called the Winter Whipper in its WhipperSnapple(TM)
line. Read press release here.
Media:
Boston Herald - focus on development
10/25/95 The Boston Herald published an article
headlined "Cranberry crisis hits home: Developers' eyes on bogs." Read
article HERE.
Wisconsin's largest paper reports on
cranberry crisis
10/24/99 In an article entitled "Gloom in
the bogs for cranberry growers: crop glut, falling prices, industry turmoil bring pain,
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Tom Daykin writes "The rapid drop in cranberry
prices is the main topic of conversation among the nation's cranberry growers, including
about 240 growers in Wisconsin, the largest cranberry-producing state. Another hot topic
is the fate of Ocean Spray and its chief competitor, Wisconsin Rapids-based Northland
Cranberries Inc." Read the entire article HERE
IF WE SELL WE LOSE CONTROL, RIGHT? WRONG!
by Nabiel Shawa
10/23/99 Perhaps the most frequently asked question amongst
Ocean Spray Grower/Owners after the "Are we going to sell?" question is the
"How are we going to obtain a fair price for our fruit if we do sell?" Some less
than open minded grower/owners, including our gloomy chairman, contend that if we sell we
lose control. Further, many of these same folks claim that the corporate raiders could
then hold us hostage and pay us a pittance for our crops (one could counter that this is
the current situation).
If one sets aside their emotional attachment to our co-op and examines the situation from
a business standpoint the most reasonable conclusion is the exact opposite. The scenario
set forth by the more progressive thinkers within the Ocean Spray family calls for the
sale of the label and related infrastructure while retaining our co-op to handle, store,
and negotiate the sale of our fruit. We would not be negotiating from a position of
weakness. Although our market share of red juice drinks has dropped to the mid-fifty
percent range we still produce and control approximately seventy percent of all cranberry
production. And we thought OPEC had a cartel! CONTINUED | Easy to print
version |
IF WE SELL WE LOSE
CONTROL, RIGHT? WRONG!
11/6/99 Nabiel Shawa began this long running Forum discussion
on Oct 22nd with:
Perhaps the most frequently asked question amongst Ocean
Spray Grower/Owners after the "Are we going to sell?" question is the "How
are we going to obtain a fair price for our fruit if we do sell?" Some less than open
minded grower/owners, including our gloomy chairman, contend that if we sell we lose
control. Further, many of these same folks claim that the corporate raiders could then
hold us hostage and pay us a pittance for our crops (one could counter that this is the
current situation).
John Edwards, Tom Gelsthorpe and others have continued to
debate the pros and cons of selling Ocean Spray in this informative series of postings on
the Forum. You can read them all on one page HERE | Easy to print version.
11/4/99
Update - Cape Cod Journal article "Air Force reviews cranberry study" here
Environment
Study shows Air Force money well spent
on Cape Cod
10/29/99 The Massachusetts Military Reservation
on Cape Cod had, for years, dumped aviation fuel where it eventually contaminated the
ground water. Bogs along the Coonamessett River in Falmouth and the Quashnet River in
Mashpee were found to be contaminated with ethylene dibromide, a probable human
carcinogen. Berries from 87 acres of bogs were unusable, and the Pentagon paid four
growers and two towns almost $3 million to compensate for the crops lost between 1997 and
1999. The Air Force spent $6 million to try to get the bogs back into production. A study
by researchers at Kansas State University show that the the money was well spent,
according to Jeffrey LaFleur, Executive Director of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers'
Association. Read entire story in the Cape Cod Times HERE.
Advertising
Northland poll leads to press
release
11/01/99 Ocean Spray recently issued a press
release about utilizing "precision taste as a weapon".
Northland Cranberries has countered with their own press release following up on a poll
they had conducted by Market Facts in August. The majority of respondents cited taste and
health benefits as the two reasons they drink cranberry juice. Read Northland press
release HERE | Easy
to print version.
51% of stock needed to recall
directors
10/31/99 A simple majority, 51%, of voting
shares is required to remove any or all of the Board of Directors of Ocean Spray. Such a
vote must be held at a special meeting called for such a purpose. In order to call a
special meeting, stockholders owning at least 10% of Capital Stock must so vote. CONTINUED | Easy to print version.
High Tech
"You're nowhere in Vegas without
juice"
10/29/99 Just how does Ocean Spray bottle juice
in the Nevada desert in the heat of summer when outside temperatures are often above
100°? David Bergansky, a control technician at the Ocean Spray Henderson plant, William
Jackson, plant manager, and Universal Dynamics applications engineer Lianne Wong published
an article in the October issue of InTech magazine explaining how. Read
InTech article HERE
New Jersey growers sanguine about crisis
resolution
10/26/99 If the interviews in the Oct. 4, 1999
article from the South Jersey edition of the Philadelphia
Inquirer are any indication, many cranberry growers in New Jersey are optimistic about
the future of Ocean Spray and of the cranberry industry despite these times of a record
crop surplus and economic uncertainty. William S. Haines, Jr. is co-owner of the largest
cranberry company in New Jersey with 1,060 acres of bogs. He is also on the board of Ocean
Spray. According the the Inquirer article, he "insisted Ocean Spray was as robust as
ever."
He is quoted in the article as follows:
Nobody likes to see the prices of their product
drop.
We do this for a profit, or we couldn't do it for very long.
We'll get through this.
That's the nature of farming, it involves a risk.
You never want to loose sight of that.
There are no guarantees.
CONTINUED | Easy to print version
Ocean Spray Acquisition:
Barron's reports Pepsi rumor
Source: Barron's article "Strong Profit
Reports Put Stocks Back on Track" by Andrew Bary *
10/24/99 Barron's reported in their issue dated
10/25/99 that PepsiCo (which rose 2 points last week to 34 1/8th) "is rumored to be
negotiating a potential link with Ocean Spray, the
co-operative that is the largest seller of bottled juice in the country. Pepsi declined to
comment."
* Barron's is published weekly by Dow
Jones which also publishes the Wall Street Journal. The quote about Pepsico and Ocean
Spray is on page MW4 of the Market Week section. It is included in Andrew Bary's weekly
column "Stocks--The Trader." A paid subscription is necessary to view online.
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