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Almanac
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Business New Haven
2/22/1999
By: BNH
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High-Tech Road Map
The Connecticut Technology Council (CTC) wants technology companies to know that Connecticut is a good state in which to do business. How is it spreading the word? The CTC has announced its 1999 Public Policy Agenda, which highlights three areas: image, tax incentives and workforce development. The Hartford-based organization expects the state to support its campaigns for highlighting the state's technology strengths, provide tax incentives in the form of tax and R&D credits, and alleviate the workforce shortage through such initiatives as tuition freezes at public institutions and funding of custom workforce development training.
Sweet Spot
Which Connecticut industry encourages visitors to come and watch its manufacturing process? The answer is a sweet but relatively little-known seasonal industry. Through late March, maple-syrup producers collect and boil down the sap running from the state's sugar maple trees and turn it into maple syrup. Warm, sunny days and below-freezing nights are the ideal conditions for a long season, according to the state's Department of Agriculture. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, and in 1998, more than 100 sugar houses took part in a business which produced $387,000 worth of maple syrup (a three-percent increase over 1997). Most sugar houses invite visitors (to watch and/or to buy) and for a list of them - including some in New Haven County - call 860-713-2503 for more information.
If You Have to Be Sick, You Might as Well be Comfortable
Griffin Hospital's entrepreneurial spirit got it featured in the February 1999 issue of Inc. magazine for its consumer-driven approach to serving its customers (formerly known as “patients”). The Derby hospital has used the award-winning Planetree philosophy - a patient-centered care model which asks customers what they want and then gives it to them - since 1987 when it opened a new childbirth center. In 1994, Griffin opened the first patient-care building in the country, it says, designed and constructed based on a consumer-driven model. And in 1998, Griffin acquired the San Francisco-based Planetree organization itself. Says Griffin Vice President Bill Powanda: “We are proud that a national publication with Inc.'s reputation has recognized Griffin's innovative, industry-leading approach and its success in reinventing how hospitals deliver care to patients. Griffin's facility and care model have differentiated it in the Connecticut marketplace and in the hospital industry in response to the emerging wave of health-care consumerism.” Some Planetree-inspired perks include visits from pets, double beds and helpful parking-lot attendants. Griffin reports patient satisfaction at 97 percent last year, compared to an industry average of 85 percent.
Y2K Means No Lights Out for UI Customers
The United Illuminating Co. announced that it is more than halfway to being Year 2000-compliant and boasting that, “For us, 'lights out' is not an option.” Frank Marini, UI's information resources director, maintains that UI expects to meets its second-quarter deadline to fix Y2K-related processes. The company has been following a three-step process for identifying all computerized functions, determining which are Y2K-sensitive, and then testing, replacing or retiring those systems. By the end of 1998, UI had spent about $2.2 million on the plan.
Is There Anybody He Won't Sue (Oops, Maybe We'd Better Just Shut Up)?
State Attorney Richard Blumenthal apparently has bigger fish to fry. On February 4 he announced a lawsuit against Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous pitchman Robin Leach of New Canaan and two travel companies and their owners, alleging they had misled consumers into believing they had won or were entitled to a “dream” vacation. Connecticut joins six other states in alleging that the parties employed Leach's celebrity endorsement to convince consumers they had won a Florida vacation or Bahamas cruise. According to Blumenthal, consumers soon found they had won only a chance to pay up to $1,000 for a seven-day Florida stay and a bonus Bahamas cruise which in fact was a one-day ferry ride and bingo game. “These promises of champagne wishes and caviar dreams became nightmares for consumers, who were taken on a ride by Robin Leach and company,” said the AG. We wish we could write like he talks.
SOM Goes for the Gold
The Yale University School of Management (SOM) will dip into its endowment to finance a ten-year, $100 million plan to propel the graduate school to national prominence. SOM will soon draw substantial sums from its Founder's Fund to finance an expansion and to help pay for the school's new International Center for Finance, reports the Yale Daily News. SOM plans to use the funds to create 12 new tenured and junior faculty positions, the first step toward its goal of increasing its faculty by 60 percent. Yale intends for the self-supporting school to restore the endowment funds through aggressive fundraising both now and in the future, when SOM grads presumably will have become wealthy alumni. SOM Dean Jeffrey E. Garten has said his goal is for the school to achieve international prominence in three areas: finance, accounting and business strategy.
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