Students Eye National
Marketing Championships

RAEL,

GEST
Specially compiled by TheJerusalem Post

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STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER

T

hey've made it through
district and state events,
and now they're in the
nationals.
Matt Droz, Mike Feld, Lydia
Gauzer and Darin Glasser are
among seven students from
North Farmington High School
who will take part in a nation-
al marketing competition April
22-27 at Cobo Center in Detroit.
The seven are members of
DECA, a national nonprofit as-
sociation of marketing students
created to promote leadership
development and marketing
skills.
North Farmington market-
ing instructor Cathy Cunning-
ham says this is the largest
group from North Farmington
that has qualified for the na-
tionals in her eight years as the

school's chapter adviser. The
previous high was four in 1987.
Mr. Droz will compete in the
hospitality and tourism area.
Mr. Feld and Mr. Glasser are
in chapter public relations, and

Of 300
possible points,
he compiled 239
and won the
championship.

Ms. Gauzer is in specialty store
retailing. Students compete by
writing papers or through test-
ing and spontaneous role plays.
In the state competition held

The Israel Consumer Price In-
dex rose 0.6 percent in Febru-
ary as climbing housing, food
and health prices were par-
tially offset by the falling cost
of clothhig and footwear.
In the unlikely event that
prices continue to rise at the
pace of the preceding two
months, annual, inflation will
reach 7.8 percent.
conomistsevetted a
housing
*ten in-
* *,; y**
as •0
.1
PY

March 11-13 at the Hyatt Re-
gency in Dearborn, Mr. Droz
posted the top score in both role
plays in his 17-student section.
Of 300 possible points, which
included a written portion, he
compiled 239 and won the sec-
tion championship.
"Matt has a lot of common
sense and he can think well on
his feet," Ms. Cunningham said
about the junior who is taking
part in the DECA competition
for the first time.
Some 49 North Farmington
DECA students were state fi-
nalists, another chapter record.
The previous best was 28 last
year. The list of state finalists
included Marla Bean, Jon Fru-
min, Benji Kaplan, Lee Lazar,
Michael Redisch, Jill Singer
and Jeff Weberinan. 0

and Forecasting. He noted
that the rise was 1.6 percent
above the dollar.
What surprised economists
was that the drop occurred be-
fore the stock market began
its nosedive late last month.
INifi.„ Katz said a drop in hous-
' p'idesti expected to follow
fallAig stock prices as a result
of thii public's shrinking as-
sets.
The recent closure of the
territories, though, may neu-
tralize the stock market's im-
pact on housing prices by
cutting down on the supply of
available housing.

from 1.91bil-

According to season
figures, the trade defici t
g 17 percent in the last
jitnt.hs to $6.9 billion in
aluilitit terms, compared to
$5.9 billion in the preceding
six months.
Exports remained static in
the past six months, while im-
ports -- excluding diamonds
jumped at an annual rate
of 12.4 percent.

Photo by RNS/Reuter

otiations Back On Track

With a Pilot Pen In hand, Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signs the document which recognizes the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The Write Stuff

rnment is talking again of keeping their
economies open and of estab-
lishing a customs union.
The sides have agreed to
impose the same Value Added
Tax (VAT) on imports. Tariffs
on essential goods with high
duties will be reduced, while
duties; uipment neces-
sary or\d e velopment will be
' 4,af,t(ita from Arab
free if

Pilot Pen chief proud to be 'part' of historic signing.

ALLISON KAPLAN SOMMER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

R

onald Shaw, head of the
Pilot Pen Corporation of
America, sprang into ac-
tion last September
when he saw Israel Prime Min-
ister Yitzhak Rabin holding one
of his company's pens in front
of still and TV cameras.
Mr. Rabin used a simple blue
Pilot PRECISE pen to sign the
document which officially rec-
ognized the Palestine Libera-
tion Organization.
Within weeks, advertise-
ments were running in the U.S.
print media featuring pictures
of the signing ceremony (with a
close-up of the pen) and a cap-
tion reading: "There's a line be-

tween war and peace. This one
was written with a Pilot Pen."
Seizing such opportunities
comes naturally to Mr. Shaw,
the company's president and
chief executive officer, who has
never underestimated the im-
portance of good publicity.
Though he has climbed to the
top of the heap in sales and
marketing, Mr. Shaw's first ca-
reer was in show business, and
he freely admits that the per-
former's instinct has never got-
ten out of his blood.
He puts on a good show as he
proudly conducts a tour of the
$8 million company headquar-
ters in Trumbull, Conn., where

the U.S. subsidiary of the
Tokyo-based company operates.
In addition to the offices,
there is a huge manufacturing
floor where Pilot pens import-
ed from Japan are packaged
and sold, and additional pens
are manufactured.
Mr. Shaw can claim credit for
lifting sales of Pilot pens from
$1 million in 1974, when he
joined the company, to today's
sales of $96 million. He has
shared in the company's suc-
cess, since he owns 3.3 percent
of it.
In recognition of his huge
contribution to the company's
WRITE STUFF page 50

Exports, which have fiieled
economic growth in Israel the
past two years, are expected
to take offin the coming years
as Western markets recover
and exporters expand their
foothold in recently opened
Asian markets, Treasury Eco-
nomic Adviser Tzipi Gal Yam
said.
Mr. Gal-Yam also expects
the government's policy of
opening the local market to
imports from countries which
do not have trade agreements
with Israel to moderate infla-
tion and contribute to the pri-
vate sector's profitability.
Mr. Gal-Yam notes that al-
though world trade grew at a

moderate Pace of 4.5 Percent
in 1992 and 3 percent last
year, Israel exports, excluding
diamonds, jumped 14.5 per-
cent last year after increasing
10 percent the previous year
By contrast, Israel imports
grew a more moderate 8 per
cent last year
Imports have expanded

substantially in the past few
years due to the rapid expan-
sion of the economy, Mr. Gal-
Yam said. The major source of
imports is still Western Eu-
rope and the U.S.
Israel exports to the U.S.
grew 12 percent last year, con-
tributing 23 percent to the to-
tal rise in exports.

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