Word: thomson
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...Need Ponderation." Organized in 1893 to handle the installation of electric trolley cars in Le Havre, Thomson-Houston soon became primarily a holding company with a small staff quartered on Paris' Boulevard Haussmann. In 1952 its directors, looking ahead, decided that the future belonged to producing companies...
...sell to industry, the government, and to the French consumer - who is fondly referred to as "Monsieur Tout-le-monde" (Mr. Average Man). But its forced growth came close to being fatal. When the French government suddenly cut back military orders as a deflationary move, Thomson found itself overexpanded. Control of the new acquisitions was so loose that the result, recalls one Thomson executive, was "anarchy...
...Into Thomson-Houston inner offices to rout out anarchy came new managers. Among them was Jacques Dontot, 46. a flexible but outspoken engineering graduate of France's prestigious Ecole Polytechnique, who had risen to technical director of the nationalized Saar coal mines, but was casting around for "a different working silhouette." Dontot, who became managing director of Thomson in 1960 after only four years with the company, is described by his colleagues as a "managerial genius." His rebuttal: "You don't need genius in top management. You need ponderation. You need to accept good news and bad with...
Down to a Fig Leaf. Along with ponderation. Dontot has imbued Thomson-Houston with a dedication to long-range economic planning. Though French house wives have as yet shown scant enthusiasm for automatic washing machines, Dontot is convinced that they will come around in time, has doggedly plastered France with posters of a little man loading a Thomson-Houston washer with such enthusiasm that his sole remaining clothing consists of a straw hat and a fig leaf. Such investments in the future have paid off handsomely for Thomson-Houston. Currently, the company is swamped with or ders for short-wave...
Along with selling short waves to Africans. Thomson is reaching into other world markets, last year exported 10% of its sales, mostly to Common Market nations. Nonetheless, Thomson, faced with heavy competition, is openly uneasy over the speed with which Common Market customs duties and quotas are being lowered. "We agree with the goals," says one executive, "but not with the timetable...