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 firm’s 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:

1. What can a company do to ensure a successful succession?
2. How should management-development and succession processes be managed?
3. How should the board work with the sitting chief executive during the process?
4. What makes for a strong CEO candidate?
5. When should outside candidates be considered?
6. How much competition should be encouraged among potential CEO candidates?
7. What role should executive search firms play?
8. 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.