Letters

Readers react to articles from the September 1998 issue of Inc., including Donna Fenn's "Built for Speed" and Edward O. Welles' "Ben's Big Flop."

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We received a Christmas stocking's worth of responses to our September issue. The subjects that provoked readers include a CEO hooked on speed (the motion, not the drug) and Ben Cohen's alternate career.

Fast Company

For her article " Built for Speed," contributing editor Donna Fenn spent one breathless day with CEO Roger Abramson. The head of the Atlantic Group, an office-furniture dealer, provided Fenn--and readers--with an adrenaline rush.

I remember once having an acute need for speed. I used to work for a mom-and-pop at which things took so long to get done--if they ever did--that hours turned into days, which turned into months, which turned into years. It was terrible. Roger Abramson's company benefits from his pace, precision, and specificity--all words I could also use to describe Donna Fenn's writing style.

David Stern
Owner
Bookkeeping Plus
Oakland, Calif.

Community Spirit

Edward O. Welles unveiled the strange tale of Ben Cohen's once-heralded business, Community Products Inc. (CPI), in September's cover story. Cohen, the Ben of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, claimed that CPI would turn a profit and help save the Amazon rain forest. It did neither. This reader wanted to know which piece of the equation most injured CPI:

I thoroughly enjoyed your discourse on CPI and on how not to build a "green" company. While the actions of the company directors (specifically, Ben Cohen) speak for themselves, I would have liked to hear more about what CPI could have done to reverse its downfall. Do you think it was solely a matter of a few stubborn leaders who refused to budge on the initial premise of the company's founding? Or was CPI doomed from the start because the costs of capital (in essence, subsidizing Amazon cooperatives) forbade competitiveness?

Chris Gregg
Lieutenant
U.S. Navy
San Diego

Meanwhile, this reader found Welles's article compelling:

As the cliché goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and it is unfortunate that Ben Cohen has allowed others to suffer because of the failure of his "good intentions." Although there is undoubtedly more to Cohen's side of the story than was presented, the article is nevertheless a sad and terrible indictment of Ben Cohen as a hypocrite. Certainly, Cohen can afford to pay off the unsecured creditors before taking his $278,000 of secured debt from the bankrupt estate's assets. In the end, whether he did or didn't do all he could have to help CPI succeed may be fairly argued. But what cannot be debated is that if a man of Cohen's wealth and alleged philosophy allowed small vendors who trusted him to suffer financially, then he should be forever ignored as a man of goodwill.

When it comes down to it, I for one would rather deal with a Bill Gates. Although I have personal negative feelings about his monopolistic behavior, he is at least an unabashed and unapologetic capitalist, instead of an apparent phony like Cohen.

Stephen M. Mindich
Publisher & Chairman
Phoenix Media/Communications Group
Boston

This letter from Dave Alexander, who as the former trade manager of Cultural Survival was one of those left with unpaid bills after CPI's bankruptcy, points out that the company did make some lasting contributions.

While CPI failed because of management issues, there were some bright spots that weren't mentioned in the article. Beginning in late 1994, CPI started using Brazil nuts from two co-ops in Peru and Bolivia, which are now producing some of the finest-quality Brazil nuts available. The coliform issue was resolved in 1995, and since then almost 100% of the Brazil nuts used by CPI for all its products were sourced from those co-ops. Such groups help provide crucial economic and social support to more than 600 people in Amazon communities. Although Ben & Jerry's has dropped Rainforest Crunch ice cream, the Rainforest Co. of St. Louis and other dedicated companies continue to make the product using nuts from those groups. It is ironic that at the end, CPI was finally accomplishing one of its most important goals--sourcing a high volume of nuts from groups in the Amazon. Cause marketing and working with fairly traded ingredients can be successful if there is genuine, deep commitment and perseverance from the top. Sadly, that's what seemed to be missing at CPI.

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