Costa Rican Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Costa Rican Economy - Essay Example (Culture in Costa Rica 2002) Recently, Costa Rica has been trying to shift its economic trend, and adopting a more global approach. Plans are to turn Costa Rica, from a coffee exporter, to a silicon based company. Skilled labor, new opportunities, global participation is the new goal, as it is with most developing countries. (Costa Rica Businesses 2008) A small scale chain of grocery stores in a developing country can go both ways when it comes to 'making it'. If we talk about the current world events, then there are many going on right now. With the phenomenon of global inflation taking over the planet, businesses, both small and large scale, are feeling the thump. A global issue that engulfs us all, are the prices of fossil fuels, namely; oil. As oil prices sky rocket above, everyone is feeling the shock. Major steps are being taken such as the development of alternative fuels, international talks, visits and conferences. This is an issue that affects the global economy. A grocery store chain in Costa Rica wo uld be no exception. It is simple economics that, the inflation caused by the rise in oil prices, would result in higher prices of goods and products all across the globe. Products will be more costly to produce and thus, will be exported at a higher price. The local Costa Rican grocery store will have inflated prices as well, of both, local and imported products. As prices of products increase, their demand goes down. Extreme conditions could result in recession or worse. Local producers would find it costly to produce with input costs going high because of the oil prices, and thus, a decrease in production could result in loss of jobs and a lower standard of living. This situation can be seen in many regions around the world including many third world countries. Obama vs. Clinton Another major global event is the U.S presidential elections. The ongoing rivalry between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is heating up day by day. (Troy 2007) The United States being a neighboring country and a trade partner can have a significant role in the Costa Rican economy. A change in government often results in a change in trade policies and international relations. New government expenditure would result in creation of employment in the country. This would open up newer opportunities to earn and contribute to a raise in the GDP. Demand for local and imported goods would increase and people would be willing to buy more. If situation in the U.S improves further and employment over there increases, such activity can bring about a rise in the demand for Costa Rican imports. As a result, employment is created in Costa Rica, with production increasing and firms hiring more skilled and unskilled labor, resulting in a higher aggregate income level. This would stimulate demand for products locally and people would have a higher level of disposable income. In this way, the chain of grocery stores could experience higher levels of business and revenues. War and Unrest Another major issue is the ongoing unrest in the Middle East. Though the whole scenario may seem geographically far away but the world is a global village now. War and unrest in the Middle East is causing countries around the world to experience threats to national security, strained international relations and so forth. (Yahoo News 2008) With many countries, including the United States,

Sparco Paints Essay Example for Free

Sparco Paints Essay Sika Paint Industries (Pvt) Limited is the manufacturer of the leading brand â€Å"SPARCO† commonly known by its trademark SPARCO Paints in the domestic and the international market. Sika has steadily and progressively marched into newer heights of popularity and accomplishments in the past more than two decades of its inspection. The company was founded by Malik Muhammad Javaid Iqbal in 1988 as a sole proprietorship concern led its fast growth with dynamism to make it a private limited company in 2004. Ever since, the world of possibilities has never stopped coming around for the company. Dynamic Success From a small business to a dynamic enterprise, Sika Paint Industries has consistently set foot through major cornerstones of its industry, gaining numerous milestones and nationwide recognition to its credit. The company has met the growing demand of its huge industry through steady development of its product range resulting in not only a major market share but a larger base of loyal customers having good standing with them. Over the years, the quality of its brand Sparco Paints has remained unscathed and caters to both the local and international export market. Our Reasons of Growth Amongst its many success factors, the deployment of technology, innovation and robust marketing and branding activities have led to the rapid growth of Sparco Paints. The company concentrates primarily on decorative, industrial, auto, wood finishes and road marking paints for which the company owns the state-of-the-art manufacturing establishment equipped with latest machinery and laboratory facilities. Center of Effective Research The company actively engages up-to-date research to boost the economic value of its paints and strives to improve its product quality with each passing day. The extensive research for innovative product knowledge and methods to engineer the product quality constantly invigorates its existence. The company has engaged in constant researching for best practices for the product development and hence successful in completely retaining its valued customers. Having received the ISO 9001:2008 quality control standard certification for its unmatched quality, the company implements its intricate quality assurance policies at all manufacturing stages including the procurement of raw material, its handling, work in progress, packing, finishing and the timely delivery of end products to the customer. The company firmly believes on providing the paint products of premium quality with intense technical support and color advisory services. The company promises to provide excellent service and achieve its objectives through experienced and well trained professionals of the industry and competitive pricing.

Strengths One of the Largest Players in Hypermarket Retail Industry

Strengths One of the Largest Players in Hypermarket Retail Industry According to some estimates which published in The Star Online (2010), Tesco enjoys a 30% market share of the Malaysian hypermarket industry by sales, followed by Giant (24%) and Jusco (22%). Giant grew substantially in markets mainly through the continued expansion of its hypermarket branches around Malaysia. As stated in Giants Official website (www.giant.com.my.), Giant was awarded the Top Retailer in Malaysia and Best of the Best in Asia Pacific Retailers Award for 2 consecutive years in 2007 and 2008. Giant has built a very strong retail brand, with a reputation of good value for consumers money and convenience because of a wide range of different products and services in one store. Diagram X: Market share of hypermarkets in Malaysia Sources from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/3/business/6973298sec=business Low Price Leader Pricing a product or service properly can mean the difference between success and failure for a company especially in these challenging economic times.  In Malaysia, Giant is synonymous with its powerful slogan which says Everyday Low Prices, Big Variety and Great Value. There is no doubt that the slogan successfully publicizes the companys mission to the public where it offers a wide variety of products at the lowest possible price (Giant, 2010). The price comparison between Giant and its competitors is frequently advertised in the newspaper for public references (refer Appendix X). It is clear that products that sold in Giant are cheaper compared to other stores. This has also resulted that Giant is still the low price leader in Malaysia. High Brand Value of House Brand Products Bernard Chia, Merchandise Director for Fresh Grocery at Giant Hypermarket Singapore, says: Consumers have started to be more receptive of house brands as retailers are continuously educating them on the good quality and lower prices of their house brands. Consumers are seeing greater value in house brands. And with the economic downturn, many are turning to house brands for instant savings. (Source: Nicole Liang, 2009, from Food Export International) Fulfilling customer needs and wants to gain customers satisfaction are vital to companys existence. Giant has been offering its house brand range since the beginning when its first store opened in June 2000 (Nicole Liang, 2009). The Giant brand comes with unique yellow and green packaging that is instantly recognizable and differentiates with other brands. Every product is backed by a quality guarantee and is always priced competitively in the category (Giant, 2010). Examples: The Giant brand products packaging Sources from http://www.giant.com.my/ourbrand/brand/2 With the intention of keeping its high brand value in the market, Giant goes as far as to introduce the Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back scheme, to further emphasize its safe food quality (Nicole Liang, 2009). Customers are welcome to return and get a refund for the purchased products if they have found any Giant brand product not up to their expectations. Great nationwide growth Giant always understands the market taste and responsive to customer needs where having over 85 branches spread throughout all the states in Malaysia. Additionally, most of the branches are strategically and conveniently located in residential areas, regardless of new or old areas. Through its nationwide expansion, Giant managed to capture more market share compared to its competitor like Jusco which mostly focus on suburban residential areas and tapping the middle to high income group consumers (Jusco, 2009, pg15). Picture X: Giant Stores Location Sources from http://www.giant.com.my/location The Star Online, 2010, Sale of Carrefour may interest Competition Commission, Retrieved 15 September 2010, from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/3/business/6973298sec=business Nicole Liang, 2009, Supermarket chains: House brands are here to stay, Retrieved 15 September 2010, from http://www.foodexportonline.com/html/oct09/privatelabels_supermarket-chains.html Jusco, 2009, pg15, Annual Report, Retrieved 15 September 2010, from http://www.jusco.com.my/juscohome/html/aeon_v2/oa/bursa/AEON_AnnualReport2009.pdf?PHPSESSID=l24l6cspr34mn9j0003bggme04 C:UsersLydiaDesktop20090524-2giant-vs-tesco2.jpg Weaknesses High Marketing Cost One of the Giants weaknesses is their relatively high marketing cost. Giant spends quite a lot of money for marketing purposes. To let more people to know more about the on-going promotions in Giant, Giant places their advertisements on local newspaper such as The Star, The Sun and other news press. Such advertisements are usually published on the weekend newspaper. Placing advertisement on newspaper can be quite costly. Besides, Giant prints out their promotion catalogue. Printing out the catalogue can be quite costly. Giant has different promotion catalogues for different places. For example, promotion catalogue for Sarawak Special, Malacca Special or even Putra Heights Special. This promotion catalogue is often distributed from house to house. This requires distribution fees as manpower is needed to distribute the catalogue. Recently, Giant Hypermarket also puts on advertisement on television. All these contribute to the high marketing cost. No loyalty and membership program Giant has no loyalty and membership program. Loyalty and membership is very important in order to create customer loyalty. This can be parts of their customer retention plan. It is said that retaining customers is much easier than getting a new one (Marzahn, 1996). By offering rewards to customers, they will most likely to make repurchasing from them. Compared to other hypermarket that has their own loyalty and membership program, customers are usually more attracted to them. While the economy is still recovering from the previous global recession, customers are stricter in budgeting and they are always attracted to rewards and privileges. They will want to get something in return from their purchasing. The ability to gain some rewards such as discount, cash voucher and cash rebate makes their purchase much more worthwhile. Poor pricing method Giant hypermarket has poor pricing method compared to other hypermarkets. Whenever promotions are conducted, the prices of the products will be different. The price list sometimes is not updated. Whenever the cashier scans the bar code, the price will be different from the displayed price. This sometimes causes customers to pay more than the actual price. This will create dissatisfaction to customers if they find out they have paid extra for the goods. The price list is hand written on a piece of yellow board. This price list is placed together with the products. The price list can be wrongly placed. This causes confusion to the customers. They are not sure the price of the products they wanted to buy. Besides, customers find it difficult to find a price reader to check for the price. The price readers which are wrongly placed makes it hidden from the customers. Figure: Hand written price list at Giant (Giant- About Us, 2010) Lack of Information Technology Utilization Giant website is not fully utilized Giant Hypermarket is still lacking in terms of utilization of information technology. Their own Giant website is not fully utilized. The content of the website is mostly promotions and the contest. The website is only for customers for viewing. To fully utilize the website, they can more features into their website. They can add in the products they sell in Giant and by categorizing them, it will be easier for customers to find the products they want. The website later can be enhanced into an e-commerce site where Giant can sell their products online. Thus, instead of having to go to the physical store, customers will be able to do online shopping. They can add in the wish list and shopping bag for customers in the website. Besides, in the website, there is no e- newsletter which customers can subscribe to. E-newsletter helps Debenhams to keep their existing and potential customers in touch with the latest offering such as promotions in store as well as news and events. This improves the sites traffic as well as building and expanding their customer database. Without this, customers will be sometimes being oblivious on the promotions as well as the happenings in Giant. Therefore, newsletter features should be added into Giants website. Customers can sign up for the newsletter. This consequently further improves Giants relationship with the existing customers. No Electronic Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM) Keeping in touch with customers and understanding what they think about Giant is paramount to achieve Giants goals. Customers feedback is an important component which allows customers to voice out their view or share their shopping experience which doing their shopping at Giant. Customer feedback is vital to Giants continuous improvement. Regardless of compliments or criticisms, customer feedback actually helps Giant to understand their customers need and consequently enhances their services. Giant practices traditional customer relationship management. Whenever Giant customers have any complaint, they have to approach the staff directly. Sometimes, face-to-face talk can lead to misunderstandings. Thus, Giant should utilize their website to provide electronic customer relationship management (E-CRM) for their customers. The website should allow the members to register and through login into Giant website, they are able to give their feedbacks online. Whenever they have any complaints, they can submit their complaints online. Besides, customers should be encouraged to give ratings and write product reviews after their purchases in Giants website. This helps other potential customers to make better purchase decision and this indirectly drives the product sales. Through the E-CRM, Giant will be able to know how the customers really felt towards Giant. Through those opinions, Giant will be able to take the initiatives to improve their services. Threats Competition The threats experienced by Giant are that there is stiff competition within the industry, there are other major supermarket chains, such as Tesco, Carrefour, Jusco, etc. in Malaysia that is competing alongside with Giant in the retail industry. Major example are, If competitors offers new innovative product and services why not Giant do the same thing too which more creative. Competitors might find new ways to enhance sales or production or they have superior access to cheaper raw materials. Giant famously losing market share  [1]  to particularly other well-known brand names like Tesco, Jusco and Carrefour in price competition as customers can find better pricing at other hypermarkets like Carrefour. Political New political issues in the future that might have negative impact on their business, for example, no price hike despite rising import costs, ban on construction, etc. Ban on hypermarket construction Another political issue that had negative impact on Giant business development was the rules implemented back in 2003  [2]  . The new rules banned any further development or expansion of hypermarkets in Klang Valley, including Kuala Lumpur and other states such as Johor and Penang in order to give the business opportunities for small businesses. This new rule was introduced because the three regions previously mentioned were already saturated with hypermarkets. With this rule, Giant could not expand their coverage to these areas. Fortunately, this rule is no longer in place and Giant does have few branches open in those areas. In fact, for example, to date Giant has 8 stores just in Kuala Lumpur itself  [3]  . House brand issues Another threat is that although their customers know their house brand, but it is not their customers preferable brand, their customer still prefers other established brand name products compared to theirs. Also, Giant shows that initially Bruneian cannot accept Giant due to numerous reasons, this can be scary for them because if their customers still cannot accept them for a long-term period, thus less people will shop in their store and sales will decreases. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨ Increase market share Strategies that would be appropriate for Giant would be to continue strategy to open more branches to increase market share and to eliminate competition. Besides, to increase marketing effort to gain customer awareness on their house brand products so that it can be a customer preferable brand in the future. In addition, Giant should add more variety on all the existing product line in their supermarkets, because this way, it will attract more customers as they will enable to buy everything under one roof, therefore make Giant their favorite and preferable shopping place. Lastly, Social or economic issues: changes on demographic trend can have significant impact on consumer spending. Risk of another economic downturn in Malaysia will have negative effects on their sales growth.

Plato Essays -- essays research papers

Socrates' ideal city is described through Plato in his work The Republic, some questions pondered through the text could be; How is this an "ideal" city formed, and is justice in the city relative to that of the human soul? I believe Socrates found the true meaning of justice in the larger atmosphere of the city and applied that concept to the human soul. Socrates describes his idea of an "ideal city" as one that has all the necessary parts to function and to show that justice is truly the harmony between the three stages of the city and soul in the human body. Plato introduces the idea of the happiness. Socrates says, "†¦in establishing our city, we aren’t aiming to make any one group outstanding happy but to make the whole city so, as far as possible " (Plato 420b). I agree that in order to examine one thing that is difficult to comprehend, it is wise to look on a larger scale. In this case, Socrates had to examine the difference of a whole city and other concepts of cities in order to determine justice in the world and inner soul. In order to develop the perfect city Socrates had to develop the other ideas that contribute to the "ideal city", the City of Need, and the City of Luxury in order to develop the Perfect City. I believe Socrates in-depth discovery process for the perfect city is a great philosophical look into the idea of justice. Socrates brought up a subject many men at that time would never have thought about and Plato believed that the idea of justice was worthy of writing a literary work to pass his philosophy on to future generations. Since the crucial elements of justice may be easier to observe on the larger scale like a city than on one individual. The focus for Socrates is a perfect city, because the city will represent human soul, Socrates says; "we'll go on to consider it in the individuals, considering the likeness of the bigger in the idea of the littler?"(Plato 369a). Plato's "ideal city" is really the search for the truth of justice, if Socrates were able to find the relationship between the soul and city in his "ideal city" then he would have the true meaning of justice. We saw from the reading how he came about braking down the city's parts and also that of the soul in order to see the reaction between three different regions which Plato and Socrates descri... ...It is fine if you are the upper class, but the guys at the bottom want to achieve success and rise to the top. That is a reason for the American Revolution and all other revolutions that have spurred from the lower class. No one wants to be content with being at the bottom; everyone wants to be at the top. Plato's ideal city would work if people were content with their god given positions. If there is harmony between the groups, then there is happiness, as we see in the soul and city throughout The Republic. However, in real life people find harmony with themselves when they achieve their goals and live a good life. I agree with that philosophy because I also want to achieve more and I am happy when I achieve my goals. No one is truly happy though because people will always want more. I agree that Plato's idea was great and a well-devised plan which provided the basis for many cities that have flourished in the past. However how could one totally agree with a proposal that is fro m so long ago, it is simply outdated in practice but not theory. We can still strive for inner harmony and harmony within a community and society but we must find that harmony through trials of our own.

Case Study the Virgin Group Essay

PROBLEM: * The Virgin Group is so unrelated diversified that it has been criticized by some commentators because it has become an â€Å"endorsement brand that could not always offer real expertise to the businesses which it is associated†. So the real question is â€Å"Can The Virgin Group be good/successful in every business it gets into?† â€Å"Are they really adding a real value to each business/customer? * What will happen if a customer has a bad experience with any of the product lines of the Virgin Brand? Would that influence this customer to never try again another line of this brand? Some commentators have found a big risk with Virgin’s approach stating that: â€Å"The greatest threat is that Virgin Brand may become associated with failure†. Can that be possible? * Richard Branson’s is associated with the Virgin Brand, this sure has been the key to the success of this company, but can also his image fire back toward the Virgin brand if he g ains a bad reputation? What can be the consequences? FACTS: Organizational: * The Virgin Group is one of the UK’s largest private companies. (S) * The Virgin Group included in 2006, 63 businesses such as airlines, health clubs, music stores and trains. Also included Virgin Galactic which promises to take passengers into the sub-orbital space. (S) * The personal image and personality of Richard Branson, the founder of the Group is highly bound up with those of the company. (S ,W) * Branson announced in 2006 his plans to invest $3bn in renewable energy. (S) * Virgin’s partnership with cable company NTL, undertook an expansion into media challenging publicy the way NewsCorp operated in the UK and the effects on British democracy. (S ,W) * Virgin was founded in 1970 as a mail order record business and developed as a private company in music publishing and retailing. (S) * In 1986, Virgin was floated on the stock exchange with a turnover of 362.5 million (Euros). (S) * Branson decided to take the business back into private ownership and the shares were bought back at the original price offer, when the price of the shares began to fall and because of the pressure to create short-term profit. (S ,W) * Virgin’s expansion had often been through joint ventures whereby Virgin provided the brand and its partner provided the majority of the capital. I.e.: For cosmetics and clothing Virgin provided 1,000 (pounds), while its partner Victory Corporation 20m (pounds). (S) * Built business with Virgin Mobile, by forming partnerships with existing wireless operators to sell services under the Virgin brand name. The carrier competences lay in network management. Virgin set out to differentiate itself by offering innovative services. (S) * Virgin has been described as a â€Å"keiretsu† organisation. A structure of loosely linked, autonomous units by self-managed teams that use a common brand name. (S ,W) * Virgin Atlantic, which is owned in 49% by Singapore Airways is one of businesses Branson will never sell, despite of the cyclical nature of this business. He included airline businesses such as Virgin Express (European), Virgin Blue (Australia) and Virgin Nigeria in the group. (S) * Branson has reported about withdrawing from the business which more or less can run by itself now, hoping that his son Sam might become more a of Virgin figurehead. At the same time he launched his initiatives in media and fuel. (W) Environmental: * Branson’s public image and special appearances has contributed to the definition and recognisability of the brand. (O) * Virgin is putting up the Capital for Virgin Fuels and is using the brand to attract the attention to the issues and possibilities that the technology offers. (Different from the other business) (O) * In 2005 announced the establishment of a â€Å"quadruple play† media company providing television, broadband, fixed-lined and mobile communications through the merger of Branson’s UK mobile interests with UK’s two cable companies. (O) * Branson describes Virgin as â€Å"a branded venture capital house†. There was no â€Å"group† as such; Virgin was described as a family rather than a hierarchy. (O) * In 2006 Branson explained the basis upon which he considers opportunities: be global in scope, enhance the brand, be worth doing and have an expectation of a reasonable return on investment. (O) * Branson’s engagement with â€Å"greener† fuels has created a debate on measures to reduce carbon emissions from airplanes. (O) * The public flotation of individual businesses rather than the group as a whole has become an intrinsic part of the â€Å"juggling† of finances that underpins Virgin’s expansion. (T) * Virgin argues that its brand research indicated that people who have had a bad experience will blame that particular Virgin company or product but will be willing to use another Virgin product or service due to the very diversity of the brand. (O , T) * In 2000 Strategic Rail Authority Review voted Virgin Rail on 23rd and 24th place among 25 railway operators what had a great negative impact on Virgin Group overall reputation. (T) Values & Aspirations: * The Virgin name was associated with words such as â€Å"fun†, â€Å"innovative†, â€Å"daring† and â€Å"successful†. It was chosen representing the idea of the company being a virgin in every business it entered. (1) * Establish The Virgin Brand as a major global name. (2) * Virgin won an award for the best wireless operator in the UK. (4) * Branson saw Virgin adding value in the three main ways, aside from the brand: Public relations and marketing skills, its experience with Greenfield start-ups; and Virgin’s understanding of the opportunities presented by â€Å"institutionalized† markets. (3) * Each company is â€Å"ring-fenced†, so no company had no rights over the assets of another; providing not only financial protection, but also to a business ethic aspect. (5) * The increasing conformity between personal interest and business activities could be discerned in the establishment of Virgin Fuels. Branson has stated that by using non-oil-based fuels a Second Gulf War can be prevented. (7) * The line between personal conviction and business interests is everyday more thin. (6) KEY ASSUMPTIONS: * Branson’s taste for his brands of business remains undimmed so will surely continue this way. He has grown his business using the Unrelated Diversification Strategy, which is based in entering new businesses sectors outside the core activities; such as travel, telecommunications, trains, cosmetics. * He will continue investing in â€Å"Green companies† producing ethanol and cellulosic ethanol fuels in competition with the oil industry. He has already started to Go Green, so surely all his companies will follow this new eco-friendly trend. * Branson’s son may be taking the lead of the company in the future. His statements toward leaving the company in the future and let his son take the lead may be to prepare his entire workforce for this moment. * Even though the Virgin Brand is powerful, Branson’s image is strongly related to the company, so if he decides to go, will the next person in charge be able to maintain the same cultural organisation that has identified this company till now? * To be part of the World history, by becoming the most powerful Brand and Company, not only of the UK, but also Europe and make many other businesses in other Continents. * Become a leader of non-oil industry. His high investment in this area confirms his seriousness about this issue. * Continue investing on more R&D in new and innovative technologies in order to expand the company’s position in entertainment and telecommunications market. He is already the leader in the mobile service due to correct strategy and implementation. * Virgin Galactic may become the leading company to send humans to space, making this company be part of the Humankind History. SOLUTIONS: * So far Branson’s strategy has leaded him to success. He must continue making new alliances and also to strengthen the ones that have been made so far. The strategy used by the Virgin Group, based on Unrelated Diversification has been the key element of success of the company. This strategy has created a unique culture and corporate structure needed to build a strong competitive advantage. * The investment of new R&D technologies may make the difference for this company’s future. It has the potential to become a Giant in the IT area. * Continue gaining competitive advantage over the market by identifying themselves as the fun, playful and innovative company they have been so far. This marketing campaign has helped Virgin Brand to gain loyal customers. * Expand the Virgin Brand into new continents. Select another target markets in the Asian and African continents where surely can form alliances with local markets and gain competitive advantage by the strong growth potential.

TMI essays

TMI essays I chose to write my paper on an article about the near meltdown of a nuclear facility near my home, Three Mile Island. It was about 22 years ago, on March 28, 1979, in Middletown, Pennsylvania, when TMI almost had the worst commercial nuclear power accident in the history of the United States. Uranium was melting in the reactor, and hydrogen gas was exploding around the facility. No one knew whether to evacuate people in nearby towns, or to tell them to stay put. Evacuation could cause chaos on the roads, while keeping people there could have grave effects, whether right then, or in the future. Since this, 60 nuclear power plants across the U.S. have been shut down or abandoned. No new plants have been built since 1973. 103 reactors were still operating at the time this article was published. After Three Mile Island, new regulations have been made, like better trained plant operators, and more workers, these requirements have made nuclear power more expensive than burning coal or hydroelectric power. In 1999, TMI still had one functioning unit. Operators said it was a model of efficiency and safety. But in a deal that summer, the plant was to be sold for $100 million, just one seventh of its book value. The reason for this price was that TMIs Unit 2 was dismantled just enough to reveal a steel skeleton under its cooling towers. Never to reopen, it cost $700 million to build, and $973 million to run. At the time of the accident, the people of central Pennsylvania were the focus of everyones attention. Robert Reid, the mayor of Middletown, tried to get to someone in the plant, but with no luck. He called TMIs corporate owners in New Jersey and was assured that no radiation had escaped into the air, but radioactive gas had been released to relieve pressure inside. Dick Thornburgh, governor then, recommended that pregnant women and young children living within 5 miles of the plant e ...