Market Share

William C. Harris, chairman of Crestar's greater Washington and Maryland banking region, is soft-spoken and engaging and with few rough edges.But that can be deceiving. Harris knows what results he wants and isn't afraid to proclaim them."We need to be at least 10 percent share of the market," he said. "It is my plan to get there in three years."That's a tall order in this tough market, where Crestar has a 4.5 percent market share. But Harris has proved he can win business. Under his leadership, Crestar Bank vaulted to second place in market share in Northern Virginia from seventh place, and to third place from 12th in greater Washington.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. said yesterday that its sales rose in February even as other specialty retailers saw sharp declines as many price-conscious customers shopped at discount stores. Same-store sales, which are sales at stores open at least a year and are a key indicator of a retailer's health, increased 1.1 percent from last year. Total sales at the Hampstead-based men's clothing store, which has opened several stores in the last year as part of an ongoing expansion, increased 9.3 percent, from $13.2 million in February 2001 to $14.4 million last month.

In a rare move to bring in more customers, NationsBank Corp. has eliminated fees on several products, including a premium checking account, a top company official said yesterday.William Couper, president of NationsBank's greater Baltimore region, said that on Feb. 1, fees were either waived or frozen on two NationsBank checking accounts and other products.The decision comes at a time when banks, especially large ones, are generating billions in profits by charging consumers fees on everything from checking accounts to ATM transactions.

Benefiting from strong performances by its North American and international operations, General Motors Corp. yesterday reported a third-quarter profit of $1.3 billion.The results were inflated by a one-time tax credit of $312 million and $253 million in savings from GM's decision earlier this year not to close its Wilmington, Del., auto assembly plant."When you take away the tax credit and factor out the Wilmington decision, they earned 82 cents a share," said David B. Healy, an auto analyst with Burnham Securities Inc. "That's respectable, but it is only slightly above what Wall Street expected.

For the first time in 19 years, Giant Food Inc. has begun to feel significant pressure from competition as small as the corner convenience store and as big as Safeway.Giant's market share against all retailers that sell groceries in the Baltimore-Washington region dropped slightly more than two percentage points, according to Food World, a Columbia- based industry trade magazine, which publishes its annual survey of regional market share today.But make no mistake, the grocery store chain still dominates the landscape in the region and particularly in Baltimore, where it gained very slightly in relation to other grocery store chains.

The planned acquisition of Giant Food Inc. by Dutch grocery retailer Royal Ahold NV comes as store chains increasingly bank on consolidation to gain -- and keep -- precious market share.For Giant, such a move would have been unthinkable as recently as the early 1990s, when Ahold first approached the chain about a possible deal.But that was before the death of the homegrown chain's revered co-founder, before the chain's difficulty executing a northern expansion and before its bitter five-week Teamsters strike.

The Asia-Pacific region, and Japan in particular, will be the key battleground for the Boeing Co. and rival Airbus in 2003, as the two airplane makers fight harder than ever to fill their diminished order books during tough times. As the gloom of the airline industry's worst-ever downturn settles in for a second year, Asia is one of the few bright spots. And what happens in that part of the world will likely determine if Boeing or Airbus has a successful year in 2003. Boeing will also be wooing potential Asian customers for its all-new super-efficient jetliner, while holding discussions with Japanese industry for what could eventually be a major part of the manufacturing work for the new plane.

The bankruptcy filing of Eastman Kodak Company this week marked the end of a chapter in American manufacturing history. The venerable corporation that gave the world the Brownie camera and the slogan "You push the button, we do the rest" once dominated the photographic world with its inexpensive cameras and amazing variety of amateur and professional films. But by the end of last year it was rapidly running out of cash, its market share had plunged, and its stock was selling for just 54 cents a share.

Fresh Fields Inc., a jazzy health-food supermarket chain that opened its first Baltimore store amid great fanfare last month, has been gobbled up by its natural-food nemesis, Whole Foods Market Inc., in a stock merger valued at about $135 million, the companies announced yesterday.As in banking, telecommunications and broadcasting, the two companies concluded that bigger is better."It made sense business-wise to sell, so they did," said analyst Matthew Patsky of Adams Harkness & Hill in Boston.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NationsBank Corp. yesterday agreed to buy Barnett Banks Inc. for a record $15.5 billion in stock, creating the nation's third-largest bank."