Xerox

Texas strike looms for LockheedLockheed Martin Corp. said yesterday that a 300-member machinists union local at its Abilene, Texas, facility has rejected a final offer and that the workers are working without a contract. The union has authorized a strike but operations have been normal, said a Lockheed spokesman.The Abilene plant, which has laid off nearly half its employees in the past year, makes parts for the F-16 fighter, the Tomahawk cruise missile and other aerospace programs. Union officials were not available for comment.

Education Alternatives Inc., the controversial private company that manages nine Baltimore schools, yesterday tapped a high-ranking Xerox Corp. executive to guide its rapid growth.William F. Goins was named to the No. 2 position at EAI, which recently won a contract to manage the 32 public schools in Hartford, Conn., and is seeking other contracts around the nation. He will assume the newly created position of chief operating officer beginning Jan. 2, reporting directly to chairman John T. Golle.

The Anne Arundel County school board approved a $36.6 million construction budget yesterday, but made several changes in how that money will be spent.School planners were told to reduce a planned addition to Broadneck High School. Instead of seating 2,500 students, the addition will be built for 2,000 -- saving about $4 million for projects that had not been on Superintendent Carol S. Parham's final list.The board also moved two projects ahead of Broadneck's on the construction priority list: renovations to five school libraries, known as media centers, costing a total of $500,000; and $550,000 for 10 prototype computer labs.

We have a deep ambivalence about selling and the people who earn their living doing it. Selling is the ultimate capitalist act, the grease that keeps spinning the wheel of supply and demand. Yet we attach so many unwholesome images to the craft: the used-car salesman with his shifty eye, the insurance man who won't let up until our untimely demise means untold riches for our loved ones.David Dorsey will make you more sympathetic toward salespeople, although after reading this compelling account of a year in the life of a Xerox sales team, you probably won't be any more eager for your next encounter in the auto showroom.

Representatives of Eastman Kodak Co. yesterday accused Maryland's Department of General Services of intentionally channeling thousands of dollars in contracts for high-speed printing equipment to a rival company.In testimony before a legislative task force investigating state procurement practices, Kodak officials alleged that General Services subtly steered contracts to Xerox Corp. by declaring that Xerox was the "sole source" for the specific equipment the department wanted.At other times, Kodak officials contended, General Services drafted bid specifications for printing equipment that were tailored so closely to Xerox's products that other potential bidders were, as a practical matter, excluded.

Interest in USAir reportedBritish Airways, frustrated in an attempt to buy 44 percent of USAir Group Inc., plans as soon as this week to bid for a smaller stake that would give it a foothold in the domestic U.S. aviation market, several newspapers reported yesterday.British Airways declined to comment on the reports that an offer for up to 25 percent of USAir could come soon after President-elect Bill Clinton's inauguration tomorrow. The airline did say it was holding talks with USAir.The Financial Times said British Airways would bid $340 million for a 20 percent stake in USAir.

Xerox Corp. said yesterday that it would eliminate 2,500 white-collar jobs, or more than 20 percent of the company's total, the middle of next year and take a $175 million pretax charge against earnings in the current quarter to cover the cost.Xerox said the reductions in managerial and support staff would cut its costs by $150 million next year and $200 million in 1993.All the reductions will come from Xerox's document-processing business, which employs 101,000. Production workers, engineers, direct sales and customer service staff will not be affected.

Vaughn Harman always has had plenty to say about Towson State football.It's just that more people hear him now.Westminster High graduate Harman, a four-year starter for Towson State and a member of the Washington Federals team of the U.S. Football League, is the new color commentator for Towson State's football broadcasts on WITH-AM.Harman had helped Towson State as a part-time volunteer coach for several seasons after his December 1981 graduation. He drifted away, however, in the past few years following the birth of his two daughters.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Xerox Corp. is still trying to live down its reputation as the company that invented the personal computer and then didn't know what to do with it.The company's Palo Alto Research Center, known as PARC, invented a complete personal computer system in the late 1970s that was years ahead of anything then available from IBM or Apple.But Xerox, which showed enough entrepreneurial spirit in the 1960s to single-handedly build a global market for office copiers, blew it. The company's stifling bureaucracy couldn't accommodate a product as new and different as PARC's creation, so Xerox missed an opportunity so huge that it was chronicled in a 1988 book derisively titled "Fumbling the Future."

Q. What are your thoughts on Paramount Communications? After so many changes taking place,is it time to look at this investment?A. This famous film company needs more low-budget blockbusters such as its surprise hit "Ghost" and fewer big-budget disappointments like its much-hyped "Days of Thunder."Take a wait-and-see attitude toward the stock of Paramount Communications (around $40, NYSE) because its entertainment division has suffered several major flops, cautioned Mark Manson, analyst with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.