No Plans for Tiny Bombers

After selling about $7 million in F-19 stealth fighter plane models, you’d think the Testor model kit company would be rushing to sell reproductions of the B-2 stealth bomber.

But Testor has no plans to re-create America’s most expensive and controversial warplane in plastic.

“There has been some discussion, but we probably won’t do it,” said John Dewey, spokesman for the Rockford, Ill., company. Dewey said Testor is watching the controversy surrounding the $500-million bomber with interest. “But to tool up for one model may cost you $150,000, so it better sell.”

In 1986 and ‘87, international publicity surrounding Testor’s stealth model helped sell 750,000 kits, making it the company’s best seller. Dewey said every time members of Congress appeared on television or in newspapers angrily waving the model, stealth model sales jumped. Politicians were furious because they could not obtain enough details about what was then a super-secret project.

Macy’s Management Map

Makes some kind of sense.

R. H. Macy & Co. has taken some heat in the retailing community for its strategy of merchandising the Bullock’s chain in Southern California primarily from its offices in faraway Atlanta. Now comes word that Macy’s will be the fourth major anchor store at the mammoth Mall of America, being developed in Bloomington, Minn., by Indianapolis-based Melvin Simon & Associates and Triple Five Corp. of Edmonton, Canada.

And which Macy’s office will handle the Minnesota store? Macy’s California, which is based in San Francisco and operates 25 stores in California and Nevada.

Laffer Thrown a Curve

The Reagan Administration built its economic policy around his tax-cutting curve, but would you buy a Cadillac on Arthur Laffer’s economic reasoning? General Motors’ luxury car division is betting you will at least listen to the superstar economist’s analysis.

In a series of television ads on Chicago superstation WGN, Laffer cites the falling value of the dollar and the rising quality of Cadillac workmanship, touting the Caddie as a better financial investment than its foreign import competitors. Laffer claims to know of which he speaks. He says he bought a BMW in 1984, when the dollar peaked in value against the West German mark. In 1987, after the dollar had fallen, Laffer opted for American luxury, the Cadillac.

However, he apparently fared less well negotiating his fee for appearing in the ads. Laffer was paid $5,000 plus a small, royalty percentage, based on the ads appearing in the Chicago market. But because the superstation is beamed nationwide, Laffer can be seen in virtually every market. “Oh, well,” he shrugs. “I had a lot of fun doing it.”

Business Leads to Business

Talk about stumbling into a niche.

Poring over a readership study, David Dreis, founder and publisher of the West Coast Review of Books, discovered that two-thirds of his magazine’s readers are business people. In response, the Hollywood-based bimonthly started reviewing more business books. And advertisers loved it.

So much so that Dreis is launching a publication entirely for business readers. Business Book & Audio Review’s first issue will appear inside the October edition of the West Coast Review, Dreis said. He expects to spin it off as a separate magazine early next year, filled with dozens of capsule reviews of business books and tapes, broader articles surveying recent literature on business subjects and interviews with authors.

Although the 70,000-circulation West Coast Review is Dreis’ first love--a middle-brow antidote to Eastern book reviews he considers stuffy--the initial reaction from publishers, business schools and libraries to plans for the business magazine has Dreis convinced that he’s on the verge of a huge success.

“When I started the West Coast Review of Books, it was, ‘OK, that’s nice, we need it,’ ” he said, recalling the publishing world’s restrained response. “But this is a whole different ball game here. There’s excitement.”