A London Lodging Landmark
Looking to the East
Bottom-Line Beauty
A Plastic Fantastic Friendship
The Birds and Bees in China

At London's storied Ritz Hotel, where Charlie Chaplin once tossed carnations out his window to adoring fans below and where Tallulah Bankhead drank champagne from her slipper, managing director Giles Shepard (14th PMD) is overseeing extensive renovations. Amid basic improvements, such as new carpeting and wiring, no detail is being overlooked in an effort to restore the hotel to its former glory in time for its centenary celebration in 2006, the Mail on Sunday (September 24, 2000) reported. Consider, for example, the matter of pillows. "They are specifically designed for the Ritz and have to provide the maximum amount of comfort," Shepard explained. "The top pillow is soft so that a guest can just sink into it, but the bottom pillow is firmer so that the guest does not suffocate with too much softness." Shepard has insisted that closets in each room feature no less than eight types of hangers to properly accommodate different kinds of clothing. What's more, he noted, "the hangers are all of a higher quality to that found in almost every other hotel."

When Japan's Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori conferred about matters of commerce and technology last August in Bangalore, India, with S.M. Krishna, the state of Karnataka's Chief Minister, a key figure at their meeting was Shrikrishna Kulkarni (74th PMD), Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson. Kulkarni, who studied at Tokyo University, is president and CEO of Fanuc India, an arm of Japan-based Fanuc, a world leader in factory automation and robots. Kulkarni was invited by the Indian government to participate in the meeting because of his knowledge of Japan's industrial culture and because he speaks fluent Japanese.

Commenting on the meeting in the Times of India (August 22, 2000), Kulkarni said, "India is looking for a strategy that will help it achieve rapid economic growth — qualitatively in terms of upgrading its economy and quantitatively in terms of raising incomes." Declaring that the policies of Western entities such as the IMF and the World Bank are often contrary to India's best interests, he told the newspaper that a strategic agreement between India and Japan would greatly benefit both countries over time. Kulkarni predicted that an alliance between the two countries would give Japanese firms preferential access to India, "which in the next few years promises to become one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world."

The dollars-and-cents reality of outfitting a new venture may not be the most glamorous topic, but Inc. Technology's special "CEO's Start-Up Toolkit" issue (Summer 2000) showcased both style and substance by featuring Marla Malcolm (MBA '98) on its cover. As CEO of Bluemercury, Inc., Malcolm discussed the technology purchasing decisions she made when equipping her company, a "clicks-and-bricks" retailer of high-end, hard-to-find beauty products. The Washington, D.C.-based firm now has two boutiques in the nation's capital, as well as a mail-order catalog and an online store at www.bluemercury.com. With a $60,000 budget for the first six months of operation, Malcolm kept a tight rein on unnecessary expenditures, choosing low-cost eMachines over standard desktop computers for her employees' relatively light e-mail, word-processing, and spreadsheet needs. Her philosophy? "We're super cheap. If a product doesn't affect the customer, we don't care about it." Meanwhile, Bluemercury is reaping the benefits of Malcolm's thrift and savvy, with projected revenues of $8 million for 2000 and five new stores slated to open in the coming year.

A. Reynolds Morse (MBA '39), founder of Ohio-based Injection Molders Supply Company and a longtime friend of artist Salvador Dalí, died last August in Florida. He was, the St. Petersburg Times (August 22, 2000) reported, "a political conservative who developed a passion for one of the most avant-garde artists of the 20th century, a man who clipped coupons for restaurant specials while giving away an art collection valued in the millions."

Morse and his wife, Eleanor, bought their first Dalí, Daddy Longlegs of the Evening-Hope!, to celebrate their wedding in 1943 and soon became avid Dalí collectors, according to an obituary in the New York Times (August 23,2000). "We plunged instead of hedging," Morse once explained, "and after a while I was becoming known as the nut who was backing a dark horse. Or vice versa."

During the course of what the New York Times termed "a sometimes turbulent friendship," the Morses traveled with Dalí and his wife, Gala, to Paris and Rome and to Dalí's home in Spain. Over the years, they published seven books about Dalí, who died in 1989, and amassed nearly one hundred of the artist's paintings and more than one thousand Dalí drawings, watercolors, prints, and objects. In 1980, the Morses presented their collection to the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, their retirement residence, which opened the Salvador Dalí Museum to house and exhibit the work.

The fact that they are one billion in number confirms that the Chinese have at least a passing familiarity with the means of reproduction. Yet Leslie Kenny (MBA '97) has built a thriving online business based on a Chinese desire for more information and discussion about the wide world of sex. A former executive who worked to promote the Disney Channel across Asia, Kenny soon learned that cable operators were more interested in other kinds of content. As she told the Boston Globe (September 26, 2000), Kenny realized "there was an innate curiosity in Asia about sex, and the only sources of information seemed to be pornography or very clinical information on reproductive health from the government."

Shunning risqué material, Kenny's Hong Kong-based Dotlove.com Web site features a wholesome mix of online polls, quizzes, and professional medical advice, as well as movie and music reviews and other youth-oriented entertainment. It's all designed to create a friendly, nonthreatening environment in which to explore a generally taboo subject. The Chinese Family Planning Association has even agreed to partner with Kenny to promote sex education.

Kenny's next market? India, home of the Kamasutra.