"Amerika Hangja" - Voice of America: Az Amway Kelet Europaban; az
Europai Unio-ba valo felvetel.
(Elnezest az esetleges kisbetukert, de az eredeti szoveg csupa
nagybetuvel volt irva, amit at kellett cserelnem.)
Buchwald Amy
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date=06/08/94
type=close-up (economics)
number=4-07482
title=Amway and Eastern Europe
byline=Linda Cashdan
telephone=619-2443
dateline=Washington
editor=ge
content= // inserts and voiced version in audio services//
Intro: Preaching the importance of "self-reliance," Amway -- a
35-year-old U-S firm that markets home care products
through a network of individual distributors -- has made
an impressive entrance into Eastern Europe. VoA's Linda
Cashdan reports the company believes it has succeeded
because its sales technique appeals to an emerging
entrepreneurial spirit among east europeans.
Text: Amway opened in Hungary in 1991. Today, there are 100
thousand hungarian Amway distributors, and annual
product sales in Hungary top 40 million dollars. Amway
set up shop in Poland in 1992 and the Czech Republic in
march of this year with equally enthusiastic results.
Amway produces more than 400 different products for
home, cosmetic, and commercial uses. However, the
company readily admits, Amway's appeal stems from the
way it sells its product as much as from the product
itself.
Amway's director of new markets, Jim Devoss says Amway
distributors earn commissions for selling products to
their family and friends, and earn larger commissions
for eventually setting up large networks of other
distributors.
Tape: cut #1 -- Devoss [:27]
"If as they're doing this someone sees them doing it,
and says 'that's something I'd like to do do,' then they
can do what we call "sponsor" that other person into the
business. They get them to get a starter kit and start
their own business. One person sponsors some people,
who sponsor more people who sponsor more people, and
before you know it, you get a network of individuals all
working together."
Text: In short, the strategy is to turn Amway product
customers into Amway distributors. The theory behind
the strategy is that satisfied customers know best how
to sell a product. It is a theory that has made Amway
into a four and a half billion dollars a year company in
the United States, and now it appears to be taking off
in Eastern Europe too.
Mr. Devoss says distributors see Amway as a chance to
make good money, especially distributors who form their
own networks.
Tape: cut #2 -- Devoss [:15]
"You get a performance bonus, and the percentage that
you get is based not on just how much you alone sell,
but on how much that entire network of individuals in
your network sells, and the higher they sell the higher
the performance bonus.
Text: In Hungary, Mr. Devoss says, distributors are earning as
much as two thousand dollars a month, which is several
times the average monthly income of a skilled laborer.
Tape: cut #3 -- Devoss [:40]
"The primary part of the appeal is just the fact that
they can do something with no limitations as to where
they take it. When I got over there, I kept hearing the
occupational standard was 'you pretend to work, and
we'll pretend to pay you.' And what that basically
meant was you got very little and there was no
incentive, and with no incentive, people got into not
wanting to do very much. Here is something they can get
into at small cost. They've got an opportunity, and
those people have wanted an opportunity for many many
years, in my perception."
Text: Amway plans to open offices in Turkey on july 20th, in
Slovakia later this year, and in China in 1995. The
company is also considering entering the vietnamese,
bulgarian, and rumanian markets as well. (Signed)
lc/ge
08-jun-94 2:58 pm edt (1858 utc)
nnnn
source: Voice of America
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date=6/8/94
type=background report
number=5-17432
title= Austria/Czech/European Union
byline= Jolyon Naegele
dateline= Prague
content=
voiced at:
Intro: Austrians vote sunday in a referendum on whether to join
the European Union. Public opinion polls suggest the contest is
too close to call. V-o-A's Jolyon Naegele reports from Prague
how the outcome of the austrian referendum may affect the Czech
Republic and the other new democracies of Central Europe.
Text: Austrian admittance into the European Union is widely
expected to enhance the chances of early E-U expansion to include
the four new democracies of Central Europe. Austrian membership
is unlikely to have any significant negative impact on its
already intensive trade contacts with the Czech Republic, Poland,
Slovakia and Hungary, all of which are in the process of becoming
associate members of the European Union.
Austria is holding a referendum sunday on E-U membership in a bid
to legitimize the agreement of accession it negotiated in
brussels earlier this year. An austrian public opinion poll
released this week shows 48 percent of voters broadly in favor of
entry into the European Union, 37 percent broadly against and 15
percent undecided. But for those who say they have already made
up their minds, the survey shows a tie of 31 percent in favor and
31 percent against.
Austrian foreign minister Alois Mock has warned that a no vote
would relegate his country to second class status without a say
in making key decisions. Moreover, a no vote could influence
upcoming votes on E-U membership in Finland, Sweden and Norway
and delay expansion of the European Union eastwards. The
mass-circulation vienna daily "Kurier" says a no vote could
postpone E-U membership for Central and East European states into
the next century.
//Opt// A no vote in Austria would have the greatest impact on
Hungary and Slovakia, neither of which share a border with any
current E-U member. As a result, it is highly unlikely they
could become E-U members until Austria or the Czech Republic gain
membership.
///Opt/// The governor of the Province of Upper Austria, Josef
Ratzenboeck, has pledged that if austrians vote yes on sunday,
Austria will do all it can to ensure that the European Union
opens its doors to the new democracies. Other austrian officials
say Austria does not want to be the only Central European
country in the European Union. //End opt//
The head of the Czech Institute of International Relations, Otto
Pick, suggests that with just days to go before the referendum in
Austria, many austrians appear just as confused as czechs by E-U
membership standards.
///Pick act///
I don't think they know what the freedom of the free
movement of the labor market or the capital market
implies. I think before we go in the Czech Republic
into the final stage of the negotiations, I think we
still a very, very major job of educating our public of
what it really means to be part of the European Union.
///End act///
Mr. Pick says he hopes that austrians will have been sufficiently
well informed to ensure what he terms a reasonable result in
sunday's referendum.
One of austria's negotiators on E-U membership, Stefan Lehne,
says there are no plans for what to do in the event Austria
votes no.
///Lehne act///
One has to say that clearly any catastrophic scenario is
clearly unwarranted. Austria is strong enough to
survive also outside of the European Union. But the
negative consequences of non-membership are such that we
believe that within four or five years the question of
membership will be put again.
///End act///
Mr. Lehne says a no vote would put Austria in the same group
with the Czech Republic and the other new democracies, which are
not due to enter membership negotiations until after an E-U
summit in 1996. In Mr. Lehne's words, in the long term, there is
no alternative for Austria than to join the European Union.
The Czech Republic and the other central european democracies can
expect to win a variety of benefits as a result of austrian E-U
membership. Austrian banker Ernst Loudon of Vienna's
creditanstalt predicts a spillover effect of the expected boom in
business in Austria as companies from the rest of the European
Union expand into the austrian market.
///Loudon act///
In our need for a structural adaption of our production
costs, it will become increasingly more interesting to
invest in our neighboring countries.
///End act///
Mr. Laudon predicts that European Union membership would enable
Austria and later the Czech Republic to end their heavy
dependence on Germany as a trading partner by expanding trade
with other member states, much as he says E-U membership has
helped Ireland to reduce its dependence on Britain.
//Rest unvoiced opt//
Similarly, Gerhard Sabathil, E-U representative in Prague, says
austrian membership in the European Union will be a boon to the
Czech Republic by redirecting funds. He says that once Austria
joins the European Union, brussels' cross-border program for
financing the expansion of transfrontier infrastructure will be
extended to austrian projects along the border with the Czech
Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
The E-U emissary predicts austrian membership will also result in
a liberalization of austrian imports of agricultural goods from
the new democracies. The Czech Republic currently exports about
two thirds of its agricultural exports to the European Union and
only a tiny fraction of that to Austria. But with E-U
membership, austrian trade barriers would come down and Mr.
Sabathil predicts the czechs would be able to expand their
agricultural exports to Austria since agricultural trade between
the European Union and the Czech Republic is more liberal than
between the Czech Republic and Austria. (Signed)
neb/jn/mh/js
08-jun-94 2:26 pm edt (1826 utc)
nnnn
source: Voice of America
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