     The expression "a thriving business" is one that you may have heard 
many times.  Think for a moment what it means; a company that is healthy, 
shows a profit, and goes forward with the times.  A company that does not 
thrive can not exist very long.
     Communication has become one of the most important aspects of modern 
business life.  No matter what the size of the company, communication is 
most significant.  Even the smallest enterprise would be hard hit if the 
owner could not convey correct orders to his suppliers or communicate con-
vincingly with his customers.  Medium-sized companies and larger ones, with 
their multiplicity of employees, rely even more heavily on the art of com-
munication.  Every level of a firm is involved.  The board of directors 
must clearly communicate its policy decisions to executives, who in turn 
must communicate with supervisors.  Supervisors have departments.  Com-
munication must be effective if a firm is to function as an organic whole.
     The first coin was made in China.  Some Chinese businessman must have 
gotten tired of carrying a heavy load of fishhooks and knives and shirts to 
pay a large bill.  So he made a model of the top part of a shirt on metal.  
It was round and had a hole in the center.  The money was round, according 
to one story, so that it could roll from place to place.
     Stone money was one of the most curious kinds.  It was made on the is-
land of Yap in the Pacific.  A stone "coin" measured 5 feet in diameter and 
was 7 inches thick.  There was a hole at the center so that the "coin" 
could be carried on a pole by two men.  It must have been heavy to carry 
around.  A stone coin was worth 10,000 coconuts or one wife.
     Different countries have used different metals and designs for their 
money.  The first coins in England were made of tin.  Sweden and Russia 
used copper to make their money.  Some of the Swedish copper money weighed 
more than 30 pounds.  It must have been inconvenient.  When people wanted 
to pay a big bill, they had to use an oxcart.
     The Letter of Credit (its abbreviation is L/C) is essential in the fi-
nance of international trade.  It is a reliable and safe method of payment, 
and it protects the seller as well as the buyer.  The seller (or exporter) 
needs the Letter of Credit because the buyer may be a new customer, and the 
exporter may know nothing about his credit status.  Even if the buyer is a 
regular customer, his credit with his bank may change from time to time and 
the seller's bank may not have enough information from the buyer's bank to 
arrange a banker's transfer, which is the other major method of financing 
international trade.  A banker's transfer is usually made through sending a 
telegraphic message, that is an order, called a telegraphic transfer, sent 
from a bank by telegraph or cable to an overseas bank to pay money to an 
exporter in the overseas country.  The overseas bank is usually a corres-
pondent or agent bank, although sometimes banks have a branch in the over-
seas country.
     Expanded academic exchanges between Taiwan and the mainland should be 
allowed and encouraged.  They benefit both sides.  Scholars and scientists 
in Taiwan have the advantages of greater academic freedom and financial re-
sources than their counterparts on the mainland.  The academics on the 
mainland, on the other hand, especially those who study humanities subject, 
have access to valuable data not easily available in Taiwan.  The condition 
on the two sides, therefore, complement each other.
     The prosperity of our society has greatly heightened the life expect-
ancy of our people in recent decades, with the result that the proportion 
of aged people in the population has increased considerably.  The propor-
tion, according to the authorities, will grow to 8.4 percent by the year 
2000.  Problems stemming from the presence of a large number of senior 
citizens have begun to surface.
     All levels of government in Taiwan recently imposed restrictions to 
force local KTV, MTV and sauna bath center to close at 3 a.m.  In the first 
few days of this new policy, police did not encounter many violent reaction 
from business owners.  But as expected many operators were strongly dis-
satisfied with the new measure and simply gave the impression that they had 
stopped business only to continue to provide service to customers.
     Management buyouts are evolving into offensive weapons too.  "They can 
be viewed as offers made by internal raiders." notes Alfred Rappaport, pro-
fessor of accounting at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Manage-
ment.  In one snarled battle, investors, led by the former chairman of a 
Beatrice acquisiton, offered nearly $5 billion for Beatrice, which last 
month reject the bid.  Now Beatrice may be turning to outsiders for help.  
Said one Chicogo lawyer:  "Their investment bankers are burning up the 
phone lines looking for a white knight."
     Beatrice last week received word of a different kind of proposal that 
the firm may wish to ponder.  It came from Warren Avis, founder of the Avis 
car rental company.  The entrepreneur, who sold Avis in 1954, said he wants 
to buy it back from Beatrice, which has owned the business for little more 
than a year.  Avis said he has assembled a group of private, international 
investors who hope to acquire the auto concern, which operates in more than 
100 countries and is worth an estimated $400 million.
     Management buyouts are hot and growing hotter because they have so far 
produced countless winners and few if any losers.  A typical deal involves 
bankers, institutional investors, Wall Street firms that specialize in 
buyouts, and the managers of acquired companies.  To start a transaction, 
the executives turn to Wall Street experts to arrange financing.  "We look 
for three things," says Leonard Shaykin, managing partner of Adler / Shay-
kin, an investment house that specializes in buyouts.  "They are consistent 
past profits, predictable future and quality management."
