2. Hoover´s Handbook

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Hoover's Handbook of American Business

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About Hoover's Handbook of American Business

American business is changing every day. From the first snake-oil salesmen hawking patent medicines to the online entrepreneur selling Internet access, American business has gone through many changes over the years. Hoover's Handbooks of American Business have followed these stories since 1990, when we first published Hoover's Handbook 1991: Profiles of Over 500 Major Corporations. We've changed, too, to keep pace with the times, but we think you will find the Hoover's Handbook of American Business 1998 to be the same reliable source of quality, reasonably priced company information that you have come to depend on. We've expanded our coverage of the top public companies to make this version, at 750 profiles, our largest Hoover's Handbook of American Business to date.

This two-volume 1998 version of Hoover's Handbook of American Business is the first of a four-title series that will be made available as an indexed set. The three other titles are Hoover's Handbook of Emerging Companies, Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies, and Hoover's Handbook of World Companies.

In addition to the 1,500 companies covered in our books, more than 1,200 other profiles are available in electronic format as part of our World Wide Web site, Hoover's Online ( www.hoovers.com ), and on CD-ROM (Hoover's Company Profiles on CD-ROM). This year we redesigned our Web site to make it more accessible and informative, adding feature stories; links to news articles, CEO biographies, and related sites; and more financial information.

As the online medium has grown, so have our offerings. In addition to Hoover's Online, we also offer three sites of specific interest to business information consumers: Cyberstocks ( www.Cyberstocks.com ), the companion Web site to the book Cyberstocks: An Investor's Guide to Internet Companies; Stockscreener ( www.stockscreener.com ), which enables potential investors to search for stocks based on up to 20 different performance criteria; and IPO Central ( www.ipocentral.com ), which offers free information on companies filing to go public. Additionally, Hoover's Company Information is available on over 25 other sites on the Internet, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and online services Infoseek and Pathfinder.

We welcome the recognition we have received as the premier provider of high-quality company information (electronically, online, and in print) and continue to look for ways to make our products more available and more useful to you.

We believe that anyone who buys from, sells to, invests in, lends to, competes with, interviews with, or works for a company should know about that enterprise. Taken together, this book and the other Hoover's products and resources represent the most complete source of basic corporate in- formation readily available to the general public.

This latest version of Hoover's Handbook of American Business contains, as always, profiles of the largest and most influential companies in the United States. Each of the 750 companies profiled here was chosen because of its important role in American business. For more details on how these companies were selected, see the section of this book titled "Using the Profiles". This book consists of four sections:

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Tht 100 Fastest-Growing Companies by Sales

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53

Overview
From infancy to affluence, the Gap has got you (or your body) covered. Based in San Francisco, the vertically integrated clothing company operates about 1,900 retail outlets under the names babyGap, Banana Republic, Gap, GapKids, and Old Navy. Almost all of the Gap's merchandise is private label.
Though the company has experienced record sales and earnings, its newest chain, Old Navy, is the Gap's main source of growth. Old Navy has quickly expanded to almost 200 locations. The units resemble upscale warehouses, with concrete floors and exposed pipes, and offer casual apparel at low prices. The Banana Republic division, which offers upscale clothing and accessories for the over-30 crowd, has introduced a shoe line as well as personal care products with success.The company's Gap stores are lagging behind its other chains, in part because they strayed from the tried-and-true classics male customers had come to expect (jeans, T-shirts, and khakis) in favor of trendier styles. The chain is trying to recapture this market and update its image through a new advertising campaign pitching Gap's "Easy Fit Jeans." Gap stores have also introduced high-end items such as perfume and skin products.
clothing and accessories for the over-30 crowd, has introduced a shoe line as well as personal care products with success.The company's Gap stores are lagging behind its other chains, in part because they strayed from the tried-and-true classics male customers had come to expect (jeans, T-shirts, and khakis) in favor of trendier styles. The chain is trying to recapture this market and update its image through a new advertising campaign pitching Gap's "Easy Fit Jeans." Gap stores have also introduced high-end items such as perfume and skin products. Founders Donald and Doris Fisher own 24% of the company.

When
In 1969 Donald Fisher and his wife, Doris, opened a small store near what is now San Francisco State University. The couple named their store the Gap (after "the generation gap" and concentrated on selling Levi's jeans. The couple opened a second store in San Jose eight months later, and by the end of 1970 there were six Gap stores. In the beginning the Fishers catered almost exclusively to teenagers, b in the 1970s they expanded into active wear that would appeal to a larger spectrum of customers. Nevertheless, by the early 1980s the Gap was still dependent upon its largely teenage customer base.
In a 1983 effort to revamp the company's image, Fisher hired Mickey Drexler, a former president of Ann Taylor who had a spotless track record in the apparel industry, as the Gap's new president. Drexler immediately overhauled the motley clothing lines to concentrate on sturdy, brightly colored cotton clothing. He also consolidated the stores' many private clothing labels into the Gap brand. As a final touch Drexler ripped out the stores' circular clothing racks and installed white shelving where the clothes could be neatly stacked and displayed.
Also in 1983 the company bought Banana Republic, a unique chain of stores that sold safari clothing in a jungle decor. The company expanded the chain, which enjoyed tremendous success in the mid-1980s; however, after the novelty of the stores wore off all the late 1980s, sales went into a slump. Drexler responded by introducing a broader range of clothes (including higher-priced leather items) and playing down the jungle image. By 1990 Banana Republic was again profitable.
The retailer opened its first GapKids in 1985 after Drexler couldn't find clothing that he liked for his son. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Gap continued to grow rapidly, opening its first stores in Canada and the UK. In 1990 it introduced babyGap in 25 GapKids stores, featuring miniature versions of its GapKids line. The company announced in 1991 it would no longer sell Levi's (which had fallen to less than 2% of total sales) and would go completely private label. The Gap's earnings fell in fiscal 1993 because of Gap division losses brought on by low margins and high rents. It shuffled management positions and titles as part of a streamlining effort. The company rebounded in 1994, concentrating more on improving profit margins than increasing sales. That year the Gap launched Old Navy Clothing Co., which by 1996 accounted for 16% of sales. In 1995 the company launched a line of body and bath products at Banana Republic, which that year opened its first two stores outside the US, in Canada's Edmonton and Toronto. During 1996 the company opened 203 new stores. The Gap also teamed up with the NBA to offer kid's clothes featuring the New York Knick's, Los Angeles Laker's, and Chicago Bull's logos, making it the first major retailer allowed to use team logos on its own clothes. In 1997 Robert Fisher (the founders' son) became the new president of the Gap division (including babyGap and GapKids), and was charged with turning around the segment's sales decline

1997 Fiscal
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