REPORT AIMS TO HELP WHOLESALER-DISTRIBUTORS FORECAST THEIR FUTURE

The Distribution Research & Education Foundation (DREF) is preparing its 2001 edition of the report Facing the Forces of Change. Updated and revised every three years, the new edition will create future scenarios that wholesale distribution executives can use to determine the route the industry and its companies might take to ensure their survival and growth.

It will provide readers with perspective on shifts in the wholesale distribution environment through forecasts by industry and association executives, analysts and other observers. “The use of scenarios,” said DREF executive director Ron Schreibman, “means wholesaler-distributors can explore previously unimagined but realistic alternative futures shaping their industry.”

The report is being prepared for a fall 2001 release. DREF is the research arm of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW). NAW can be contacted at 1725 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20006; tel. (202) 872-0885, fax (202) 785-0586. For a complete list of NAW publications, visit the web site at www.nawpubs.org.

VIDEO PROGRAM HELPS EMPLOYEES DEAL WITH RETIREMENT

Estimates project that over a quarter of Canada’s population will be retired in the next few years, opening up a large market for the business of helping people adjust to retirement. Professional Associated Counselling Executives (PACE) has developed a general retirement training video seminar/workshop that can be used to train employees for retirement or assist employees if they are downsized.

The program is designed to help people to have a happier and healthier life-style in retirement. Included in the program are seven strategies that show employees how to avoid making mistakes and nine ways to optimize their retirement.

For further information, contact Professional Associated Counselling Executives, P.O. Box 80020, A.P.O., Burlington, ON L7L 1B6; tel. (905) 637-9061; web site: www.leagroup.com.MRO

PTDA CONVENTION FOCUSES ON HOW TO SUCCEED

In today’s industrial business-to-business environment, the power in the supply chain increasingly rests with end users. To help companies cope with this trend, this year’s PTDA annual convention, to be held Oct. 25-28, 2000, at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Hawaii, will focus on the emerging rules and roles for succeeding in the new millennium.

The keynote speaker, Ira Blumenthal, president of Co-Opportunities, an Atlanta, Ga.-based business development company, will kick off the program with a discussion of the supplier-to-customer shift in the distribution channel. Round-table topics include E-Business: What’s Real, Tactics for the Independent Distributor and Meeting Customer Demands. Additional seminars will cover the looming e-commerce challenge.

For more details, contact PTDA at (312) 876-9461 or visit the web site at www.ptda.org.