The Politics of the Alliance Never Really Became a Politics of Mutual Appendix: a New Career As Corporate Executive
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the politics of the alliance never really became a politics of mutual Appendix: A New Career as Corporate Executive As Norstad approached the end of his military career, he was still a young man. He had made many important contacts both at home and abroad, and was therefore in a strong position to embark on a promising second career. But, as he said: "I ruled out exploiting my military connections, and I am going com pletely away from the armaments business." 1 In fact, he was attracted, but not seriously, toward a university appointment, which is why Professor Norman Gibbs, the Chichele Professor of the History of War at All Souls College, Oxford, offered to arrange for him a visiting appointment at All Souls. 2 He found himself more attracted to a career as a corporate executive. His criteria were: "I wanted to work with some company that had no significant business with the Government. I wanted to work with a big company because I had always worked with big organizations. I wanted to work with a company where I could feel that I could learn enough about it to be a factor in it, to be an influence."3 The former US Ambassador to France, Amory Houghton, head of the Corning Glass Works, wrote to him in August 1962: "Your resignation saddens me as I realize so clearly what a gap in the NATO picture your departure will mean .... I cannot let this moment go by without telling you how greatly I admire the job you have done. Perhaps having seen you at work first hand I can to an unusual degree appreciate the intelligence, vigor, skill and patience that were a part of your leadership as Supreme Commander. You should get great satisfaction out of your performance. "4 Norstad replied that he did not "at the moment" have any firms plans for the future, which might have sent a signal to Houghton to so inform Harold Boeschenstein, the head of the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation (OCF). Boeschenstein recounted how Norstad was recruited: "Everybody was bidding for Norstad before he retired. But I flew over to Europe for a weekend and he agreed to come even though we never even talked salary until later. "5 Norstad joined OCF on January 17, 1963 when he was named President of OCF International and at the same time was elected to the Board of Directors of the parent company. Time Magazine reported on January 25: "Nattily turned out in a grey civilian suit complete with vest, former NATO Supreme Commander Lauris Norstad, 55, showed up in Manhattan to take on a new post: president of the international division of Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp."6 An interesting aspect of the new post was that OCF International was planning at that time to open a branch office and distribution operation in Belgium as a forerunner to establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary with manufacturing facilities in Western Europe. 7 Probably not coincidentally, one of Norstad's first appointments was to name Roger van den Ferre as his Vice President. Van den Ferre, a French citizen, had been with the French Petroleum Company as its US representative since 1945. He undoubtedly would be effective in the Western European activities of the company.8 On December 19, 1963, only eleven months later, Norstad was elected President of the parent company, succeeding Harold Boeschenstein who had been President 224 A New Career as Corporate Executive 225 since OCF was organized.9 The Norstads then moved to a large apartment in Toledo, where they participated in the civic life of the community and continued, of course, to play golf regularly. Boeschenstein was elected Chairman of the Board, and continued as Chief Executive Officer, with Norstad as Chief Operating Officer.l0 Norstad was to perform a very important role in transitioning the company from the corporate culture of the 1930s and 1940s to a culture that was more attuned to the rapidly-changing manufacturing and marketing conditions of the 1960s. He had to do it under some delicate "executive suite" circumstances. As it was put: "Harold Boeschenstein has not so much stepped aside as he has moved over to make room for Norstad; for though he is 67, Boeschenstein shows no sign of retiring to the golf course."11 Norstad not only established cordial relations with the father but also with Boeschenstein's son, William, who was at that time Vice President-Marketing. As a military man accustomed to undergoing frequent changes of command, he understood that here was a situation over which he had little control. In the event, Norstad and William became allies. With Norstad's support, William changed OCF's marketing focus from one oriented to product lines, to an orientation along marketing lines. This was accomplished by concentrating on particular markets and specializing in their needs and characteristics. For example, to meet the needs of the automotive market, William recruited sales people with an automobile background so that they could approach people in the automobile industry with the facts, figures, and experiences that would be of particular meaning to that industry. He noted that this marketing strategy was particularly important to a company that had a broad product line in which it must pioneer to have its products accepted. 12 One way that Norstad contributed to management improvement was to change the system under which the divisions made their sales and cost projections. "In the army," Norstad observed, "a general maintains control or leverage by the way he uses his reserves. This new projection system allows us to hold more of the available dollars in reserves to exploit opportunities or to shore up danger spots." The system forced the division managers to make two sets of projections, one based on what they were sure that they were going to do in the way of business and the other reflecting what they hoped to get. "You'd be amazed how a relatively crude system like this disciplines our men to weed out the sheer guesses." 13 Norstad also worked to improve both the quantity and quality of the information upon which the top management based their decisions. In February 1966, for example, he established the position of operations analysis manager, who was responsible for the develop ment and the administration of corporate operating plans for major profit improvement programs.14 On October 19, 1967 OCF experienced a major transitional shift as Harold Boeschenstein retired as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, although he continued as Chairman of the Board's Executive Committee. Norstad moved up to Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. These two experienced executives - although a generation apart not only in age but also in professional managerial outlook - continued to work together effectively even if at times uneasily. When the new 28 story Fiberglas Tower, built on the river front in downtown Toledo, was completed in 1968, they both signed their names on the 226 Appendix gold-painted top-of-the-tower steel beam in the ceremony that marked its completion.15 Norstad organized three groups, each with vice presidents. There was the Textile and Industrial Group, headed by Fowler Blauvelt, with responsibility for the production and marketing of fiber glass materials for industrial markets; the Construction Group, headed by Charles E. Peck; and the International Group, headed by Richard Muzzy. 16 In moves toward further consolidation, Norstad created two new positions, those of Corporate Economist and Corporate Security Director. The Corporate Economist would analyze business conditions and economic factors influencing the company's organization, operations, and development. Undoubtedly, this position had a direct relationship to the increasing emphasis on corporate planning - planning being, of course, Norstad's forteY Norstad also took a strong personal interest in the Owens-Corning Technical Center, located in Granville, Ohio. He frequently visited the Granville operation and established ties with the local college, Dennison University. Norstad inaugu rated the first of several public lectures at Dennison under the sponsorship of OCF, which brought distinguished friends of Norstad to the mid-west campus. 18 In 1968-69, the Owens-Coming Lecturers were former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and Senator]. William Fulbright who at the time was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Other lecturers that Norstad obtained were Helmut Schmidt, George Kennan, and Dean Acheson. 19 Everything was not positive during Norstad's time as CEO. For example, in the fall of 1970, he had to report a drop in sales and net earnings. He explained: "Our sales have been adversely affected by the general softness that has charac terized the national economy this year. Sales weakness, spread across many areas of consumer interest, has limited our growth in 1970, while the costs of essential goods and services have materially increased."20 Strikes in the automo bile industry were an important contributing factor, because this resulted in reduced sales in textiles. In August 1971 Harold Boeschenstein retired from the board and his son William was elevated from Executive Vice President to President and Chief Operating Officer of OCF. 21 It was said at the time: "Few corporate executives in [Harold Boeschenstein's] time plunged more deeply or with more energy and dynamism into doing their job well - spectacularly well in his case - than did Mr. Boeschenstein .... As Mr. Boeschenstein ends a SO-year career in the glass industry, the presidency- and the challenge of leading this corporation in the years ahead - falls to his son, William, of whom he once said that he had demanded more in the way of performance than of anyone else in the company."22 Only a year later, in August 1972, Norstad announced that he would retire on January 1, 1973.