The Final Word by Jim Thompson


Harris DeLoach, chairman, president, and CEO of Sonoco Products, likes to talk about the Chinese symbol for “crisis.” It is made up of two symbols actually, the one for “danger” and the one for “opportunity” or "crucial point." This precisely describes where we are now, as an industry and as modern economies. Management skill will be manifest as the months of 2009 transpire. There will not be as many paper manufacturing sites or paper companies a year from now. The difference between the survivors and the failures will not be the grades they produce, a conclusion one might reach from my opening editorial, but rather management acumen, for at the end of the year, all grades made now will still be made. There are some, however, that will be made in much lower quantities.