HB Archives

1965
On a Budget

Talk about a deal. We found this ad from Budget Rent-A-Car in our February 1965 issue. Islanders could rent a Daihatsu station wagon for just $35 a week or $99 a month. The car, with manual transmission and utilitarian styling, wasn't much to look at. But it did get more than 35 miles to the gallon. Not only that, the car came with unlimited mileage and as much as $300,000 in liability and property-damage insurance. However, the best thing about the offer was that customers could return the car with an empty tank.

1970
The Japanese Are Coming, the Japanese Are Coming!

In the January 1970 article, “Japanese Automakers Lead in Foreign Car Sales,” Hawaii Business reported that, for the first time, automakers Toyota and Datsun had overtaken Volkswagen, the traditional leader in foreign car sales both nationally and in Hawaii. Crowded highways, higher gas prices and the availability of four-door models were credited for the newfound success of the upstart Japanese companies. In 1969, Toyota sold 4,252 cars, Datsun 4,197 and Volkswagen 3,553. Collectively, the foreigners accounted for about 30 percent of the state’s new-car market. In 2004, those ratios have been reversed: Sales of Japanese cars have a 59 percent share of the market, European manufacturers 9 percent and Korean cars account for 2 percent. Approximately 30 percent of all automobiles sold in 2004 were American. In 2003, seven of the top 10 best-selling cars in Hawaii were Japanese.

1985
Graduating with Honors

Just how valuable is a University of Hawaii MBA? Hawaii Business asked that question in an August 1985 article entitled “Making the Grade,” and found that a surprising number of Island business and community leaders received business graduate degrees at the Manoa campus. Among the grads were then-business reporter and news anchor Barbara Tanabe, Hawaii Electric Industries CEO Dudley Pratt and former Big Island mayor Herbert Matayoshi. However, the article also noted that starting salaries for recent UH MBA graduates lagged far behind their Mainland counterparts, sometimes as much as $15,000 a year. Among the reasons were an anemic job market and a glut of MBAers who tended to stay close to home. In 1985, the business college graduated 100 such students. One of the 10 most outstanding graduates from the Class of 1985 was 33-year-old Dee Jay Mailer, a former pediatric nurse and then the director of quality assurance at Kapiolani Medical Center. In a companion article entitled “Blessed to Be the Best,” Mailer said that, unlike many of her classmates, she was willing to leave Hawaii to further her career. Mailer would go far and far away. She would eventually head Kaiser Permanente Hawaii before leaving for California to become chief administrative officer for Health Net and later chief operating officer for The Global Fund, a private Swiss foundation fighting AIDS. Today, she’s back home. In January 2004, Mailer was named CEO of Kamehameha Schools.