Portal:Companies/Selected article
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[edit] Usage
The "Selected Article" box on the Portal page is randomly generated with the Random Portal Component template. To add an article to be randomly selected, you must:
- Find the next available subpage number from the list of articles below
- Make a new subpage of this page with that number (Portal:Companies/Selected article/<# here>)
- Write a summary of the article using the layout design at Portal:Companies/Selected article/Layout
- Link to the new subpage at the bottom of the list below, like the other subpages
- Update the "max=" attribute on the {{Random portal component}} in the "Selected Article" box on the main page to the number of the subpage you created
[edit] Selected articles list
Selection 1 |
Selection 2 The railway was originally built between eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885 (connecting with Ottawa Valley and Georgian Bay area lines built earlier), fulfilling a promise extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871. It was Canada's first transcontinental railway. Now primarily a freight railway, the CPR was for decades the only practical means of long distance passenger transport in most regions of Canada, and was instrumental in the settlement and development of Western Canada. The CP company became one of the largest and most powerful in Canada, a position it held as late as 1975.[1] Its primary passenger services were eliminated in 1986 after being assumed by VIA Rail Canada in 1978. A beaver was chosen as the railway's logo because it is one of the national symbols of Canada and represents the hardworking character of the company. The object of both praise and condemnation for over 120 years, the CPR remains an indisputable icon of Canadian nationalism. |
Selection 3 |
Selection 4 |
Selection 5 Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948 the airline has grown to serve 48 destinations on four continents. As the former national carrier of Israel, El Al has played an important role in Israel's humanitarian rescue efforts, airlifting Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen, and other countries where their lives were at risk. The airline holds the world record for the most passengers on a commercial aircraft, a record set by Operation Solomon when Jewish refugees were transported from Ethiopia. El Al is widely acknowledged as the world's most secure airline, after foiling many attempted hijackings and terror attacks through its security protocols. |
Selection 6 Industry publications, music retail trade, and bluegrass music journals have featured articles about the Elderly repair staff. The company also provides consignment services for rare and vintage instruments. Since its foundation in 1972, Elderly has undergone two major expansions: into mail order in 1975 and then into Internet sales in the 1990s. In 2005 it was the subject of a lawsuit by Gibson Guitar Corporation concerning trademark infringement. Today it is recognized internationally for its services and products; its mail order and Internet business account for 65–70 percent of its total revenue. Elderly grossed $12 million in 1999 and by 2007 was grossing $17 million annually. In addition to retail and repair services, Elderly Instruments is noted as a center of local music culture for bluegrass and "twang" music. Elderly Instruments operates a wholesale record distribution business, Sidestreet Distributing, in the lower level of its complex, servicing more than 300 small retail businesses. |
Selection 7 Holden bodyworks are manufactured at Elizabeth, South Australia, and engines are produced at Port Melbourne, Victoria. Historically, production or assembly plants were operated in all mainland states of Australia: Acacia Ridge, Queensland; Dandenong, Victoria; Mosman Park, Western Australia; Pagewood, New South Wales; and Woodville, South Australia. Until 1990, GM's New Zealand subsidiary Holden New Zealand operated a plant based in Trentham, with a plant in Petone running until 1984. The consolidation of car production at Elizabeth was completed in 1988, but some assembly operations continued at Dandenong until 1996. Although Holden's involvement in exports has fluctuated since the 1950s, the declining sales of large cars in Australia has led the company to look to international markets to increase profitability; in 2006, exports alone accounted for almost AU$1.3 billion in earnings. |
Selection 8 Throughout its history the company has been the target of criticism for various reasons, including monopoly status and anti-competitive business practices including refusal to deal and tying. The U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission, among others, have ruled against Microsoft for various antitrust violations. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Microsoft's best-selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. |
Selection 9 NeXT later released much of the NeXTSTEP system as a programming environment standard called OpenStep. NeXT withdrew from the hardware business in 1993 to concentrate on marketing OPENSTEP for several OEMs. NeXT also developed WebObjects, one of the first Enterprise web application frameworks. WebObjects never became very popular because of its initial high price of $50,000 but remains a prominent early example of a web server based on dynamic page generation rather than static content. Apple purchased NeXT on December 20, 1996 for $429 million, and much of the current Mac OS X system is built on the OPENSTEP foundation. WebObjects is now bundled with Mac OS X Server and Xcode. |
Selection 10 Competitive pressure and financial troubles resulted in the company's liquidation in 1928. The company’s assets were purchased by investors who formed The British Oliver Typewriter Company, which manufactured and licensed the machines until its own closure in the late 1950s. The last Oliver typewriter was produced in 1959. |
Selection 11 The Pan Am brand was resurrected four times after 1991, although the reincarnations were related to Pan Am in name only. The first operated from 1996 to 1998, with a focus on low-cost, long-distance flights between the U.S. and the Caribbean with the IATA airline designator PN. The second was unrelated to the first and was a small regional carrier based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that operated between 1998 and 2004. It used the IATA code PA, and the ICAO code PAA. Boston-Maine Airways, a sister company of the second reincarnation, operated the "Pan Am Clipper Connection" brand from 2004 to February 2008. Since 2006, the Pan Am brand, colors, and logos have been used by Pan Am Railways, a regional railroad operating in northern New England. The second reincarnation of Pan American Airways, Boston-Maine Airways, and Pan Am Railways were owned by Pan Am Systems. |
Selection 12 The company experienced strong growth from its incorporation in 1985, expanding its distribution network from California to most of North America, and went public in 1993. However, a period of decline occurred as a result of a fatal outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in 1996 caused by contamination of its apple juice. Odwalla recalled its juices and experienced a ninety-percent reduction in sales following the event. The company gradually recovered, and, after a few years, was making a profit again. Odwalla was acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 2001 for $181 million. Odwalla's range of products includes juices, smoothies, dairy-free soy milk, and similar organic beverages, as well as several flavors of energy bars, known as food bars, and bottled spring water. While Odwalla originally sold unpasteurized juices (because the process of pasteurization alters the flavor of juice), following the E. coli outbreak, Odwalla adopted flash pasteurization and other industry-standard safety procedures. |
