TOP 100

1) TIAA-CREF

730 Third Ave., New York, 10017

212-490-9000

www.tiaa-cref.com

Revenue: $38.1 billion

Industry: Financial services

CEO: John H. Biggs

Employees: 6,000

Everyone knows it as TIAA-CREF, which stands for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund. It's one of the nation's larger private pension systems, providing for teachers and other academic staff members and some non-academic investors.

TIAA-CREF's core offerings include pension funds, annuities and individual retirement accounts, while TIAA-CREF Enterprises offers tuition financing, education IRAs and trust services. Other products include life, health and disability insurance and mutual funds.

The 80-year-old company has more than $290 billion in assets under management and is a major institutional investor in other companies.

2) New York Life Insurance Co.

51 Madison Ave., New York, 10010

212-576-7000

www.newyorklife.com

Revenue: $21.6 billion

Industry: Insurance

CEO: Sy Steinberg

Employees: 6,000

The 156-year-old company is the nation's sixth-largest life insurer but, unlike its peers, remains private. New York Life has three key businesses: life insurance and annuity products for U.S. policyholders; an international arm, which provides insurance to policyholders overseas; and an investment management division.

In June the company bought the privately held San Francisco firm McMorgan & Co. in a move to build its asset management division. The company's ventures overseas and its well-performing asset management arm have boosted operating earnings. In spite of the strong performance, the company hit a bump in the road earlier this year when it was slapped with a lawsuit for charging tens of millions of dollars in excess fees to retirement plans it maintains for its workers and sales agents.

3) PricewaterhouseCoopers

1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, 10019

646-471-4000

www.pwcglobal.com

Revenue: $21.5 billion

Industry: Accounting and professional

services

CEO: James J. Shiro

Employees: 150,000; local, 6,780

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world's largest accounting firm, was formed through the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand in 1998. Both those organizations have historical roots going back 150 years.

In addition to audit services, Pricewaterhouse provides tax, risk management, management consulting and other services to clients in about 150 countries. About 60 percent of its revenue is earned in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.

The firm's fiscal 2000 revenue represented a 15 percent increase over the previous year. But due to the slowing economy, Pricewaterhouse recently reduced employment in its consulting group and considered cutting salaries in that unit. The company cut 1,400 employees of the management consulting group in the first half of this year, and announced in August that it may eliminate as many as 750 more jobs in the unit this fall.

4) Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

1633 Broadway, New York, 10019

212-492-4000

www.deloitte.com

Revenue: $11.2 billion

Industry: Accounting and other professional services

CEO: James E. Copeland Jr.

Employees: 92,064; local, 3,944

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu offers services including accounting and auditing, tax consulting and strategic planning in more than 130 countries. In the United States it operates as Deloitte & Touche LLP, and employs about 30,000 people in more than 100 U.S. cities.

The global firm traces its origins to 1845, when William Deloitte opened an accounting office in London that at first specialized in bankruptcy. A few years later, Deloitte was appointed independent auditor - the first anywhere - for the Great Western Railway. The company's first U.S. office opened in 1890. In 1952 the firm became partners with Haskins & Sells, and in 1989 it joined with Touche Ross.

In 1995 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu - the last word in the company's name comes from its Japanese affiliate, Ross Tohmatsu, founded in 1968 - formed Deloitte & Touche Consulting to consolidate its consulting operations in the United States and United Kingdom. The consulting unit, which sold its computer programming subsidiary in 1999, announced in 2000 that it would start a business-to-business e-commerce venture with Chase Manhattan, now J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

5) Ernst & Young International

787 Seventh Ave., New York, 10019

212-773-3000

www.ey.com

Revenue: $9.2 billion

Industry: Accounting and other professional services

CEO: William L. Kimsey

Employees: 80,000; local, 4,000

Ernst & Young has about 660 offices in 130 countries. In addition to traditional audit and tax services, the company offers services including corporate finance, online security and risk management. It also offers legal services in parts of the world that permit it to do so.

After keeping the books for a hat-making business, Frederick Whinney joined an accounting firm in the United Kingdom in 1849. That accounting firm, known as Whinney, Smith & Whinney, formed an alliance with the Cleveland firm Ernst & Ernst shortly after World War II. The combined firm continued to grow through mergers, including one with Arthur Young in 1989. But in 1998, it called off a planned merger with KPMG International, citing regulatory uncertainties.

In 2000, Ernst & Young sold its consulting arm to the French consultancy Cap Gemini Group. It thus became the first of the so-called "Big Five" accounting firms to separate its auditing and consulting functions at a time when regulators were pressing the industry to do so.

6) The Trump Organization

725 Fifth Ave., New York, 10022

212-832-2000

www.trumponline.com

Revenue: $8 billion

Industry: Real estate development, casinos

CEO: Donald Trump

Employees: 22,000; local, 2,000

Trump continues to look for ways to expand his empire even as some parts of it have run into turbulence.

The developer and casino operator is completing a 70-story apartment tower across from the United Nations. He agreed to pay $295 million for partner Conseco's 50-percent share of the General Motors Building across from Central Park.

Trump said he was in talks to buy a 106,000-square-foot building at 30 Wall St. in lower Manhattan valued at $25 million. The building is next to 40 Wall St., the 70-story tower that Trump bought in 1995 for less than $8 million.

In Chicago, Trump and Chicago Sun-Times owner Hollinger International agreed to replace the newspaper's waterfront headquarters with a mixed-use tower, possibly the world's tallest.

Meanwhile, stock in Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts has suffered this year as debt analysts raised questions about the company's ability to make interest payments on junk notes. Despite that, Trump was looking at expanding the Trump Marina casino in Atlantic City now that a 2,200-foot tunnel linking the marina area to the Atlantic City Expressway has opened.

7) MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings

35 E. 62nd St., New York, 10021

212-688-9000

www.revlon.com

Revenue: $6 billion

Industry: Holding company for cosmetics (Revlon); savings and loan (Golden State Bancorp); motion picture camera

manufacturer (Panavision)

CEO: Ronald O. Perelman

Employees: 19,500; local, 500

Amid mounting debt and the declining value of investments in Revlon and Sunbeam Corp., which declared bankruptcy, Ronald Perelman's fortune reportedly may have dropped by half to about $2.5 billion.

Revlon has scaled back amid a string of losses, selling its worldwide professional products business, Plusbelle product line and Colorama, while closing three factories to shrink the work force by 1,115 employees, or 13 percent.

Revlon, which was the top-selling U.S. cosmetics brand as recently as 1998, has slipped to second place. The market shares for Revlon brands have been flat or down, and heavy discounting by competitors has hurt.

8

Advance Publications Inc.

950 Fingerboard Rd., Staten Island, 10305

718-981-1234

Web site: none

Revenue: $4 billion

Industry: Media and communications

CEO: Samuel I. Newhouse Jr.

Employees: 20,000

Advance Publications owns Conde Nast magazines, including Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker; Fairchild Publications, which includes Women's Wear Daily; newspapers in 26 cities, including the Staten Island Advance and The Star-Ledger in Newark; and cable TV interests.

Advance bought Golf Digest and other golf publications from The New York Times Co. earlier this year for $435 million. It's a partner is AdOne, an online classified advertising network.

The company is owned by the Newhouse family.

KPMG LLP

345 Park Ave., New York, 10153

212-909-5000

www.us.kpmg.com

Revenue: $5.4 billion

Industry: Accounting and other

professional services

CEO: Stephen G. Butler

Employees: 26,900; local, 2,285

KPMG, an accounting and tax firm, is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International, which is headquartered in Amsterdam.

KPMG International, which has 108,000 employees in 159 countries, was formed by the 1987 merger of Peat Marwick International with Klynveld Main Goerdeler, an international accounting federation. The firm focuses on providing services to five lines of business: consumer markets, financial services, the health care and public sector, industrial companies, and the information, communications and entertainment sector.

In 1997, KPMG announced a merger with Ernst & Young, but the deal was called off because of expected difficulties winning regulatory approval.

In 2000, KPMG severed itself from its consulting operations, which became the separate firm KPMG Consulting Inc. New York-based KPMG Consulting went public in February and trades on the Nasdaq.

ContiGroup Cos.

277 Park Ave., New York, 10172

212-207-5100

www.contigroup.com

Revenue: $4 billion

Industry: Pork and poultry producer

CEO: Paul J. Fribourg

Employees: 14,500; local, 60

ContiGroup, a pork and poultry producer and cattle feeder, was founded in Belgium in 1813 and previously operated in the United States under the well-known name Continental Grain Co. The name changed to ContiGroup in 1999 when the company sold its commodity marketing operations to focus on meat proteins.

ContiGroup's businesses span the globe, from shrimp farms in Ecuador to poultry businesses in China. A spokesman said the ContiGroup poultry business, Wayne Farms LLC, recorded its third straight year of record results.

In December, ContiSea LLC, a joint venture of ContiGroup and Seaboard Corp., signed a letter of intent to merge with Fjord Seafood ASA.

Lefrak Organization

97-77 Queens Blvd., Rego Park, 11374

718-459-9021

www.lefrak.com

Revenue: $3.8 billion

Industry: Real estate development, oil,

natural gas, entertainment

CEO: Samuel J. LeFrak

Employees: 16,110

This diversified company, the largest that has its headquarters in Queens, is profiled elsewhere in this section.

McKinsey & Co.

55 E. 52nd St., New York, 10022

212-446-7000

www.mckinsey.com

Revenue: $3.4 billion

Industry: Management consulting

Managing Director: Rajat Gupta

Employees: 13,500; local, 775

The 75-year-old management consulting firm, whose expertise includes corporate finance, marketing, organization, technology management and strategy, has updated its operations by creating a corporate finance practice giving advice on big deals.

The firm, which has 85 offices in 44 countries, is run as a private partnership. In addition to companies, the firm's clients include foreign governments, foundations and associations.

Among the firm's pro bono projects, it recently advised the New York City Board of Education on its plan to streamline and decentralize. It also helped public school systems in Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. And it worked with major pharmaceutical companies to develop a new approach to drug distribution in Africa.

Rosenthal & Rosenthal

1370 Broadway, New York, 10018

212-356-1400

www.rosenthalinc.com

Revenue: $2.9 billion

Industry: Factoring and finance

CEO: Stephen J. Rosenthal

Employees: 235

Because factoring, or lending against receivables, is an interest-sensitive business, Rosenthal & Rosenthal has suffered a profit squeeze as a result of lowered rates.

"Clients are not borrowing so much," said chief financial officer Richard Prizer. "They're not carrying inventory, or they're carrying less inventory and being more cautious." Nevertheless, he said, the firm maintains a "very substantial net worth."

In the past, the company's main areas of operation were apparel and textiles. Today, Rosenthal & Rosenthal has concentrated marketing efforts to expand its business in the service industries, including cars and limousines, office cleaning and temporary health care services.

The Hearst Corp.

959 Eighth Ave., New York, 10019

212-649-2000

www.hearst.com

Revenue: $2.7 billion

Industry: Media and communications

CEO: Frank A. Bennack Jr.

Employees: NA

Hearst owns a dozen daily newspapers, including two of the nation's 15 largest in circulation, The Houston Chronicle and the San Francisco Chronicle. It also owns 16 U.S. magazines, television stations and stakes in several cable networks, including ESPN, Lifetime and A&E.

Hearst recently shuffled editors among three of its women's and fashion magazines - Harper's Bazaar, Redbook and Marie Claire.

The launch of O, The Oprah Magazine, has been highly successful and in July the rate base was increased to 1.9 million.

The company is owned by the Hearst family.

Bloomberg L.P.

499 Park Ave., New York, 10022

212-318-2000

www.bloomberg.com

Revenue: $2.5 billion

Industry: Financial media company

COO: Lex Fenwick

Employees: 7,800; local, 2,700

Founder Michael Bloomberg left the company in June to start campaigning for mayor. If he loses the race he doesn't plan to return to Bloomberg, which he started 20 years ago. Instead he will devote himself to public service or philanthropy.

Bloomberg had 150,000 terminals installed worldwide at the end of 2000; that number is expected to grow about 11 percent to 166,000 by year end. The terminals provide up-to-the-minute prices and analytical data on stocks, bonds and financial instruments, as well as news and other information.

Bloomberg owns 72 percent of the firm; Merrill Lynch owns 20 percent and other original partners the remainder.

Transammonia Inc.

350 Park Ave., New York, 10022

212-223-3200

Web site: none

Revenue: $2.4 billion

Industry: Fertilizer, liquefied petroleum

gas and petrochemicals

CEO: Ronald P. Stanton

Employees: 211; local, 40

One of the world's largest traders in fertilizer, liquefied petroleum gas and petrochemicals, Transammonia operates 27 regional offices around the world to oversee trading, distributing and transporting those products.

From a small headquarters in Manhattan, the company has an international reach. Trading offices operate in seven cities in the United States, Europe and China. A subsidiary ships propane from the North Sea, Algeria and Venezuela, and terminals receive shipments in Newington, N.H., and Tampa, Fla. The company is currently building an ammonia plant in Algeria in a joint venture with the German company Firtzwerder.

Tishman Realty & Construction Co.

666 Fifth Ave., New York, 10103

212-399-3600

www.tishman.com

Revenue: $2.3 billion

Industry: Construction management, real estate development, hotel and real estate management

CEO: John A. Vickers

Employees: 911; local, 485

Founded in 1898, Tishman projects have included the World Trade Center, the John Hancock Center in Chicago and Walt Disney Co.'s EPCOT Center in Orlando.

Recent projects include the 45-story Westin New York at Times Square, scheduled for completion next year, and the recently opened 32-story Reuters Americas headquarters at 3 Times Square.

Tishman also is building a new theater under Carnegie Hall called the Judy and Arthur Zankel Hall and a 32-story office tower at 745 Seventh Avenue at 49th Street for Morgan Stanley.

In Atlantic City, it is joint construction manager for the 40-story Borgata casino/hotel, a $1 billion project being developed by MGM Mirage and Boyd Gaming Corp. and scheduled for completion in 2003.

Structure Tone Inc.

15 E. 26th St., New York, 10010

212-481-6100

www.structuretone.com

Revenue: $2 billion

Industry: Construction management, generalcontracting

President: Anthony Carvette

Employees: 1,000-plus

The future home of the Bloomberg company headquarters will soon spring from the big hole on 59th Street between Lexington and Third avenues at the old Alexander's department store site. The contract for the building's interior was recently awarded to Structure Tone, one of the largest interior construction companies in New York City, if not the world.

In business for 30 years, the company remains family-run, with a heavyweight client roster that includes Merrill Lynch, Chase Bank and other Fortune 500 companies. Last year was one of the company's most successful, yet concern over the economy has prompted an effort to focus on smaller projects to balance the larger jobs.

Formed in 1971, Structure Tone initially performed only interior work, but it has expanded its services to include construction management for entire building projects. It has offices in 11 U.S. cities.

Renco Group Inc.

30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, 10112

212-541-6000

Web site: none

Revenue: $1.9 billion

Industry: Steel, coal and vehicles

CEO: Ira Rennert

Employees: 10,243; local, 12

Owned by Sagaponack industrialist Ira Rennert, the Renco Group is a holding company for a number of different companies, including AM General, which manufactures the Humvee for the military and the Hummer for civilians; two steel companies and a coal mining company.

In 2000, Renco gained notoriety after giving $100,000 to the Giuliani Victory Committee, a joint committee of the mayor's campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Now-U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton criticized the donation, referring to Renco as a polluter. Although Giuliani dismissed her claims, Time magazine identified Rennert as the principal in three companies that have been cited for pollution problems.

Kinray Inc.

152-35 10th Ave., Whitestone, 11357

800-854-6729, 718-767-1234

www.kinray.com

Revenue: $1.6 billion

Industry: Distribution of pharmaceuticals

and over-the-counter merchandise

CEO: Stewart Rahr

Employees: 450

Kinray is the second-largest company with headquarters in Queens and is profiled elsewhere in this section.

ICC Industries Inc.

460 Park Ave., New York, 10022

212-521-1700

www.iccchem.com

Revenue: $1.5 billion

Industry: Chemical manufacturing

Chairman: John Farber

Employees: 2,000

People in the market for polypropylene, pseudoephedrine or creatine monohydrate are sure to know of ICC Industries. The company has offices worldwide, from Brussels to Bombay to Buenos Aires.

ICC manufactures, markets and trades chemicals and plastics, supplying pharmaceutical companies with the raw materials used in manufacturing drugs. Started in 1950, ICC has expanded through small acquisitions. Subsidiaries include Dover Chemical, Frutarom Industries, ICC Trading, Primex Plastics, O'Neil Color & Compounding, Pace Industries, Pharmaceutical Formulations and Electrochemical Industries.

Red Apple Group

823 11th Ave., New York, 10019

212-956-5803

Web site: none

Revenue: $1.5 billion

Industry: Food retailing

CEO: John Catsimatidis

Employees: 5,000; local, 1,200

Though Red Apple Group does sell apples in its supermarkets, the holding company also owns a refining company and is a commercial real estate operator.

Its United Refining subsidiary supplies oil to 350 KwikFill gasoline stations in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Red Apple Real Estate owns mainly commercial property in New York, New Jersey, Florida and the Virgin Islands.

Chief executive John Catsimatidis is also majority owner of the publicly traded Gristede's Foods Inc., which operates 45 Gristede's supermarkets in Manhattan and Westchester. It is currently converting the last of its Sloan's supermarkets to the Gristede's banner.

Last

The S.F. Holdings

Group Inc.

373 Park Ave. South, New York, 10016

212-779-7448

Web site: none

Revenue: $953 million

Industry: Disposable paper products

CEO: Dennis Mehiel

Employees: 6,384

The S.F. Holdings Group is the holding company for Sweetheart Cup and the Fonda Group. It makes disposable paper and plastic cups, plates and food packaging. Its Sweetheart Cup division accounts for nearly 75 percent of sales. The Fonda Group sells to institutional food customers and consumer markets.

Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York

25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, 11201

718-560-5000

www.jw-media.org

Revenue: $951 million

Industry: Publishing

President: Milton Henshel

Employees: 3,415

It takes a lot of printing to supply more than 6 million Jehovah's Witnesses with the materials for their ministry. One publication, Watchtower, now has an average print run of 23 million copies twice per month, an increase of 7.5 percent over last year.

"Our report for the year is different from a Wall Street company," said vice president George Couch. Indeed, the company's employees are volunteers who live and work in the Brooklyn complex.

Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.

55 Water St., New York, 10041

212-855-1000

www.dtcc.com

Revenue: $914 million

Industry: Securities

CEO: Jill M. Considine

Employees: 3,273

This is the world's largest securities depository and a clearinghouse for the settlement of securities trading activity. It was created a year ago, through the integration of National Securities Clearing Corp. (the clearing corporation) and The Depository Trust Co. (the depository).

DTC, as it's known, provides a wide range of securities custody, asset and related tax services for its participant banks, broker/dealers and clearing agencies. The company has custody of securities issues worth more than $20 trillion. It processes more than 212 million institutional trade confirmations yearly.

Royster-Clark Inc.

600 Fifth Ave., 25th Floor, New York, 10020

212-332-2965

www.roysterclark.com

Revenue: $913.2 million

Industry: Crop fertilizers and seeds

CEO: Francis P. Jenkins Jr.

Employees: 3,130

A widespread reorganization last year appears to have helped this fertilizer and seed company buck the one-two punch of bad weather and fewer acres in crop production that have undermined some of its competitors.

Royster-Clark reported increased sales and a modest profit for the first half of 2001. This improved performance came after a year of substantial losses that were blamed on computer problems, interest expenses from acquisitions and energy costs.

The company, which supplies farmers in the Midwest and Southeast through 350 Farmarket stores, has grown rapidly in recent years by purchasing other businesses - most recently Agro Distribution South stores and the wholesaler ProSource One.

Royster-Clark, founded 125 years ago, also operates seed plants and offers agricultural services such as crop management and soil sampling.

Chief executive Francis P. Jenkins Jr. said the company entered the spring planting season filled with "optimism and confidence that very positive [financial] results are now within our reach."

Integra Realty Resources Inc.

3 Park Ave., 39th Floor, New York, 10016

212-255-7858

www.irr.com

Revenue: $899 million

Industry: Real estate appraisals, consulting

CEO: Raymond Cirz

Employees: 300

This year Integra Realty Resources completed an appraisal and consulting project for the richest real estate transaction in New York history: the 99-year lease of the World Trade Center, worth $3.2 billion.

Founded in 1999, Integra specializes in real estate valuation and consulting. Within two years, the company has nearly met its three-year goal to open 50 offices nationwide. With 47 offices in the United States, Integra is looking to expand into Canada and Mexico. The key to its rapid expansion, according to chief executive Raymond Cirz, has been the company's proprietary software, Interconnect, which "has tied all our offices together."

J. Crew Group Inc.

770 Broadway, New York, 10003

212-209-2500

www.jcrew.com

Revenue: $826 million

Industry: Sportswear retailing

CEO: Mark A. Savary

Employees: 6,586

From back to school to casual Fridays at work, J. Crew aims to provide its distinctive brand of informal elegance to the masses. The company has 113 retail stores, the J. Crew catalog business, jcrew.com and 41 factory outlet stores.

"We are staying focused on our key strategies to strengthen J. Crew's business over the long term," said chief executive Mark A. Savary. Despite a drop in revenue in the past two quarters, the company appears confident. "We continue to pursue new business initiatives," Savary said.

There are plans to launch a New York flagship store next year, and the company recently introduced a corporate sales division that will sell both through catalog and online. In March the company launched J. Crew Kids for consumers ages 6-12.

Horsehead Industries Inc.

110 E. 59th St., New York, 10022

212-527-3000

www.horseheadinc.com

Revenue: $815 million

Industry: Zinc mining and manufacturing,

environmental consulting

Chairman: William Flaherty

Employees: 843

Horsehead Industries continues to butt heads with environmental agencies at the federal and state levels. Though blamed by the EPA for pollution in Palmerton, Pa., Horsehead has denied financial responsibility for cleanup efforts. In July, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court rejected Horsehead's attempts to contest two state environmental orders halting the use of its iron-rich road-paving product.

Formed by a management-led buyout of Gulf+Western Industries' New Jersey Zinc Co. in 1981, Horsehead operates primarily through four subsidiaries: Horsehead Resource Development, Zinc Corp. of America, Sterling Resources, and ZCA Mines.

Gould Paper Co.

11 Madison Ave., New York, 10010

212-301-0000

www.gouldpaper.com

Revenue: $810 million

Industry: Paper distribution

President: Harry Gould Jr.

Employees: 475

There has been an argument in the paper industry about who is the third-largest paper distributor in the United States. But come third quarter next year, there will be no question, according to Harry Gould Jr., president and chairman of Gould Paper. A merger between Gould and WWF Paper Co., one of the two contenders for third, is in the final stages.

In a "world where you either eat or be eaten," the merger is a tactical move that "will bring us up to $1.5 billion, give or take a bit," Gould said.

Charmer Industries Inc.

19-50 48th St., Astoria, 11105

718-726-2500

www.charmer.com

Revenue: $785 million

Industry: Wholesale liquor distribution

CEO: Herman Merinoff

Employees: 1,000

Charmer, the third-largest private company based in Queens, is profiled elsewhere in this section.

Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp.

565 Fifth Ave., New York, 10017

212-661-4600

Web site: none

Revenue: $767 million

Industry: Investing

CEO: Robert R. Dyson

Employees: 4,000

Dyson-Kissner-Moran's investments are nothing if not diverse, covering automotive, industrial and commercial products. The holding company specializes in takeovers and acquisitions.

The broad range of holdings allows the firm to offer recent MBA graduates in its "Day One" program the opportunity to try their wings in a variety of business environments.

The family-owned business was founded by Charles Dyson in 1954. His son, Robert, is chairman and chief executive.

Peerless Importers Inc.

16 Bridgewater St., Brooklyn, 11222

718-383-5500

www.peerimp.com

Revenue: $660 million

Industry: Wine and spirits distribution

CEO: Antonio Magliocco Jr.

Employees: 1,200

The number of wine and liquor distributors continues to decrease each year, according to the Washington-based Wine and Spirit Wholesalers of America. But chief executive Antonio Magliocco Jr. said his company's strength has been its ability to "anticipate change."

Peerless is in the process of implementing a computer system that will enable tracking of all aspects of the business, as well as the impact on the company of industry trends and changes in the economy.

"A lot of distributors do things piecemeal," Magliocco said, adding that there is no place for that anymore if a company is to survive.