The Boss's Son

The youthful chairman of Motorola, Inc. acknowledges stem-winding introductions with a stock joke: "The most important reason for my rapid rise is that my dad owned the joint." At Motorola, the success of Robert W. Galvin is no joke. When he took over from his father Paul, the company's crusty, autocratic founder, Motorola had long been largely a one-man, one-product corporation. Galvin might have rested on his father's laurels, but he elected to be his own man. In the five years since his father's death, Bob, now 41, has made Motorola a decentralized giant. Its projected $400 million in sales this year covers such a broad range of products and aptitudes that Motorola last week 1) won a contract to equip an eigtlt-mile stretch of New York's crime-beleaguered subway system with an ex perimental two-way radio hookup for policemen, and 2) announced a new line of electronic circuits that will sell for as much as 77% less than present manufactured units.

Space & Speedometers. Motorola was founded in 1928 in a one-room Chicago loft, made mostly car radios until World War II, when it developed the walkie-talkies that became almost as universal as the Jeep. It still outsells all competitors in two-way radios for police cars, fire trucks, taxicabs and other vehicles, is also developing sophisticated models for space that will carry voices across 250,000 miles.

On top of this, Bob Galvin skillfully built the broad diversification begun by his father. The company pioneered the transistor radio, now also manufactures auto alternators and ignitions, electronic speedometers, hi-fi consoles, and exotic semiconductors and solid state devices used to measure and control industrial operations. Last year it introduced a 23-in. rectangular color-TV tube, slimmer and more compact than previous round tubes; it expects to sell 100,000 this year, has jumped to third place in dollar volume of TV sales. "Once we identify ourselves with a field," says Galvin, "we make a determined effort to be dominant in that field."

Significant Decisions. Motorola has managed its mix of products by internal growth rather than by acquisition, financing expansion largely from corporate funds; last year it spent a lavish $48 million on research and capital in vestment. The company also makes a practice of promoting from within.

When Galvin two months ago moved up to chairman to concentrate on long-range planning (he remains chief executive), he was succeeded as president by Elmer Wavering, 57, who, like many other Motorola executives, joined the company in the early car-radio days.

Galvin works easily with his executives, most of whom are much older than he. At Motorola's shiny Franklin Park, Ill., headquarters, where even the chairman works in shirtsleeves, he sees division heads intermittently, allows them full rein to handle engineering, production and sales and make significant decisions. "The most important factor motivating a manager," says Galvin, "is his sense of proprietorship. The man who is given the greatest hand to determine his own destiny will try the hardest. It is fair to say that this is a rather different approach to management." It is also fair to say that Bob Galvin is a different sort of boss's son.

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