Corporations: Up from the Old Mill Stream

For many years the Rotarians and Lions of Findlay, Ohio (pop. 34,000) have launched most of their boasts on the nearby Blanchard River, which in 1910 inspired Findlayite Tell Taylor to write Down by the Old Mill Stream. Lately, Findlay has become equally proud of another local phenomenon: Marathon Oil Co., which has expanded in a few years from a small oil producer into a $500 million-a-year company. In a business where great exploration costs and fierce competition can easily break a firm, Marathon has competed successfully against the oil giants by acting as if it were one...