TREND WATCH

A roundup of business developments spotted by other publications.

Sony Tries Again: After stumbling twice in attempts to crack the computer market, Sony is giving it another shot with a powerful new workstation. In the last three years, Sony’s machine, developed with elements borrowed from Motorola and AT&T;, has taken the No. 2 spot in Japan, behind Sun Microsystems but ahead of Hewlett-Packard, DEC and IBM. Buoyed by its success at home, Sony created a French subsidiary and built a production facility in the United States. New products are also in the works; a portable workstation reported to be more powerful than Apple’s is due out in a few weeks. Nouvel Economiste

Re-recycling Bill: The Massachusetts Legislature is considering one of the country’s more far-reaching bills on recycling. It calls for all packaging to be used five or more times and be made of at least 50% recycled material or materials that will be recycled at a rate of 35% in 1996 and 50% in 2000. Maximum penalties would be $1,000 per violation. Boston Business Journal

Benefits of Choice: Thirty-one percent of Fortune 500 companies offer pick-and-choose benefits packages, which seem to be paying off for employees and employers alike. Pepsico Inc. offers new options almost every year, from group legal advice to prenatal aid. To make all the options clear, Pepsi offers constant support, going so far as to call pregnant employees to be sure they’re doing all they can to have healthy (and thus inexpensive) births. The cost for Pepsico’s health care rose 10% last year compared to the corporate average of 20%. Business Month

Direct Dessert: The Japanese will get a taste of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream through a joint venture with Nissho Iwai Corp. Dreyer’s, the second-largest U.S. producer of ice cream, will be the first foreign ice cream company to directly enter the Japanese market, hoping to increase its share of the high-quality ice cream market in the next three years to 10%. In the past, foreign ice creams have been available only through licensing contracts with local companies. Japan Economic Journal

On the Rocks: Town dumps in Wisconsin are closing because many occupy former quarries that cannot meet new federal regulations requiring landfill operators to install storm drains and cover new garbage every day. Towns will soon have to begin sending garbage to large, centrally located sanitary landfills, which will be expensive for them but a boon for sophisticated waste management companies. Milwaukee Journal