"In the past, we've generally done two incentive trips a year. But 1998 wasn't typical. We were going to do one trip, and we postponed it to April of '99. That's a reflection of the downturn in the entire semiconductor industry, which is very volatile. We go through a downturn about every decade, and the last three years haven't been good for the industry.
"The trips are typically five days, and they're primarily for our top salespeople and their spouses. They're also offered to the inside sales reps--about 10 qualify--and to the support staff, which has about five people who qualify. Normally there are about 60 couples.
"We've held the trips in Phoenix for the past few years, because all the top executives were based there and were able to join us. But now our headquarters has moved to Austin, Texas, and this year, we're traveling to the El Conquistador in Puerto Rico. People are very excited about that. It's conceivable that for the year 2000 we'll go to Europe or someplace special like that.
"We've done these trips for about 10 years. Although we don't have any way to formally evaluate their usefulness, the company believes they make a difference. That's why this year's trip wasn't canceled. Motorola sees the trips as an investment in the future."