Bean sticks to its back yard FREEPORT, MAINE L.L. BEAN is a family company. Its boss, Mr Leon Gorman, is the grand- son of Leon Leouwood (sic) Bean, the founder of America’s most famous mail order business. Like Timberland, L.L. Bean first made a name for itself by making superior footwear, the famed Maine hunting boot, and has earned a deserved reputation for the quality of the $600m worth of mainly outdoor clothes and equipment it sells each year. Mr Gorman has shown scarcely any interest in selling abroad - much like his late grandfather, who used to block suggestions that he expand markets by saying: "I’m eating three meals a day now, and I can’t eat four." So few of the 11.3m packages L.L. Bean ships each year with extraordin- ary dispatch and efficiency go outside North America. If the company and America’s trade balance are the losers, so are the foreigners denied easy access to some of the best things made in the United States. About 94% of Bean’s goods carry the L.L. Bean label, either because the product is manufactured by Bean or, as is nowadays more likely, it is made by others to its specifica- tions. Either way, L.L. Bean stands behind all it sells. Customers can return a Bean product for any reason at any time and they get a replacement or their money back. One recently returned a bag with bullet holes in it. In a covering note the customer explained that books in the bag had saved his life when he was hit by stray shots and could he please have a new bag. L.L. Bean said yes immediately. The company is committed to satisfying its customers, and it says it is for customers to decide whether or not they are satisfied. Foreigners have good reason to complain that they are not. L. L. Bean is committed to ______ its customers.