tailieunhanh - Rowntree and Market Strategy, 1897-1939

Technology has expanded operations of the apparel and footwear industries to a more global scale. It has also provided closer working relationships between retailers and manufacturers. Technology has improved efficiency and has reduced the amount of manual labor. “Rapid improvements in computer technology have helped to shorten the new product development phase from years to practically months, especially in the fashion/style/high- performance areas. Apparel marketers who are linked with retailers through quick-response programs and other technology go a long way toward making themselves indispensable to their customers” (Wagle). EDI, or electronic data interchange, is a system. | Rowntree and Market strategy 1897-1939 Robert Fitzgerald London School of Economics The British firm of Rowntree was founded in York in 1862 and converted to a public company in 1897 under the chairmanship of Joseph Rowntree. It became one of the country s principal cocoa chocolate and confectionery manufacturers part of a Quaker industrial triumvirate which also included the rival firms of Cadbury and Fry. The commitment of Joseph Rowntree and his son Benjamin Seebohm to fair employment and company wetfare policies are well documented but the reasons underlying Rowntree s emergence as one of the world s largest confectionery makers have been left largely unexplained. They can be found in a study of the company s evolving marketing methods. Rowntree s development provides useful insights into the central role of marketing in the growth of industrial concerns producing consumer products. Per capita income more than doubled during the second half of the 19th century and with disposable income rising even more quickly the demand for consumer products rapidly expanded 8 . In such market conditions confectionery firms could afford a relaxed attitude towards product development and salesmanship and market demand moreover expanded faster than firm size. But company or internal economies subsequently became greater than external market economies and large firms were established in the cocoa and chocolate sectors during 1897-1939. Competitive pressures therefore increased although oligopoly and collusion later occurred. The Rowntree s which emerged from the 19th century was typical of contemporary British enterprise and had no clear commercial strategy. Business strategy comprises the explicit calculation by a company of the most beneficial policy to adopt towards suppliers rivals buyers and consumers 17 . Rowntree s continuance of traditional managerial and sales practices allowed the more dynamic Cadbury s to gain a dominant position in the industry. It was the company s