Proceedings Cumulative Index
- Volume 9, 1999
“Marketing History: The Total Package”
“1923: When Automobile Advertising Became Modern”
ABSTRACT – Despite the passion with which automobile makers typically approached their products during its early years and decades of examples from other consumer industries, the transition to consumer-oriented auto advertisements did not occur until 1923, when a combination of economic and cultural factors occurred. An individual entrepreneur, Edward S. Jordan sparked the transition with his literary affinity for the spirit of the twenties.
Dixon, Donald F.
“Some Late Nineteenth Century Antecedents of Marketing Theory”
ABSTRACT – Late 19th century economists discussed marketing in the context of system environment interactions. Although Wroe Alderson’s work in the mid 20th century was concerned with system-environment interactions in marketing, relevant earlier work would have broadened the scope of mid-century marketing thought.
Bussiere, Dave
“Evidence of a Marketing Periodic Literature Within The American Economic Association: 1895-1936”
ABSTRACT – There is ample evidence that economists participated in the development of marketing thought. There has not, however, been a comprehensive review of the early marketing periodic literature within the economic journals. The objective of this paper is to verify and extend the historical marketing record. Specifically, this paper examines and documents the marketing periodic literature within pre-1936 publications of the American Economics Association. This study finds that marketing articles began appearing in American Economics Association publications in 1894—20 years before Weld’s noted article on market distribution.
Shaw, Eric H.
“Toward Inventorying Laws of Markets and Marketing”
ABSTRACT – Whether marketing is an art or a science has been a subject of contention among for the half a century and is still being argued today. This debate is surprising because the pioneers who established marketing as an academic discipline, at the turn of the century, regarded their task as making the study of marketing practice more scientific. And yet, to many contemporary academics the issue of whether marketing should be considered an art or a science is still perplexing.
The confusion may be the question: “Is marketing an art or a science?” is miscast in dichotomous terms. Marketing may be studied as a hunter studies game or marketing manager studies customers. In both examples, they are targets (or objects) of study and choosing a shotgun or rifle approach is an art form. Alternatively, marketing may be studied as a zoologist studies predator-pray relationships or as a social scientist studies consumer-channel relationships. In both of these examples, the relationships are subjects of study and conducting experiments or surveys is a form of science. Both art and science should be viewed as complementary, rather then in terms of the false dichotomy known as the either-or-fallacy.
Can marketing claim to be a science? One of the fundamental purposes of science is to create a body of theory based on empirically valid generalizations, or laws. Scientific generalizations take the form: if x occurs, then y follows, where x is an independent (or predictor) variable, and y is a dependent (or criterion) variable. Laws are fundamental to scientific research because they are building blocks of theory. Theories contain logically integrated statements of relationships (i.e. theorems), some of which include generalizations (i.e. laws), that are empirically testable. Theory provides the basis for logically describing, explaining and predicting a set of phenomena under investigation. Since science requires theory, and theory requires laws, marketing can only justifiably claim to be science if marketing phenomena are subject to empirically valid laws. Does marketing contain empirically valid laws?
Laws are scattered inside and outside the literature of marketing. As a step toward creating an inventory of scientific generalizations, this paper collects, describes and explains some of the most basic Laws of Markets and Marketing. In considering the validity of laws in the social sciences, there are two caveats to bear in mind. One is ceteris paribus, meaning other things being equal. Only those variables under consideration are examined, while all others are assumed to be held constant for purposes of analysis. The second caveat is that laws in the social sciences are probabilistic, i.e. statistically valid as central tendencies, or on the average, but with some dispersion around the mean expected.
Named after their major contributor(s), some rephrased in marketing terms, and others simplified, the basis laws discussed in this paper include: Marshall’s Law of Supply and Demand, Marshall’s Law of Diminishing Returns, Keynes’s Law of Marginal Propensity to Spend, Engel’s Law of Income and Expenditure, Weber-Fechner’s Law of Just Noticeable Differences in Stimulus Intensity, Reilly-Converse-Huff’s Law of Retail Gravitation, C. Clark’s Law of Economic Progress, Fisher’s Law of Pooled (or Massed) Reserves, Alderson’s Law of Reduced Contacts, Alderson Law of Reduced Contacts, Alderson-Bagozzi’s Law of Market Exchange, Stigler’s Law of Information Search, Aspinwall’s Law of Replacement Pate, Bucklin-Alderson’s Law pf Postponement and Speculation. As one example, Florence’s Law of Bulk Transactions states: if transaction size increases, then costs rise less than proportionally. It takes considerably less than six times the work to sell a six-pack than a single unit. Hence, the increased profitability from negotiating bulk sized transactions provides the motivation to increase the amount of the deal from unit to pack to case to pallet to truckload.
It is hoped that the above laws will be critiqued, and that additions to this inventory will be forthcoming. It is likely that other laws hidden in the marketing literature are waiting to be found. And it is anticipated that ongoing research will suggest new laws awaiting discovery. Such is the nature of scientific progress.
“Efficient Consumer Response: Its Origin and Foundations in Areas of Classical Marketing Theory”
ABSTRACT – Many of today’s widespread managerial concepts have often been introduced and treated as new-to-the-world, despite the fact that the accumulated knowledge on the subject in literature is enormous. The true origin of managerial concepts is seldom revealed. There have emerged various managerial concepts at different times in the past and new ones will continue to emerge in the future. Most of them are expressed as an abbreviation of two or three letters, for example Efficient Consumer Response (ECR). The purpose of this paper is to describe the origin and foundations of Efficient Consumer response (ECR), in areas of classical marketing theory. Parts of the description of the paper follow acknowledged patterns in literature. Others are interpretation by the author in order to propose evolutionary relationships between areas of classical marketing thoughts at the beginning of the 20th century and the concept of ECR. Quotations and references in literature support the content of the paper. The theoretical references that are brought forward in the paper support the questioning of the novelty value of the concept of ECR. Based upon the references presented, it is argued that the theoretical foundations confirm this standpoint. Some conclusions are proposed, based upon the discussion in the present paper.
The author’s proposed conclusions are, first, that ECR has its classic theoretical origin in the functional school, the commodity school, and the institutional school of marketing. These are early general precursors to the concept of ECR, but specifically to the strategies of Efficient Replenishment, Efficient Product Introduction, and Efficient Store Assortment, and indirectly Efficient Promotion. Secondly, that ERC has only cosmetic novelty-value, and is therefore highly overestimated by practitioners. Since long past its core ideas, have been described in literature. Hence ECR, is nothing new, because its underlying ideas are based upon earlier theoretical based in literature. Managerial concepts do always have a history! Thirdly, that a managerial concept and its underlying ideas are not new-to-the-world, just because somebody gives something that already exists in literature a new name or etiquette. Nobody can invent something that already exists. At best, it is possible to modify and improve something, which is of less value that the first time it appears, even if it was introduced in a less obvious or attractive manner. Fourthly, that after almost a century, managerial concepts like ECR still do not take into account the human dimension that is always present in business, within and between firms. In the end, it is the total of each individual’s performance that describes the success or failure of any business. Fifthly, that the theoretical evolution of ECR’s present stage has passed through different eras of marketing foundations and marketing thoughts. ECR has evolved from a limited or specific perspective, such as the classical schools of marketing. It has also evolved through simultaneous perspective, such as the managerial perspective, and as well as its present level of development, it pays attention to a holistic perspective, as in the systems school.
“Shifting Perspectives in Consumer Research: From Buyer Behavior to Consumption Studies”
ABSTRACT – At least four perspectives on the study of consumer behavior have been adopted over the last 40 years: Buyer Behavior, Consumer Behavior, Consumer Research, and Consumption Studies. With few exceptions this transition has not yet been studied. This paper introduces a framework for how these different approaches can be analyzed by examining these four ideal types of approach towards the consuming individual/ These four ideal types represent a historical development. This analysis shows how the three things first ideal types: buyer behavior, consumer behavior, and consumer research all have the single consuming individual as their topic although they are different in many other aspects. The fourth ideal type called consumption studies deviates from the three earlier approaches because the analysis extends beyond the single consuming individual. It is said that the consuming individuals do not know what t need, want, or desire. By choosing what they do not want, the consuming individuals use products and consumption to create a metaphysical universe where they are looking for recognition from other members in their tribe. The perspective for this new approach towards a theory for behavior of the consuming individual is outlined. It is also discussed how studying the behavior of the consuming individual based on the consumption studied approach will be possible.
“William R. Davidson: A Life in Retailing Management, His Career at Ohio State University”
ABSTRACT – This paper is the first of two biographical sketches that examine the life and career of William R. Davidson. His half-century of outstanding contributions to retailing and marketing education was divided chronologically between the Ohio State University and Management Horizons, a consulting form founded as an independent company in 1968, merged with Price Waterhouse LLP in 1985 and becoming part of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998. This paper focuses on the former period.
Tamilia, Robert D.
“William R. Davidson: A Life in retailing Management, His Career at Management Horizons (MH), A Division of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP”
ABSTRACT – This paper is the second of two biographical sketches which examine the life and career of William R. (Bill) Davidson. His outstanding contributions of retailing and marketing education during the latter half of the century have been divided chronologically between the Ohio State University and Management Horizons, a consulting firm founded as an independent company in 1968 which merged with Price Waterhouse LLP in 1985, and became part of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in 1998. This paper focuses on the latter period.
Tamilia, Robert D.
“An Introduction to Dixonian Marketing Thought”
ABSTRACT – The paper presents a brief overview of the intellectual contributions of Donald F. Dixon, a marketing historian and a true marketing scholar. He is still a working contributor to the marketing knowledge development process. Dixonian marketing thought is both stimulating and fascinating because of the eclectic approach Bixon takes to studying marketing phenomena. As a marketer, his historical approach shows the extent to which marketing practices and ideas have been part of mankind from time immemorial. He has elaborated Alderson’s theoretical contributions to marketing, and his numerous insights to macromarketing thought have enriched the entire marketing discipline.
“Historical Research on Arch Wilkinson Shaw’s Thought by Japanese Scholars: an Overview”
ABSTRACT – This paper will explore research on Arch Wilkinson Shaw’s marketing thought by Japanese Scholars. First of all, the paper will introduce three features in the Japanese discussion of U.S. marketing history, and then investigate Japanese research on Shaw’s thought, specifying three issues to which Japanese scholars have paid attention.
Vidales, Ma. Dolores, and Roath, Anthony S.
“Culture’s Contribution to the Mesoamerican Package”
ABTSRACT – Scholars long have recognized that a product’s packaging is a visible and surrogate statement of the quality of the product (Twede 1997, Flockton 1999). Indeed, packaging is the manufacturer’s way of presenting and communicating the many facets of the product in the best light. It addresses the functional dynamics associated with the product protection and transportation as well as reflecting the aesthetics and nuances of the culture from which the product container originates.
“The Creation of the School of Packaging at Michigan State University”
ABSTRACT – The author Lillian Gilcrest once stated, “The greatest achievements are those that benefit others.” Students, industry, and consumers have all derived benefit from the achievements of the Michigan State University’s School of Packaging. Among the many achievements surrounding this program is the fact that it was the first to grant college degrees in packaging in the world.
Since the first Packaging Degree was awarded in 1955, the School has granted approximately 5300 Bachelor of Science degrees, 700 Master of Science degrees, and its first Doctorate degree in the spring of 1998. Packaging students, past and present, have the opportunity to participate in overseas study programs in Sweden, London and Japan. The School has one of the strongest paid internship programs on campus. The vast majority of packaging students graduate with internship experience: the idea of working with industry as a student is not new. It began with the inception of the program in 1952. Employers from around the world seek Michigan State University’s Packaging graduates, and it has alumni from at least 20 countries (Peoples July 21, 1997)
This paper attempts to incorporate articles written during the fifties and sixties with oral histories of people involved in the formation of the School in order to preserve the early history of the School of Packaging. A companion paper, written by Dr. Diana Twede, examines the relationship between packaging and marketing and explores fully changes in the curriculum of time.
It is not clear exactly how the idea for the School of Packaging at Michigan State College (MSC) was conceived. But one thing is clear; a series of people, events and ideas set the stage for a revolutionary new approach to thinking about packaging as a formal discipline.
Twede, Diana, and Goff, James W.
“The History of Packaging Thought: The First University Packaging Curriculum”
ABSTRACT – Michigan’s State University’s School of Packaging was the first program of its kind in the world. This paper traces the development of the first curriculum, which was strongly influenced by the program’s home in the Forest Products department and by advice from leaders in the packaging industry. It was (and largely still is) comprised of a broad base in science, communication and business, with the department’s core courses dealing with packaging materials and systems.
Wikowski, Terrence H., and Hogan, Ellen M.
“Home Front Consumers: An Oral History of California Women During World War II”
ABSTRACT – The Second World War was a seminal event in American consumer history. The war economy brought renewed prosperity, but also unprecedented government intrusion into everyday marketing and consumption activities. This study uses oral history methods to investigate the consumer experience of Californian women during World War II. Following a brief review of the American consumer home front and its literature, the paper discusses the nature and oral history and compares it with other data sources. Subsequent sections describe the research method, present and discuss major findings, and conclude with some research contributions, limitations, and future directions.
“Cosmetics and Courage: The Impact of World War II on the Fashion and Fragrance Business”
ABSTRACT – During World War II, the French dominance of the American fashion and perfume industry subsided, allowing American brands to gain significant market share. Concurrent with changes in the roles and images of women during these years and triggered by time-specific circumstances, new marketing strategies proliferated that concentrated on American products.
Greenwood, Regina A., Hodgetts, Richard M., and Wrege,
Charles D.
“Early marketing Strategies in the Electric Industry: Lamp Renewal Programs”
ABSTRACT – The electric industry became the dominant energy provider for illumination by using unique marketing strategies to introduce its new, even frightening source of illumination to the marketplace. One strategic marketing innovation, the free lamp renewal system, provided technical assistance, human contact, and free lamps to encourage people to use electric lighting.
“The History of Industrial Marketing Channel in USA: Manufacturer’s Reps and Distributors for Electrical Goods”
ABTSRACT – I researched the history of Industrial Marketing Channel in U.S.A., especially on the Manufacturers’ Reps and Distributors for the Electrical Goods, by tracing the facts and statistics of the census from 19th Century to the present. The background and the factors of their development were “economy” and “effectiveness”.
Boedecker, Karl A., Kasullis, Jack J., Morgan, Fred W.,
and Stoltman, Jeffrey J.
“The History of Enterprise Liability”
ABTSRACT – The concept of enterprise liability has been part of the marketer’s legal vernacular for more than a decade. It is one of a number of terms associated with joint liability litigation where several suppliers of faulty products are included as defendants in situations where plaintiffs have been harmed by products whose sources they cannot identify. In this paper we discuss the history of enterprise liability and describe its various forms in the context of the contemporary business environment.
Mattei, Michael D.
“Owning a PC Today is Like Owning a Car in 1926”
ABSTRACT – Some segments of the population view personal computer (PC) technology as evolving at a mind boggling rate. Growth in the Internet, faster processor speeds and shorter product life cycles are evidence of this rapid pace. Adding to this apparently overwhelming pace are software products occupying megabytes of space filled with so many bells and whistles that it takes years for someone to become truly proficient.
At the other end of the continuum are those who observe that PC technology is being are those who observe that PC Technology is being adopted at a pace that is excruciating slow. One of the classic examples supporting this view is that many individuals are unable to operate their VCR, much less delve into the intricacies of a spreadsheet. For this group, the technology is difficult to master and not relevant to large segments of society.
The popular media seems to side with the former group. The media conveys the impression that PC technology is diffusing at a rate like none other in history. In other words, the information revolution is a paradigm shift surpassing even the industrial revolution. This paper attempts to resolve these divergent viewpoints by examining the automobile, “the” machine of the early 20th century.
This paper explores the many striking parallels between the evolution and growth of both new technologies. The parallels form the rationale for using the automobile as an analogous machine to create a time-independent technology forecast. A comparison of the media commentary, timing of key innovations, and economic impact to justify the automobile as the basis for a technology forecast which estimates the rate of PC diffusion for the next few decades.
A major innovation, that can significantly
affect the base forecast, is presented along with the possible ramifications on
the diffusion of PC technology if delays are encountered. In addition,
historical automotive events, which might have modern day PC counterparts, are
highlighted to predict possible future market trends.
Cunnigham,
Peggy, and Wetsch, Lyle
"What Goes
Around, Comes Around: Are the Ethical and Public Policy Concerns About Internet
Marketing Merely Reflections of the Criticisms of Earlier Communications
Technologies?"
ABSTRACT - This
paper traces the history of the ethical and public policy debates surrounding
the launch of radio and television and compares these debates with the one
currently accompanying the launch of Internet marketing. Many similarities were
found among the debates, however, it was also noted that there are distinct issues
concerning Internet marketing that were not found in the earlier debates.
Owen, Robert S.
"Serendipity
and Some Potentially Generalizable Factors in the Successful Diffusion of
Innovation"
ABSTRACT -
Marketing and management studies have tended to use individual consumers as the
main unit of analysis, maintaining a focus on understanding the individual
traits of innovators, laggards, opinion leaders, and such. The present paper
proposes that successful diffusion is because of product appeal to a mass
audience through low cost, easy to use products, and that this appeal to a mass
audience must occur through an enabling structure that is owned by all of
society.
Davis, Judy
Foster
"Ebony
Advertising in 1968: Mirror of Key Events in Contemporary Black America"
ABSTRACT - Evidence
suggests that during the socially turbulent year 1968, corporate America
increasingly used several advertising techniques, including the use of black
models, to appeal to black consumers. However, advertisers largely ignored
specific events of concern to black Americans, including the death of Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Chattalas,
Michael J.
"The Olympics
and National Image Promotion"
ABSTRACT - Hosting
an Olympiad can bring long-term economic and international marketing benefits
by enhancing the image of the host nation. The historical utilization of the
Olympic Games as an instrument of national image promotion is explored, with
particular emphasis given to the Berlin 1936 and Tokyo 1964 Games.
Landry, Michael
"Dollars from
the Ether: Early Broadcasting and Advertising"
ABSTRACT - This
paper traces radio advertising from its 1920 introduction to the development of
a maturing promotion medium by the end of that decade. It shows how AT&T
applied the concept of telephone tolls to radio sales and compares funding
questions of early radio and contemporary internet.
Nevett, Terence
"The Taxation
of Advertising Media: Some Lessons from the British Experience 1797-1853"
ABSTRACT -
Politicians and business people could learn from Britain's nineteenth century
experience with advertising taxation. It suggests that advertising volume in a
medium subject to tax might be restricted, but that overall volume probably
would continue to grow as advertisers moved to alternative media. It would be
difficult to implement and administer such a tax.
Holden, Alfred
C.
"Put Your Bear
to Work: A Very Adaptable Marketing Tool for American Industry"
ABSTRACT - The
authors examined five categories of U.S. products during 1875-1925 that utilized
bears as brands, promotional symbols, or a major part of the product. It is
evident that these manufacturers and retailers capitalized upon a number of key
associations with bears, even as America changed from a rural to an urban
country.
"The 'Cracker Jack bears' from
Lincoln zoo
Together away in an airship flew,
And vowed that would never come back
Until the world ate Cracker
Jack."
("The Cracker Jack Bears"
Card No. 1 [1907])
"The Polar Bear shines in
family life;
He's kind to his cubs and polite to
his wife
Having one's feelings always on ice
The Polar Bear says, keeps them
fresh and nice.
While Polar Bears sojourned in the
Ark,
Their bliss was the cause of
frequent remark;
When at length Mrs. Noah became so
bold
As to ask the secret, the Polar Bear
told:
The fact is, that ever since I was
wed,
I've given my wife Willimatic
thread,
And from her to the open Polar Sea
There isn't a happier couple than
we."
(Willimatic thread trade card
[1895])
Smith, Tommy V.
"Leo Burnett:
His Use of Symbolism and Inherent Drama in Advertising, Packaging, and Sales
Promotion"
ABSTRACT - Under
his stewardship, the Leo Burnett Company created some of American history's
most enduring advertising campaigns and characters. Some notable and long
running examples include: the Marlboro Cowboy, Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, the
"Friendly Skis" of United Airlines, the Jolly Green Giant and others.
Burnett died in 1971; however, his original corporate mission to: "Create
the best advertising in the world---bar none" today in 1999 continues to
motivate approximately 6,400 employees in more than 60 offices worldwide.
Rassuli,
Kathleen M., and Hollander, Stanley C.
"The History
of Circulating Libraries: Building Reading and Retail Traffic"
ABSTRACT -
Libraries have long, fascinated history dating back to classical Greece, Egypt
and Rome. Until the 18th Century, they were primarily attached to important
political, religious and educational institutions, where depositories held no
recreational content and served male elite's.
Society libraries which continued to
serve the male gentry and circulating (rental, lending) libraries, which
reached a broader audience, developed in Britain and the United States in the
1700's. The former were, more or less, invitational social clubs that charged
annual subscriptions and often provided reading rooms. One of the very first,
the Library Company of Philadelphia founded by Benjamin Franklin and his
friends in 1731, survives today but almost all others have vanished.
The circulating libraries grew in
both Britain and the U.S. They flourished best when book process were high
relative to consumer income; rental rates were very low. They appeared in
bookstores, as specialized outlets and as traffic building sideline businesses
in non-literary retail stores. The library world has associated with a female
and a little unfairly, an uncultivated audience.
An enormous expansion occurred in
the United States in the late 1920s and 30s. Publisher's Weekly estimated there
were 40 to 50 thousand rental libraries in the U.S. in 1935 in contrast to
about 5,000 bookstores. Post-war prosperity, cheap paperbacks, television and
public library growth ended the rental library business.
The history of this one small
service industry illuminates facets of many important marketing phenomena.
These concerns the long run democratization of elite offerings; variations in
lifecycles; the role of "inferior goods"; the antiquity of
relationship marketing; the early appearance of segmentation; the vagueness of
the distinction between product and service exchanges; and the great
flexibility of the marketing institutional structure.
Stone, Richard
D., and Graham, Mary M.
"The Decline
and Fall of Hutzler's Department Store"
ABSTRACT - Hutzler
Brothers, once the top department store in Baltimore, went out of business in
early 1990. This paper traces the events of the last two decades of the store's
existence, enumerating the various managerial mistakes that were made. It
concludes that the greatest of these mistakes were those which pertained to
location.
Sternquist,
Brenda, and Ma, Yan
"Department
Stores in Early 20th Century Shanghai Enbeddness of Clan Structure in the
Business Environment"
ABSTRACT - Modern
style department stores emerged during the early 20th century in Shanghai. The
successful stores were not owned by foreigners or by local Chinese
entrepreneurs. They were owned by Chinese sojourners who had left Mainland
China and then returned. The overseas experience was important in a variety of
ways. During their time in foreign countries the entrepreneurs learned modern
way of performing business functions. Clan relationships with other Chinese
sojourners provided them with informal access to capital. Finally the overseas
experience made them bold merchants, not apologetic for building luxury
emporiums, a marked departure from the lowly status assigned to merchants in
19th century China. Four clan environments affected the entrepreneur's success.
These environments include Cantonese beginnings, work experience in foreign
countries, the building laboratory of Hong Kong or Guangzhou and finally
Shaghai'a foreign concessions.
Carsky, Mary L.
"Why & How
Retailing Education Developed"
ABTSRACT -
Education for professional, technical and practical occupations began during
the last half of the 19th Century. Commercial subjects had been introduced into
the public schools, and teachers of commercial subjects were prepared in
schools of pedagogy in colleges and universities. The Morrill Acts of 1862 and
1890 provided states with resources to developed institutions that would train
students in agriculture, mechanical arts, home economics and other practical
subjects.
Urbanization provided job
opportunities for the burgeoning populations in the cities. Businesses needed
workers with knowledge of commercial subjects and administrative skills. The
large department stores hired young boys and girls, below the ages of 16, to
work as checkers, stockers, packers, and cash boys. These youngsters who were
likely to have left school by the end of the eighth grade, knew nothing of
manners and customer courtesy, and possessed little ability in writing,
spelling, or arithmetic. They had few skills and their compensation was meager.
Earliest efforts to train and
educate retail employees were largely philanthropic "welfare work".
The John Wanamaker Commercial Institute, the first store school, opened in 1896
to educate the young men and women whose public school education had been
deficient. Educational efforts of department stores after 1900 were designed to
train new employees haw to make out sales checks, to perform routine work, and
to inform them of store policies and procedures. There was no sales training as
the conventional belief was that salesmen were born and not made.
Lucinda Wyman Prince, a member of
the Boston Women's Educational and Industrial Union, believed that low paid
workers earned their worth and the salesmanship could be taught. Ms. Prince
organized the first classes for salesgirls in 1905. After demonstrating the
effectiveness of her methods, Boston Merchants (1908) agreed to give her girls
work experience and to hire them after completing the Prince three month
course.
The Prince method included
discovery, discussion, and outside speakers combined with store experience. In
addition, Prince worked on students' personal and psychological development. By
1912 there was a demand for salesgirls trained by her methods. Lucinda Prince
began offering Teacher Training Courses, and Salesmanship training introduced in
Boston high schools. Teacher training courses were open to young women who
possessed baccalaureate degrees.
After speaking at the NRDGA
(National Retail Dry Goods Association) annual meeting in 1915, Lucinda Prince
was named Educational Director for the association. Lucinda Prince's influence
spread. By 1918, salesmanship courses were taught in 12 states by Prince
graduates. The research Bureau for Retail Training was established at the
Carnegie Institute of Technology. Under the direction of Prince graduate, the
Carnegie Institute trained salespeople, offered professional training for the
field of retailing, prepared teachers and supervisors in retailing and
conducted investigations for the improvement of selling and training in retail.
Sam Reyburn, President of Lord &
Taylor, and Percy Stratus, President of Macy's, were among the merchants who
were impressed with the work of Lucinda Prince. Believing that a school for
retailing should be locate in New York City, they approached New York
University. In 1919, the New York University School of Retailing opened. For
the first two years, the school centered on teacher training, but in 1921
expanded its mission to include undergraduate and graduate programs to prepare
students for merchandising and executive positions in retailing.
By 1929, five universities across
the country offered baccalaureate degrees in retailing and the number continued
to increase. Over time, the focus shifted from teacher training to
merchandising, personnel, and store executive programs. Lucinda Prince's effort
to upgrade the position of the lowly salesgirls was, without a doubt, the
motivating force for retail education in this country.