Category Archives: History

In Commemoration of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Anniversary

A wandering minstrel I –
A thing of shreds and patches
Of ballads, songs, and snatches
And dreamy lullaby
And dreamy lullaby

My catalogue is long,
Through every passion ranging,
And to your humours changing
I tune my supple song!
I tune my supple song!

Are you in sentimental mood?
I’ll sigh with you,
Oh, sorrow!
On market’s coldness do you brood?
I’ll do so, too
Oh, sorrow, sorrow!
I’ll charm your willing ears
With songs of buyers’ fears,
While sympathetic tears
My cheeks bedew!
Oh, sorrow, sorrow!

But if patriotic sentiment is wanted,
I’ve patriotic ballads cut and dried;
For where’er our buyer’s banner may be planted,
All other local banners are defied!

Our warriors, in serried ranks assembled,
Never quail – or they conceal it if they do
And I shouldn’t be surprised if nations trembled
Before the mighty troops, the troops of …

 

Two Hundred and Twenty Five Years Ago Today

The first United States census was authorized. The census is important to the United States not just because it gives us a much more accurate count of how many residents and citizens there are (as opposed to interim projections) but because the resulting counts are used to set the number of members from each state in the House of Representatives and, by extension, in the Electoral College.

It also influences how more than $400 Billion per year in federal and state funding is allocated with respect to neighbourhood improvement projects, public health programs, education programs, and transportation. So, while it might be annoying to have to answer those questions every ten years and reaffirm your Pastafarianism or Jediism, it is necessary.

Twenty Five Years Ago Today

The Big Mac Index went truly global when the first McDonald’s opened in the Soviet Union, only twenty-three years after the first international franchise was opened in BC, Canada, in 1967. By the time McDonald’s finally burst through the iron curtain, it was only two years away from reaching global restaurant domination, which it achieved in 1992 when it opened its first restaurant in Casablanca, Morocco and was able to claim a restaurant on all six continents.

When it comes to global supply management, few companies have the global breadth of McDonald’s and, except for a few global food companies, none are in the food and beverage business. But it shows what determination — and great supply chain management — can enable. (Especially if you’re not afraid of a little red.)

It’s Only Been One Hundred Years

Since U.S. transcontinental telephone service was inaugurated by a call between Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the first practical telephone, and Thomas Watson, his assistant who later used his royalties from the Bell Telephone Company to found the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, which would become home to one of the biggest shipyards in America by 1901.

That’s right, it’s only been one hundred years since the inaugural telephone call from New York to San Francisco was made by Bell to Watson. And yet, one hundred years later we can call, email, tweet, and message in real time not just with New York and San Francisco, but with London and Shanghai.

When you consider how many years we existed as a civilization before we even had a light-bulb, it’s simply amazing.

One Hundred and Forty Five Years Ago Today

One of the earliest US monopolies, as ruled by the US Supreme Court in 1911 under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, was formed.

Until its dissolution into 33 smaller companies, Standard Oil, formed by John D. Rockefeller, was the largest oil refineries in the world. By 1890, it controlled 88% of the refined oil flows in the U.S. The company, which almost single-handedly innovated the business trust, mastered horizontal and vertical integration, streamlined production and logistics, lowered costs, and consistently undercut competitors. This alone is not a bad thing, as all supply chains should strive for this, but, as noted by the US Department of Justice, Standard Oil offered

Rebates, preferences, and other discriminatory practices in favor of the combination by railroad companies; restraint and monopolization by control of pipe lines, and unfair practices against competing pipe lines; contracts with competitors in restraint of trade; unfair methods of competition, such as local price cutting at the points where necessary to suppress competition; [and] espionage of the business of competitors, the operation of bogus independent companies, and payment of rebates on oil, with the like intent.”

and did what they could to force the competition out of business. This is monopolistic, illegal under the Sherman Anti-trust act, and, to be blunt, unfair. If your processes are efficient enough, your products good enough, and your costs low enough, the public will choose you on their own — there is no need for discriminatory practices or a refusal to work with suppliers that will also work with your competition. Plus, as some of us know all too well, some customers aren’t profitable and monopolies get stuck with those problem customers, but lean, mean, supply-chain machines don’t.

Standard Oil is a good business case to keep in the back of your mind. They did a lot right, and a lot wrong. Take the good, and leave the bad, and your business — and supply chain — might be better for it.