Expansion and Business Strategy
The new United Shoe Machinery was uniquely able to supply a footwear manufacturer with all machinery needs. By 1908 the company's technical innovations were sufficiently noteworthy to attract a visit from the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The company followed US policy of leasing machinery, which had the advantage of minimising entry costs for new customers. Lease restrictions however caused much resentment and there was particularly strong opposition from Northampton manufacturers who feared it was becoming a monopoly.
Despite the huge increase in demand for military footwear, World War I saw over 800 of the highly skilled workers joining the armed forces. Under the Munitions of War Act 1915 passed in response to the Shell Crisis of 1915, the company became a “Controlled Establishment” with workers pay and conditions very tightly regulated by the Ministry of Munitions. BUSM's expertise in precision engineering led to orders for a range of military equipment including Naval gun mountings and aero engine parts as well as shells and fuzes.
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Famous quotes containing the words expansion and, expansion, business and/or strategy:
“We are caught up Mr. Perry on a great wave whether we will or no, a great wave of expansion and progress. All these mechanical inventions—telephones, electricity, steel bridges, horseless vehicles—they are all leading somewhere. It’s up to us to be on the inside in the forefront of progress.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“We are caught up Mr. Perry on a great wave whether we will or no, a great wave of expansion and progress. All these mechanical inventions—telephones, electricity, steel bridges, horseless vehicles—they are all leading somewhere. It’s up to us to be on the inside in the forefront of progress.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“There is something in this native land business and you cannot get away from it, in peace time you do not seem to notice it much particularly when you live in foreign parts but when there is a war and you are all alone and completely cut off from knowing about your country well then there it is, your native land is your native land, it certainly is.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“To a first approximation, the intentional strategy consists of treating the object whose behavior you want to predict as a rational agent with beliefs and desires and other mental states exhibiting what Brentano and others call intentionality.”
—Daniel Clement Dennett (b. 1942)