Men and Methods

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 212, 4 June 1929, Page 15

Men and Methods

BUSINESS PLANS AND IDEAS (Conducted by “ OBSERVER”)

“V£e long ago discovered,” a manufacturer tells us, “that it is unwise to place ia well-educated man in a small job where exngrlence rather than high intelligence js*needed. He will soon become discontented, and either- quit or insist on a promotion. Then another man must be grained for bis place. * Wanted: A Purchasing Policy. For some reason or other, the purchasing departments of a great many concerns are frequently found to be very loosely connected with the rest of the organisation. The need for proper co-or-dination is fundamental. To obtain proper co-ordination, each concern should have some kind of a purchasing policy, under' which certain rules of procedure should be established to control the purchasing end of the business. Some of the most important policies to consider are these: Value of continuous and adequate supplies. Value of friendly attitude on part of supply houses. Need of credit leniency or extensions; trend of business conditions; influence of sales policy on purchasing policy. Each concern varies from the other so that the management must formulate its own rules. In every concern the management should have certain purposes that it wishes to accomplish, and to carry out its objective it should establish such rules or policies as will obtain this objective, and whether the policies will be effective, harmful, or indifferent- depends whether the judgment of the management is sound or otherwise. • • • Plan Your Window Display. . How to attract and hold the attention of the indifferent—that is One of the greatest problems’ of the window display expert. Considering the high cost of street frontages to-day, it is indeed surprising that «o little attention is given to the expert dressing of shop windows. Those who have recently visited the Continent tell us that the Germans can teach us many ways of advertising, although often their advertising is often better than the goods they seek to sell. Hence they go farther than we have yet gone in cultivating the art of what, for the want of a better term, may be named catchy, ideas. A hosiery shop, for instance, fills its window space not with silk stockings, but with a stage to set off six or eight pairs of dainty dummy legs that Charleston perpetually. Or a children’s clothing shop, which appears to specialise in small boys’ clothing, introduces the figure of a small boy on a revolving table with a dog hanging on to the seat of his trousers and a cat hanging on to the dog’s tall, thus proving the wearing and tearing qualities of the fabric—or, at least, amusing the Germans.

So many ironmongers’ windows are entirely meaningless, and this fact is patent to the men 1 responsible for this 1 type of merchandise in German shop windows. Some of such windows are thrilling, amazing masterpieces of architectural design, and a triumph of ingenuity on the part of the display man who handles a very irresponsive article. The coloured background, the uniform colour, shape and size of the price-ticket, the radiation of sizes from a central outsize piece—all these factors play a part in what becomes a thing of wonder and delight. The commonplace thing has been lifted on to a higher plane, and clamours to be purchased. One window in this category was dominated by a tremendous pair of scissors made for giant hands to handle. Small shop-keepers often claim that they have to use their windows to aimounce the many lines they stock—that they serve as sample cases. That may be true, but it is possible to plan a very attractive •sample case!

Instalment buying, used wisely, and within safe limits, is one preventive of business depression. The abuse of this form of credit —the use of too much of it or its use at the wrong time—would of course help cause a depression. The Business Cycle, Is the business cycle an exploded theory, or a demonstrated law? Must we always have at more or less regular intervals periods of inflation followed by depression? To put it bluntly, can’t we' have good business without inevitably having it followed by bad? Must we keep an eye on a chart while we go on talking about “underlying trends”? A successful business man who has watched this theory of commercial cycle* very eloaely has reached the conclusion that it pays to forget all about them. “In my observation,” he says, “those executives who stick to their business have come out best on the whole. When all is said and done, they get just as far as the men who consult all the prophets and experts. A friend of mine who had spent no end of time compiling statistics and cyclical data, got tired of his ‘forecast’ and ‘trend’ charts and gave them to the Janitor. The same day be Issued Instructions to his staff to give up work on the business cycle. Now he is glad of that decision. The energy formerly spent in anticipation of the trend of events Is. now devoted to selling goods —in good seasons and bad seasons. He is making really large profits."

The Boot of Business Evils, Mental laziness is the root of most business evils. Memory will take care of what has happened In the past, but new thoughts must be generated if what shall probably happen in the future is to be forecasted with any degree of accuracy. Any intelligent person who looks into the future, observing the tendencies of the economic- trends, sees wise business men fortifying their enterprises against unreasonable and unfair competition by devising ney dexterities thus outgeneralling the enemy. He observes a new craftsmanship in business building to offset unlimited producing capacity of farm, qt mine, and of factory, evidenced by increasing the capacity of consumers through low prices and desirable merchandise so that they shall grow strong and multiply thrqugbout the earth. And' he is aware that all this is in the way of civilisation, of economic evolution, of the advancement of the principles of brotherhood among mankind. To-day is the day of a renaissance in civilisation which Is being accomplished by spreading the gospel of science in industry, by teaching first in a primary way so that the most ignorant shall understand, and later in a more concrete and refined way the simple principles underlying the laws of social and business economics. Cooperation among men—men thinking, and working together—is the first requisite. Then will come co-ordination of thought and effort, and with it the success-which, if fairly attained, means human happiness. * •

''• Sports for Middle .Aged. ' Cassius was rated a dangerous man because he thought too mueh. Like some of our business men, he had forgotten how to play. Of course, it is too much to expect portly middle age to cut a figure in children’s games. The blessing is that recreation is not confined to exercises that strain flabby muscles and hardened arteries. For tempering prescription to capacity Professor H. A. Scott, of the University of Oregon, has a suggestion that invites consideration. H® would teach boys recreations they could enjoy in middle age. By his recommendation, fishing, hunting, tramping, camping and gardening would become additions to col* lege. athletics. Judgment in this behalf is based on opinions he obtained from three hundred business men. The trouble seems to be that physical education in the colleges is centred on fdbtball, track and field events —on sports that are not likely to be continued long after graduation. Professor Scott wants to remedy this. Well, if the colleges could encourage a love of tramping, the measured trudging around the golf course might become less essential in relaxing pressure on the business front. But some thought must be taken of the competitive spirit if the thing is to take hold. Fishing has its own peculiar possibilities in that direction, even though the “biggest one” always seems to get away.