{"title":"John H. Patterson and the early sales practices of NCR","authors":"Jon M. Hawes","doi":"10.1108/JHRM-09-2020-0042","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\nPurpose\nThis paper aims to explore not only the greatness of Patterson but also some of the mistakes he made along the way.\n\n\nDesign/methodology/approach\nThe study traces the career of John Patterson, founder and president of the National Cash Register (NCR) from 1884 to 1922. Data from many different sources, some only recently available through the HathiTrust Digital Library, are analyzed to provide a systematic and focused examination of Patterson’s greatness, as well as some errors in judgment he during his lengthy leadership at NCR.\n\n\nFindings\nJohn Patterson recognized the potential development of a new global industry before it existed and went to work creating it. After he bought the original patents for the cash register, he spent huge sums on research and development and secured hundreds of additional patents on the device. He also spent a fortune on educational advertising to create market demand where none previously existed and invested heavily in developing his salesforce through a strong focus on training, professionalism and high commissions. He also engaged in many unsavory sales practices to try to keep others from encroaching on what he considered his exclusive right to the cash register market. At one point, he was convicted in a criminal proceeding for those efforts and sentenced to prison.\n\n\nOriginality/value\nThis is the first paper to provide a balanced review of Patterson’s contributions to the business history of that era from a sales and marketing perspective. The paper may be of interest to marketing scholars and practitioners, as well as business historians.\n","PeriodicalId":44447,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Research in Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Historical Research in Marketing","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1108/JHRM-09-2020-0042","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore not only the greatness of Patterson but also some of the mistakes he made along the way.
Design/methodology/approach
The study traces the career of John Patterson, founder and president of the National Cash Register (NCR) from 1884 to 1922. Data from many different sources, some only recently available through the HathiTrust Digital Library, are analyzed to provide a systematic and focused examination of Patterson’s greatness, as well as some errors in judgment he during his lengthy leadership at NCR.
Findings
John Patterson recognized the potential development of a new global industry before it existed and went to work creating it. After he bought the original patents for the cash register, he spent huge sums on research and development and secured hundreds of additional patents on the device. He also spent a fortune on educational advertising to create market demand where none previously existed and invested heavily in developing his salesforce through a strong focus on training, professionalism and high commissions. He also engaged in many unsavory sales practices to try to keep others from encroaching on what he considered his exclusive right to the cash register market. At one point, he was convicted in a criminal proceeding for those efforts and sentenced to prison.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to provide a balanced review of Patterson’s contributions to the business history of that era from a sales and marketing perspective. The paper may be of interest to marketing scholars and practitioners, as well as business historians.
期刊介绍：
Launched in 2009, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing is the only quarterly, peer-reviewed journal publishing high quality, original, academic research that focuses entirely on marketing history and the history of marketing thought. Pedagogical and historiographical / methodological essays are also welcome as long as they are grounded in a marketing and historical context. The essence of an historical perspective is a thorough, systematic, critical awareness of the changes (or continuity) in events over time and of the context in which change or continuity occurs. In addition to regular full length research articles, the Journal occasionally features material under the following sections. Explorations & Insights includes invited commentaries about marketing history and the history of marketing thought. These tend to be shorter (three to six thousand words) than the full articles that run in each issue. Sources of Historical Research in Marketing includes short essays introducing unexplored and novel archives and other primary historical resources, their contents and relevance to marketing history. Archivists or library professionals who believe their collections might be of interest to marketing historians are invited to submit essays to contribute to this section. JHRM also invites historical review essays that focus on historically important marketing books under the section Forgotten Classics. Examples of these historical reviews can be found in past issues of the Journal and those suggest an approach for potential submissions. Authors are advised to check with the editor about the suitability of a book title before submitting a Forgotten Classics review for consideration.
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
