Sears, Whirlpool and Washer Design
Captive Supplier or Partner? Sears,Whirlpool and Washer Design Malcolm B. Russell AndrewsUniversity Exactlyeighty years ago the founder of a strugglingmanufacturing company approachedexecutives at the prominentmail orderspecialist Sears, Roebuck to demonstratean electric washing machine. Despite the number of electricsmarketed sincethe first Thor appeared in 1908,Sears sold primarily hand-powered machines. Now LouisC. "Lou"Upton sought to listhis product. Just thirty years of age,Upton possesseda "brilliant talent for salespromotion" [1, p. 1], and likely captured Sears'interest with an air rifle producedby theUpton Machine Company that sold well in themilitaristic spirit of the age.Whether because Sears needed an electric, or becauseof Upton'spersuasive qualities, Upton won a deal to supplysome 25 machinesper month. To quotethe corporatechronicle, this was"probably the mostimportant announcementin the historyof the UptonMachine Company and the successor companies"[8, p. 18; 1, p. 7]. Thusbegan what Lou's brotherFrederick, who was secretaryof thefirm, considered"one of thefinest business relationships that was everput together, starting out in a very,very small way" [10, p. 14].The agreement pavedthe way for the WhirlpoolCorporation's long rise to dominancein the applianceindustry, and apparently contributed very significantlyto profitsat Sears as well. The EssentialRelationship Withinmonths, economic conditions imperiled the Upton-Sears agreement. Wartimeinflation forced the UptonMachine Company to requestcompensating priceincreases. A tightcontract might well have doomed the relationship. However, Searsrecognized the impact of inflation,and the relationship continued for decades, sealedby furtherhandshakes rather than contracts. Bearing the trade mark "Allen," the machineadvertised in the Sears cataloguecame in two models,a six-sheettub pricedat $54.75,with the 12-sheet capacitymodel retailing at $95.00,both expensive novelties when $50 represented a reasonablemonthly wage [8, p.
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