Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and HCBE Faculty Articles Entrepreneurship 1-1-2014 The Origins of Captive Pricing: Electric Lamp Renewal Systems Regina A. Greenwood Nova Southeastern University,
[email protected] Charles D. Wrege Peter Gordon Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles Part of the Business Commons NSUWorks Citation Greenwood, Regina A.; Wrege, Charles D.; and Gordon, Peter, "The Origins of Captive Pricing: Electric Lamp Renewal Systems" (2014). HCBE Faculty Articles. 58. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles/58 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in HCBE Faculty Articles by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 1 The Origins of Captive Pricing: Electric Lamp Renewal Systems Abstract Purpose: The paper describes the development of electric lamp renewal systems, perhaps the first, or certainly one of the first, applications of Captive Pricing. Design/methodology/approach: Much material for the research comes from a variety of archival sources and publications of the early part of the 20th century. Findings: The free lamp renewal system was brilliant and effective: its high level of customer service and human contact dispelled fear raised by the new energy source, increasing the acceptance and use of electric lighting and, thereby, electricity. Lighting, in the absence of electrical appliances, was one of the few users of electricity. Thus, the electric companies created perhaps the first captive pricing marketing program Research limitations/implications: We examined the electric lighting industry at the turn of the 20th century.