Design and the Formation of Taste in the British Printed Calico Industry, 1919 to 1940
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Design and the Formation of Taste in the British Printed Calico Industry, 1919 to 1940 Volume 11 Emily Anne Baharini Baines Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy De Montfort University - May 2002 Cl Emily Baincs 5. Response to Economic Crisis 5.1 Introduction The evident crisis in the cotton industry in the inter-war period (see Chapter 4) sparked a series of government investigations and a range of industrial and Governmental proposals to redeem the economic condition of industry. This chapter will examine the structural analysis and economic interventions of government, with the implications for design of these interventions. The establishment of a protected dye industry, and the controversy in the industry over the economic costs of the policy, is considered. It will also analyse the Government policy of raising the artistic standard of British design, to obviate the perceived competitive disadvantage of British products. To achieve this aim, a concerted attempt was made to construct the taste of the public, manufacturers, designers and retailers by 'the staging of exhibitions and other forms of educative propaganda' 1 and by modifying the education and improving the professional status of designers (Chapter 3). Consideration of the response to the economic decline of exports by cotton industry organisations is given in the context of historiographic debate on the structural causes of decline in British industry. An analysis of British decline advanced by Lazonick (taking the cotton industry as a case study), attributes it to an entrepreneurial weakness of manufacturers, particularly a failure to create large vertically combined corporations.2 This view is supported by Garside: he states that the response of the spinning and manufacturing sections to the depression was wage reduction and greater efficiency (requiring weavers to operate greater numbers of looms and work longer hours), rather than schemes of industrial reorganisation, amalgamation and standardisation recommended by the cotton unions.3 However, Feinstein comments that 'the evidence does not immediately suggest' that integrated spinning and weaving firms were more successful than specialised firms, and points out that research by Dintenfass4 and Supples on the British coal industry in the interwar period did not support the I Oorell Report (initially published by HM Stationary Office in 1932) given in Read, H. Art and Industry, Faber & Faber Ltd., 1934. 2 Lazonick, W. 'The Cotton Industry', in Elbaum, B. & Lazonick, W. (eds.) The Decline ofthe British Economy, Clarendon Press, 1986. 3 Garside, W.R. 'British Industrial Relations', in Supple, B., Essays in British Business History, Clarendon Press, 1977, p260. "Dintenfass, H. 'Entrepreneurial Failure Reconsidered: the Case of the Interwar British Coal Industry; Business History Review, No. 62, 1988. 212 hypothesis that creating large-scale corporations would be advantageous.6 The process of negotiation of voluntary and national rationalisation schemes in the textile fmishing industry and proposals of vertical combinations in the finishing and distribution sectors are discussed, with examples of vertical combination in works established overseas. The role of cotton industry organisations was highlighted by M Dupree, who indicated the active investigation of Japanese vertical structures by Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the attempt to alter market constraints by international negotiation, tariff protection and co-ordination of distribution for particular markets.7 Initiatives of the printed textile industry in response to economic conditions, such as instituting price agreements and selective export market schemes and campaigning for restrictive import tariffs, will be examined. In the third section of the chapter, strategic and tactical responses by companies are analysed. These strategies include diversification, product improvement, price reduction, rationalisation of plant, cost reduction, new distribution structures and marketing approaches. Measures intended to reduce the price of the product impacted on design, in the minimisation of dye and copper rollers and choice of print process. Analysis will focus on product development strategies, in the investment in research and approach to design innovation by the case study companies. The degree of entrepreneurialism in the strategic policies of these case studies can be considered and the advantage of vertical combination (and its relation to the degree of entrepreneurialism of the company) assessed. A successful entrepreneur is defined by Feinstein and Lazonick as someone who could make changes in the existing framework of markets and productive techniques, by fmding new goods to make, or new ways to produce or sell the product, or new structures for the finn or industry.s Comparison of the case studies will be made, to clarify whether a common approach was taken by the different sectors of the industry to investment, research, design policy, marketing and distribution. The contrasting theories of Pevsner (the proposition that severe economic 5 Supple, B. 'The British Coal Industry Between the Wars,' ReFRESH, No. 9, 1989; reprinted in Digby, A., Feinstein, C. & Jenkins, D. (eds.) New Directions in Economic and Social History, MacMillan Educational, 1992, ppI77-189. 6 Feinstein, C.H. 'Slowing Down and Falling Behind: Industrial Retardation in Britain After 1870,' in Digby, A., Feinstein, C. & Jenkins, D. (eds.), ibid., p17S. 7 Dupree, M. 'Fighting Against Fate: The Cotton Industry and the Government during the 1930s', Textile History, Vol. 21, No. 1, 1990. 213 circumstances inspire a more risk-taking approach to design9) and Knight (his hypothesis that in distress conditions internal organisational change and cost-reduction projects will be emphasised, since the company will not be able to afford the high risk and cost of introducing a new product or processl~ can then be considered. The relation of support for Modernist design and investment in research, as part of a broader strategy of the 'use of innovation to drive business success', 11 is considered. The analysis of design in Chapter 6 will substantiate the examination of design investment (discussed in Section 5.4.3) with an assessment of degree of risk-taking in company design. This relates to the assumption by Government that risk-taking, high quality (equated to Modernist) design, was required to establish a national position as a creator of fashion, which was seen as a competitive necessity in the design industries. 12 8 Feinstein, C.H. op. cit., p174. 9Pevsner, N. An Enquiry into Industrial Art in England, Cambridge University Press, 1937, p191. 10 Knight, Kenneth E. 'A Descriptive Model of the Intra-Firm Innovation Process', Journal 0/ Business, XL No. 4 (Oct. 1967), p470-7 (reprinted in Wills, G., Hayhurst, R. and Midgeley, D. (eds.) Creating and Marketing New Products, Crosby Lockwood Staples, 1973, pp136-163). Hypothesis stated p149, based on previous research by Knight, K.E., Leavitt, H.J. & Freidheim, C.F. at the Camegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh (,Team Reaction to Success or Failure after Earlier Success or Failure', Unpublished Report, 1962); Mansfield, E. 'Size of Firm, Market Structure and Innovation', Journal of Political Economy, LXXI, No. 6 Dec. 1963, fP290-311; and Cyret, C.R. & March, J.O. A Behavioural Theory a/the Firm, Prentice-Hall Inc., 1963. Quote from Treasury consultation paper (on extending 'tax incentives aimed at boosting R & D and innovation'to all companies), 'Options for Boosting R & 0 Investment" Professional Engineering, Vol. 14, No. S, 14/3/01, pIS. 12 See Department of Overseas Trade quotes, given in the Section 1.1.6. 214 5.2 Government 5.2.1 Analysis of the Textile Industry by Government Consideration of the textile industry and related issues was undertaken primarily by the Board of Trade, but also by the Board of Education and various inter-departmental committees. Design aspects are considered in the Section 5.2.6. Inquiries relating to designers and design education are considered in Chapter 3. Other aspects of design in the textile industry covered include a Committee of Design on the Scottish Woollen Industry, chaired by Sir Steven Bilsden.13 Economic and structural analysis was undertaken by a series of Board of Trade committees. A report was produced by a Departmental Committee on the 'Position of the Textile Trade after the War' in 1918.14 The Committee on Industry and Trade was established in July 1924 and chaired by Sir Arthur Balfour KBE. It considered imports, exports, costs and prices and produced the Survey o/Textile Industries. 1S A Committee of Civil Research Sub-Committee on the Cotton Industry collected data on national competition, particularly the industry in Japan, India, Europe, China, Brazil and the USA, between 1925 and 1930.16 The Economic Advisory Council Committee on the Cotton Industry held an Enquiry on the state of the industry and possible solutions to the problems in 1929-30.17 Evidence was heard from the Bleaching Trade Advisory Board, the Federation of Calico Printers, the Calico Printers' Association, the Joint Committee of Cotton Trade Organisations, and the Shipping Merchants' Committee of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, as well as spinners and 8 weavers organisations, workers organisations, banks, and other relevant organisations. I Responses to it were considered at the Joint Conference of the Associations, on 28th October 1929. Relevant evidence and conclusions