Albert Pope, Columbia Bicycles, and Mass Production - Assignment Example

Pope’s response reflects the American capitalist culture which emphasizes that individual ability and inventiveness are the bedrock of successful businesses. 8. Pope held that the US produced bicycles of superior quality and more profitability than Britain due to the absence of labor unions, facilitating the introduction of labor saving machines and cutting down on the number of employees. 9. The Fordist factory shows specialized departments, vertical integration and large volume of manufacture.

Flexible firms are vertically disintegrated, have no specialization, and employ geographically scattered labor. Pope’s factory was concentrated geographically into one industrial complex; there were specialized departments for the manufacture of various components; vertically integration was emphasized, with Pope buying out his suppliers, such as the Weed Sewing Machine Company and the Hartford Rubber Works. In addition to innovation in bicycle parts, Pope adopted innovations in the production process, such as stamping and pressing methods, cold drawn steel, case hardening, swaging, annealing, electric welding, and die making. 15. The ownership of valuable patents constituted assets for the company; competition led to investment in technological innovation and industrial espionage; rapid innovation in technology made older models obsolete. 25. In order to promote the use of bicycles by women, Pope attempted to overcome the obstacle posed by the lack of socially accepted, appropriate dress for women cyclists.

By donating $ 100 for a competition at the elitist Waldorf Hotel for the best doll in a cycling costume, Pope promoted cycling among the upper classes, secured a socially-sanctioned bicycling costume and received favorable publicity. 26. Pope countered church criticism of bicycling on Sundays by portraying cycling as a means of exercise leading to good health, and therefore meriting divine approval. He also indicated that