THE MODEL STOCK PLAN 
hastened by the chains. Group buying by retailers is 
increasing. Style is penetrating into many lines hitherto 
free from style influence. Major outlets for many types of 
goods are shifting from one kind of store to another; small 
hardware and notions into chain variety stores; nationally 
advertised men’s clothing and furnishing goods into retail 
outlets owned or controlled by manufacturers. The list 
could be extended indefinitely. These suffice to indicate 
the trend. 
We may depend upon people to keep on eating, wearing 
out clothes, building houses, running mileage on their auto- 
mobiles. Whether your business and mine make money 
by supplying these wants depends upon our adaptability 
to changing conditions. If we combat today’s and tomor- 
row’s supercompetition by simple but scientific methods, 
we shall prosper safely and surely. If we do not adapt 
ourselves we must eventually go under. 
The principles and methods of the Model Stock Plan are 
the surest way to net profits, although they are not always 
the line of least resistance in running a business. In the 
first place, they are predicated—just as are Ford's, Chevro- 
let’s, Woolworth’s, and other modern merchandisers’ —on 
actually thinking our way through our business, using facts 
as a guide and a check-up rather than traditional opinions. 
The Model Stock Plan is not difficult to carry out. On the 
contrary, it is simpler and will cause us much less work than 
the currently accepted methods. The only difficulty comes 
in deciding to carry it out. All of us tend to continue using 
1 Many other examples could be cited from higher-priced lines of business 
2s well. Cadillac automobiles have of recent years shown the results of much 
he same kind of thinking; American Telephone and Telegraph Company is 
an excellent instance in a service industry. Woolworth, Ford, and Chevrolet 
are used as examples throughout this book because they are the most con- 
spicuously successful in working along lines similar to those of the Model 
Stock Plan. But this choice of examples must not be misinterpreted as 
meaning that the Model Stock Plan applies only to the lower-priced fields of 
business. Actually, the opportunities for increasing profits by using the 
Model Stock Plan are incomparably greater in the field of higher-priced 
merchandise than at the lower levels such as Woolworth’s nickel and dime 
prices, as will be clear after the workings of the plan are explained in detail 
3 little further along in this book.