Purposive Strategy or Serendipity? Development and Diversification in Three Consumer Product Companies, 1918-39: J. & J. Colman, Reckitt & Sons, and Lever Bros./Unilever

Combining the neo-classical model of imperfect competition approximating to the markets in which the three firms competed with the resource-oriented and agency concepts of Edith Penrose, this essay describes, analyses and compares the evolution of the product development policies of three leading British consumer goods companies between the world wars. Historical profiles of the size, structural, and organisational features, and of the managerial resources within each firm are compared, as is the process by which searches were instituted through committees charged with the task of product diversification and development. An assessment of the progress, outcomes, and relative success of such policies reveals the contingent nature of the process. The conclusion that serendipity as well as rational purposive strategy contributed to the patterns of product diversification offers a novel interpretation of one vital but neglected dimension of the business process.