"(1) secure sales contacts and
marketing data, Edison sent men different state capitals to
collect the names electric vehicle owners from the
licensing bureaus. Not only was ingenious experimenter but Edison
was also good production engineer, and designed the
machines and layout the factories his industrial empire.1
SIDEBAR
MARKETING THE STORAGE BATTERY
Over the course his career, Edison was man many
talents.
In addition, however, Edison was able look beyond the
laboratory and the factory and concern himself with the
marketing his creations.
During his long struggle perfect his alkaline storage
battery, Edison assumed that electric automobiles would his
major market. When his first assumptions about
a market for his inventions proved wrong, Edison was capable
of identifying and stimulating new markets. With characteristic exuberance, predicted
that "inside years the entire vehicle traction large
cities the U[nited] States will done electrically am
now m[anu]f[acturin]g the battery that will permit this be
brought about commercially. This ability to
be market innovator well illustrated Edison's efforts
with the storage battery. (This survey was typical Edison business
tactic; had done the same the 1880s assess the market
