Business philosophy has experienced three major shifts during the history of commerce in the United States. It has moved from a production orientation to a sales orientation to the current consumer orientation. Each of these philosophies has reflected the economic environment of its time.

From the early years of the country into the late 1920s, businesses had limited production capacity and continuous demand for their products. Under those circumstances, it was inevitable that the prevailing philosophy would be "produce as much as you can and it will sell." Business goals based on that belief naturally focused on production. Marketing concerns were limited to order taking and product distribution.

With the introduction of mass production in the late 1800s, the gap between production and the demand for goods and services began to narrow. By the 1930s, production capacity had caught up with and, in many areas, exceeded...