EBook - Organisational Ecology - Knowledge And Inspiration

Investing Upon an Uncertainty By way of contrast with the care and the foresight exercised in estimating the possibilities of public utility propositions, as shown in the above quotation, take the experience of the Canadian Sardine Company which some years ago put up a half-million dollar plant at St. John, New Brunswick. The plant was thoroughly modern and efficient and was expected to yield large profits. Unfortunately, there was a period of two or three years after the completion of the plant when the sardines did not run. It was impossible to carry on the business and the company went into bankruptcy. Shortly thereafter, the sardines returned to the Newfoundland fishing banks, but it was then too late. This is a striking, but by no means extreme, instance of establishing a business and investing a large sum of money upon an uncertainty. It is precisely what careful, preliminary investigation will avoid or at least minimize. Scope of Investigation We cannot here enter into a discussion of the technical points and subjects which are covered in the investigations of many different projects, for their range is infinite. A Well-known engineering firm has had under consideration within the last two years such various projects as: irrigation work in Brazil; a steam railroad in the Philippines; a street railway in South Africa; and hundreds of proposals within the United States. Every one of these proposals that seems worth while is reported upon at great length by a trained engineer and investigator. The stock of information which New York Annalist, July 20, 1914....