We've come a long way since July 20, 1841 -- the day
we set up shop as The Mercantile Agency in New York City
and helped start a business information revolution. We've
done a lot of growing in that time to stay on the leading
edge of technology.
Following is an in-depth look at where we've been, and
where we are going.
The Pioneer Years
A Historic Merger
D&B in the Modern Era
D&B in the Millennium
Did You Know?
Timeline
The Pioneer
Years
To help American merchants in their decision-making, an
enterprising businessman named Lewis Tappan began, in 1841,
to establish a network of correspondents that would function
as a source of reliable, consistent and objective credit
information. His Mercantile Agency, located in New York
City, was one of the first organizations formed for the
sole purpose of providing business information to customers.
Benjamin Douglass enters the business. To foster
expansion, in 1849 Tappan turned the Agency over to Benjamin
Douglass, a former clerk. Douglass capitalized on the improved
transportation and communication of the time by expanding
his network of offices, essentially providing the Agency
with both new customers and superb information.
The credit reporter -- a new profession. Shortly
after he joined the agency, Benjamin Douglass began establishing
local offices and hiring full-time employees who became
experienced, skilled reporters and interpreters of credit
information. Working as a credit reporter was a respected
position that provided strong training in sound business
practices. Among the reporters who went on to establish
names for themselves were four U.S. presidents: Abraham
Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland and William
McKinley.
A strong competitor. In 1849, the rival John M.
Bradstreet Company was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio. Two
years later, the Bradstreet organization popularized the
use of credit ratings with publication of the first book
of commercial ratings. The rivalry between The John M. Bradstreet
Company and Douglass' agency intensified as the United States
entered the 20th century. Fundamentally, this had lasting
effects on the fate of the two organizations.
In 1859, Douglass turned over the Agency to his brother-in-law,
Robert Graham Dun.
Under the new name, R.G. Dun & Company, Dun continued
Douglass' relentless expansion. During the next 40 years,
Dun led the Agency all over the United States and across international
boundaries, carrying Lewis Tappan's vision into the next century.
Back to Top A Historic
Merger
As America entered the 1930's, the effects of rivalry and
economic depression on both R.G. Dun and The Bradstreet
Companies could no longer be ignored. In 1933, the arch
competitors merged to form D&B.
The merger was engineered by Dun's CEO Arthur Whiteside.
Using his first-rate diplomatic skills, Whiteside was able
to broker a deal with the company's long-lasting and foremost
competitor. Whereas previously both companies sold "products,"
Whiteside increasingly emphasized "service." With
great leadership, he led D&B out of the depression and
into the Information Age.
D&B in
the Modern Era
The rapid development of computing and communications technology
in the post-war era has been central to the growth of D&B.
During the past 50 years of D&B's history, increases
in the speed and volume of cross-border communications have
influenced our evolution from a provider of credit reports
to a leader in the international information industry.
The 1960's - 1970's: A time of explosive growth. Whiteside's
successor, J. Wilson Newman, recognized that D&B needed
to take risks and increase its range of products and services.
Overall, D&B expanded dramatically during the 1960's
by engineering ways to apply new technologies to evolving
operations. In 1963, the introduction of the Data Universal
Numbering System -- The D&B D-U-N-S® Number -- used
to identify businesses numerically for data-processing purposes
-- helped bring business information into the computer age.
This unique business identification system proved so useful
that today the D&B D-U-N-S Number has become a standard
business identifier for the United Nations, the European
Commission and the U.S. Government.
By the 1970's, D&B had established its commitment to
new technology. A new "Advanced Office System"
(AOS) fully computerized our data-collection operations,
providing the ability to link and analyze categories of
information in entirely new ways, and to deliver information
to customers faster and more economically. Back to Top
D&B in
the Millennium
D&B has undergone a period of restructuring in recent
years, designed to make D&B a smaller, more tightly
focused company. A.C. Nielsen, Cognizant, Reuben H. Donnelley
and Moody's Corporation were all spun off to allow each
company to pursue focused strategies for its specific business.
And in October 2000, D&B launched an ambitious new plan
called the Blueprint for Growth -- a strategy designed to
transform itself into a growth company with an important
presence on the Web.
We're creating a whole new generation of products and
services that give customers exciting opportunities
to manage business information more efficiently. We
are constantly expanding the size and improving the
quality of our global database, which now covers more
than 100 million businesses worldwide. And we're working
hard to continuously improve the high-quality service
that is our hallmark.
We're a company poised to meet the new century. But we
will always have a fundamental legacy to define us, a legacy
that ties us to our past and supports us as we venture into
the next millennium. Back to Top
Did You Know?
--Lewis Tappan's strong belief in business
ethics and sound judgment extended to his personal life
as well. Tappan brought the first civil rights case in U.S.
history to the attention of the national abolitionist movement
and was primarily responsible for raising the funds used
to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. Amistad, a Steven
Spielberg film released in late 1997, covers the story of
Lewis Tappan and his crusade to defend the rights of slaves.
An international cast is featured, including Anthony Hopkins,
Nigel Hawthorne, Morgan Freeman and Matthew McConaughey.
-- As a successful businessman, Lewis Tappan
supported education, charities and social reform, including
the abolition of slavery. In 1834, he skillfully organized
"Anti-Slavery Week," bringing the movement serious
national attention for the first time. That same year, mobs
gathered before Tappan's home and burned it to the ground.
In 1835, when a fire swept through the New York business
district, a number of volunteers, most of them African-American,
managed to save two-thirds of goods and a half million dollars
in promissory notes.
-- Abraham Lincoln, one of the four U.S.
Presidents who served as a business correspondent for D&B,
often laced his reports with humor. On one of them, he described
a grocer in his home town of Springfield, Illinois as possessing
a rat hole in his shop that "would bear looking into."
When Lincoln was assassinated, one of the Agency's employees
drew a eulogy to the president in the margin of the page
that contained the report on Lincoln's law office. A cross-like
tombstone with the vertical letters 'A L' and a weeping
willow tree were inked in black, in a small box, the inscription:
"This office had the honor of having Old Abe as a correspondent."
-- Benjamin Douglass' family members have
remained associated with D&B as employees or directors
ever since his retirement in 1859.
-- R.G. Dun was the first to recognize
the potential of the typewriter for business use. In 1874,
he ordered 100 of the machines, at $55 apiece.
-- Because of the typewriter, beautiful hand-written ledgers
were gradually retired. Today, housed at the Baker Library
of the Harvard University Graduate School
of Business, these are still being used by scholars and
economists from around the world.
-- In 1870, Dun retained as his attorney a man who in 1881
would become the 21st U.S. president, his friend and frequent
salmon-fishing partner, Chester A. Arthur.
Back to Top
Timeline
1841 The Mercantile Agency is established
1847 Benjamin Douglass becomes a partner
in The Mercantile Agency
1849 The rival credit-reporting agency
is founded in Cincinnati by John M. Bradstreet
1859 Robert Graham Dun assumes leadership
of The Mercantile Agency
1874 The Mercantile Agency places the
first commercial order for typewriters
1886 R.H. Donnelley introduces his first
telephone directory in Chicago
1900 John Moody produces the first industrial
manual
1931 R.G. Dun & Company introduces
a new level of credit reporting
1933 R.G. Dun & Company merges with
The Bradstreet Company
1962 D&B introduces the Data Universal
Numbering System (D-U-N-S®)
1975 D&B develops the National Business
Information Center
1996 Corporation restructured into three
independent companies
1998 Independence for R.H. Donnelley
2000 The D&B Corporation splits into
two companies
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