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| Company History |
The year was 1920. Woman voted in a national election for the first time. The Prohibition Amendment took effect. Of the three million miles of rural roads, ninety percent were horse travel. Two-thirds of the world's oil orginated in the United States.
H.J. Scott and Sidney E. Rice, who were married to sisters, borrowed $700 from their mother-in-law, Dorothy Pitcher, to start The Tulsa Rubber Stamp Company, which later become Scott Rice.
Years later Scott Rice is one of the largest office furniture dealers in the nation. Continually evolving to meet the needs of its customers, Scott Rice has journeyed from a rubber stamp company, printing concern, and office supply firm to a company of people with the purpose of changing office space into workspace solutions.
The personal relationship between Scott and Rice may have begun with their marriage to sisters, but extended to a successful life-long business relationship. Scott was President of the company and Rice, who was a quiet person and kept a low profile, was the salesman and innovator.
The company began on the second floor of the Woolworth Building at 320 South Main Street in Tulsa with just five employees. Two years later, in 1922, Tulsa Rubber Stamp consolidated with the Sterling Stamp Company. With the acquisition, Scott Rice obtained the services of Taft Welch, who later led the firm in its most ambitious expansion phase. The company incorporated in 1928 with a capital of $10,000 and expanded into printing and office supplies.
When World War II ended Scott Rice acquired an office furniture business, Terrell Cabinet Company, and quickly captured eighty-five percent of Oklahoma's office supply and furniture market.
Welch's influence continued to drive the company and in 1964 he pioneered the selling of the complete design package. "You don't sell a desk or a chair" he said. "You sell a concept." The company's first office interiors project was the Petroleum Club in Tulsa. Welch became president in 1965 and served through 1969. His son, William J. Welch, suceeded him in 1969.
Scott Rice's first branch opened in Oklahoma City in 1967, and in 1969 the Livingston Oil Company of Tulsa purchased the company. As a subsidiary of LVO, Scott Rice's business expanded throughout the Midwest with branch offices opened in Denver, Kansas City, Wichita, Dallas, and St. Louis.
In 1974, Ladd Patroleum, which began to divest itself of subsidiaries not related to the petroleum industry, purchased LVO. Daniel F. Smith, then president of Scott Rice, and George A. Hason, president of Ross-Martin Company, combined their resources to purchase their respective companies from LVO. As part of the restructuring, the formed SRM Business Services, Inc. and purchased the Tulsa, Denver, and Wichita branches. They acquired the Oklahoma City Scott Rice operation in 1977.
The following year, SRM became a subsidiary of Kidde, Inc., with Scott Rice and Ross-Martin operating as separate divisions. During the same year, Scott Rice purchased McQuiddy Office Designers Inc. and in 1981 acquired Continental Office Supply. In 1987, Scott Rice merged John Hudson Office Supply with the Oklahoma City branch. Scott Rice became a subsidiary of Hanson Industries in 1989.
Daniel Smith, who was made president in 1972, led the way into the field of computerization. Smith heeded the firm from 1972 to 1987. Taking the reins as president from 1987 until 1997 was Raymond G. Jones. Under Jones' direction, Scott Rice dominated the office products market. In 1994, Corporate Express purchased the office supply portion of Scott Rice while Steelcase, the world's largest maufacturer of office furniture, took over the office furniture business.
George Basore became majority owner and president in 1998, bringing with him nearly two decades of experience with Steelcase. Under Basore's leadership, the company has reinvented itself. He felt it imperative to make investments in the people and change the culture, processes, and tools of the business.
Basore believes effective office furnishings provides of the future will deliver integrated interior products which support the concept of community based planning. Simplicity and flexibility will be the by-words. Structure and furnishings will adapt to corporate movement and to worker needs, not the other way around. Integrated interior products and services must be almost infinitely modifiable to accommodate innovation. Scott Rice represents products/services to fulfill this vision because Scott Rice can deliver them now.
All Scott Rice associates are involved in developing the strategic direction of the company. Each year a planning process is completed that involves all associates segmented into teams. These teams develop business plans that are synthesized by Scott Rice leadership into an overall business plan for the next year. To reach this vision, Basore has implemented Operation Gain$hare to make the business fun by creating an environment in which people can continuously learn and grow while they apply their skills, abilities, and talents to make money.
"Winning at business has the greatest reward: constant improvement of people's lives and livelihoods," according to Basore. "The people of Scott Rice will achieve this reward by working together as a team while building a dynamic company. After all, we're all in this business together and we're all accountable to each other for making sure it succeeds."
In early 1999, Scott Rice relocated its Tulsa operation to a new 42,000-square-foot buidling near the Broken Arrow Expressway. In addition to their new Tulsa facility, Scott Rice has expanded its operations and services in Oklahoma City.
Scott Rice's new infrastructure includes a new "state-of-the-art" automation system with electronic linkages to customers, approximately 75,000 square feet of multi-racked asset storage facilities with proprietary bar code system, and an upgraded vehicle fleet with expanded moving and relocation equipment. These provide the foundation for Scott Rice's core interior workspace products and interior facility services such as furniture, design, installation, furniture maintenance, relocation services, asset storage, and furniture rental.
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