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ABSTRACT
Competitive pressures today require enterprises to continually improve performance for various business activities, such as customer service or waste reduction. One area currently receiving significant attention is the logistics function within organizations. In the last decade, numerous authors have proposed many modern logistics management principles and practices that focus on dimensions such as lean, fast, flexible, and so on. Many of these approaches are not new, but rather have been used and refined by business organizations in earlier times. In this paper, we describe many logistics methods employed by the major circuses more than a century ago. While the technology and terminology of that time were different, similarities with current management thought and practice are evident. Hopefully, by reviewing these logistics activities from a century ago, new ideas about logistics for tomorrow can be formulated.
Keywords: logistics, transportation, stowage, circus operations
INTRODUCTION
Let us turn back the clock to another era! It is early Friday morning, August 9, 1895, in Connersville, Indiana, and the "Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth" circus train has arrived in town for a one-day stand. The circus's scheduled street parade is set for 1 1:00 a.m., with performances to follow at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. With the circus in town, the community has declared a "holiday," and most local businesses and government offices are closed. Paying only 50 cents per ticket (25 cents for children), nearly everyone in the community of more than 7,000 souls, as well as those living in the surrounding countryside, will be at the circus. If the evening performance sells out, there will be 9,000 people watching the show.
The public will absorb the unique sights, sounds, smells, pageantry, and excitement generated by the circus parade and shows. They will marvel at the exotic animals, sideshow oddities, death-defying acts, and aerial artistry of the performances. Magnificent clowns will provide smiles and laughter. This circus experience is something that stays in the memory of the authence, both parents and children.
Given that over 50 percent of the country's population in 1895 is rural and relatively isolated, it is easy to understand why the traveling circus is the No. 1 form of entertainment in America. Although Barnum & Bailey is one of the...