Swann Morton

Mr WR Swann, Mr JA Morton and Miss D Fairweather founded the business in August 1932 to manufacturer and sell razor blades. True to their philosophy, even before they began trading, the founders drew up four statements to guide them in their entry into the capitalist world. Mr Swann's founding principles

• Claims of individuals producing in an industry came first, before anything else, and must always remain first. They are the human beings on which everything is built.
• If the industry cannot pay the rightful reward of labour (while they are producing for profit for the owners) then a new policy is required on the part of the management to make it do so.
• If the management can't do the job, then a new management is required, as well as a new policy.
• Individuals in any industry have a perfect right to demand and see that this objective is reached, because they produce the goods.