Corporate squeeze

Rubbermaid, the corporate spine of the town I grew up in, is closing its headquarters and factory there. In 1993 and 1994, Rubbermaid was named America’s most admired company by Fortune. Here’s Rubbermaid’s history.

The jobs will be moved to cheaper production facilities “abroad,” so some will see Rubbermaid’s demise as evidence for more trade barriers. But here’s an interesting argument blaming Walmart, which dominates retailing enough to dictate what manufactures can peddle. Brands mean little when Walmart dominates the sales channel. An important lesson for publishers who deal with Google.