please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message southwestern type private industry conglomerate founded 1855 founder rev. j.r. graves headquarters nashville tennessee united states key people henry bedford chairman and ceo of southwestern spencer hays chairman of the executive committee website www.southwestern.com southwestern owns southwestern advantage previously known as southwestern company it is a company that recruits and trains college and university students to sell educational books software and website subscriptions door to door using direct selling methods . students participating in the program are independent contractors not employees of the company selling the products directly to private families at retail for delivery at the end of the season . contents 1 history 2 southwestern advantage sales & leadership program 2.1 program 2.1.1 working conditions and income 2.2 products 3 criticism 4 notable alumni 5 subsidiaries 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit in 1855 southwestern publishing house was established in nashville tennessee . the company s name was chosen because at that time nashville was in the southwestern part of the united states . founded by the baptist minister james robinson graves southwestern originally published the tennessee baptist a southern baptist newspaper and religious booklets which were sold by mail for 20 and 30 each . prior to the civil war most bibles were printed in the north rather than the confederacy . graves acquired stereotype plates from the north and began printing bibles for sale in august 1861 . southwestern also produced and sold educational books . 1 the december 1864 battle of nashville resulted in a union victory . feeling vulnerable due to articles he had published against the north graves relocated to memphis . the company resumed publishing in 1867 . 1 after the civil war in 1868 graves discontinued the company s mail order business model and began training young men as independent dealers to sell bibles and educational books door to door as a way to earn money for college . graves retired in 1871 . 1 in 1879 the company relocated to nashville under the new ownership of jacob florida . in 1899 p.b. jones a twenty two year veteran who started in the summer sales program acquired majority ownership of the southwestern publishing house becoming its president and general manager . in 1921 j.b. henderson a sixteen year veteran who started in the summer sales program became the sole company owner . during the 1920s henderson grew southwestern to one of the largest person to person sales companies in america . by 1947 southwestern had lost nearly all of its independent dealers as a result of world war ii . j.b. henderson dortch oldham and fred landers each of whom left to serve in the pacific during the war struck a deal to rebuild the company with henderson serving as president . throughout those next twenty years southwestern experienced tremendous growth as the united states rebounded from the great depression . led by fred landers spencer hays and ted welch the number of independent reps grew to over 1 500 . in 1959 oldham a 24 year veteran who started in the summer sales program became the majority shareholder of southwestern ; an ownership role that would last until 1968 and a presidential role that would last until 1972 . 2 in 1968 times mirror company acquired ownership of southwestern . in 1972 spencer hays 3 a fourteen year veteran who started in the summer sales program became its president . in 1975 times mirror formed a fund raising company called nashville educational marketing services under southwestern later to be renamed great american opportunities . jerry heffel became the company s president in 1980 . in 1982 spencer hays heffel ralph mosley and other executives organized to purchase southwestern and sister company great american opportunities by leveraged buyout from times mirror forming southwestern great american inc. hays was named executive chairman of the board and ralph mosley was named chairman and ceo . in 2011 the sales and leadership program and its operating unit updated its name to southwestern advantage . southwestern earned position 4 832 on the inc. 5000 list in 2012 of the fastest growing private companies in the united states . 4 southwestern advantage sales & leadership program edit this section may be too long to read and navigate comfortably . please consider splitting content into sub articles condensing it or adding or removing subheadings . august 2012 the company recruits a few thousand american and a few hundred european university students each year to work as independent contractors who sell educational books software and subscription websites during the summer months . student dealers come from many universities worldwide . 5 the president of southwestern advantage admits that selling books door to door is incredibly hard frustrating work and not for everyone . experienced dealers say the program provided them needed funds boosted their confidence and taught them to stick with a project despite adversity . 6 the program does not offer any guaranteed pay . 7 program edit the company operates on a structured network marketing platform where student dealers participating in the program are independent contractors not employees . the money they earn is solely determined by their sales revenue minus their expenses and the cost of goods sold . they do not receive wages or employee benefits . 5 students provide the company a letter of credit signed by two endorsers typically the student s parents in which the endorsers agree to be responsible for up to 500 each if the student fails to pay any money owed to the company at the end of the summer . this endorsement allows the company to ship startup books and sales materials to the student without requiring payment in advance . 5 8 students entering the program attend a week long southwestern advantage sales school in nashville where they learn the product line how to make customer presentations and the company s requirements for running a book business . 9 students are responsible for the cost of travel to and from training and for their personal expenses food gas and 100 for company subsidized lodging . the company does not otherwise charge for training or the product sample kit . 10 at the conclusion of the training program students are assigned to a sales area outside their home or school states . sales areas are predominantly suburban or rural . dealers are advised what they should be selling and to obtain solicitor s permits where one is required . permit fees are a business expense paid by the student with the company reimbursing 50 % of permit fees . 11 working conditions and income edit students typically pay rent to a host family in their sales area sharing expense one to three other students of the same gender . host families are found in the same way the products are sold by knocking on doors and asking people for referrals to families interested in hosting for the summer . students pay rent weekly and provide their own meals . housing is not guaranteed by the company . 5 12 dealers report working 72 or more hours per week monday through saturday typically from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. making 30 or more presentations each day . the hours worked apply to time actually spent in the field and do not include time spent on bookkeeping talking to managers or at sales meetings held each sunday . 5 according to the company in 2010 the average first year dealer who stayed with the program for over 20 days grossed 2 415 per month before expenses . 13 total expenses for the summer vary by the individual but range from 1 500 to 3 000 . 5 as independent contractors dealers pay their own travel and living expenses which are tax deductible . dealers must pay an additional 7.65 percent in social security and medicare taxes to match the percentage normally paid to these agencies by an employer . at the end of the summer products are shipped to the dealers who revisit each home where they made a sale to deliver the product and collect any balance due . dealers generally pay their living expenses out of the down payments they collect remitting the rest to the company to cover wholesale costs . dealers return to headquarters in nashville where they settle accounts and receive a check for the season s earnings . 5 some dealers are invited to return in subsequent years as managers who recruit their own teams during the school year and earn a percentage commission on the sales of their team as in network marketing . products edit southwestern advantage publishes and markets educational books software and subscription websites . the main product southwestern advantage is a series of educational reference books targeted to school age children . the product line also includes software college prep material and others . criticism edit criticism about the operations of southwestern advantage revolves around its recruiting practices and the financial risk to students whose profits from sales do not substantially cover their expenses . because they are independent contractors southwestern advantage expects students to fully finance their living expenses similar to any other career job . southwestern advantage does not pay for expenses like food gas or rent . in addition expenses of the required sunday meetings with managers are not covered by the company but by the students themselves . foreign students in particular carry a major financial burden as they must pay for their visas and airfare themselves . 14 students are taught to indirectly ask if there are other families in the neighborhood who may have small children . 15 such questions have sometimes been regarded as suspicious resulting in complaints to local police close police scrutiny and even an arrest for disorderly conduct . 16 by traveling door to door students sometimes draw the attention of local law enforcement . 17 local requirements are reviewed by the company prior to the summer in order to sell products legally and southwestern advantage offers assistance in the event of permit issues . students are encouraged to leave their cellphones at home to focus on the task at hand but it is not required . 14 harvard university banned southwestern from recruiting on its campus in 1977 ; four years later southwestern resumed recruiting despite this ban . 18 in 2005 the university of maryland banned southwestern from recruiting on its campus ; as of 2009 however the university continued to receive complaints against the company . 19 in 2007 southwestern advantage lobbied against a bill introduced in wisconsin to regulate door to door sales crews and require companies to pay their dealers as salaried employees . the company argued that their independent contractor business model nurtured the entrepreneurial spirit . 20 21 during the hearings former southwestern student dealers testified on both sides of the issue . 22 the intent of the bill known as malinda s traveling sales crew protection act 23 was stated by wisconsin governor james e. doyle as to stop companies from putting workers in dangerous and unfair conditions . the bill was passed in a form that applies only to sales workers who travel in groups of two or