Sealy's ISPA departure makes devastating point
David Perry, Executive Editor -- Furniture Today, January 30, 2005
Sealy's departure from the International Sleep Products Assn. offers a devastating assessment of the value of its ISPA membership.
Sealy's reasons for leaving ISPA are very different from those first offered by Serta, which resigned from ISPA late last year. Bob Sherman, president of Serta International, has been criticized in the industry for giving this reason to leave ISPA: "We have assessed Serta's 2004 expenditures to ISPA to determine their impact on Serta's primary goal — which is to help our retail partners grow their business. While we met the needs of our business partners (in 2004), ISPA did not help us accomplish this priority."
ISPA supporters say the trade association exists not to grow any one member's business, but to grow the entire bedding market.
When I asked Sherman recently if he wanted to clarify his statement, he responded: "The bottom line was this: In 2004, Serta's return on its investment in ISPA was marginal in many ways, and we are putting our resources elsewhere."
Interestingly, that kind of dollars-and-cents conclusion is not dissimilar to the bottom line in Sealy's decision: "Sealy has concluded that the cost of membership in ISPA exceeds the value we receive, and, as a result, we have decided to withdraw our membership from the association."
Taken together, the two bedding majors are saying that ISPA isn't worth the price of membership. That is a damning conclusion from two companies that together account for almost 40% of all bedding sold in this country.
But it gets worse. Sealy CEO Dave McIlquham said that "many of ISPA's activities, which Sealy helps to pay for with its significant dues, are either not relevant to Sealy nor in the best interest of Sealy. The majority of ISPA members has very different needs, issues and resources than Sealy."
It is difficult to imagine how such fundamental differences between Sealy and ISPA can be overcome. And these are not conclusions that Sealy reached lightly. In fact, the depth of Sealy's involvement with ISPA over the years makes those conclusions especially damaging to the trade association.
Sealy executives have spent countless hours working directly with ISPA officials and have played key roles on several ISPA fronts, including the mattress flammability issue, the Better Sleep Council and the ISPA Statistics Committee. Just a few years ago, former Sealy Chairman Ron Jones was chairman of ISPA. He is no longer with Sealy.
Sealy's review of its ISPA membership was conducted by senior managers and executives "who have had regular involvement with ISPA and have evaluated the support and guidance that ISPA has provided the industry in the past few years," McIlquham said.
Those Sealy executives had an inside view of ISPA in action, and they concluded that Sealy should get out. That's a bitter pill for ISPA to swallow.
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Sealy’s ISPA departure makes devastating point
Jan 30, 2005
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