Allied Office Products was a corporation with annual sales of 900 million in business forms and specialty paper products, such as writing paper , envelopes , note cards ,and greeting cards.
the company had expanded into business forms inventory management services.
this was an area where Allied believed it could offer value-added services to differentiate it from other business forms manufacturers.
the forms manufacturing business was mature by 1988, and all competitors were seeking ways to generate sales growth.
Allied embarked on a campaign to enroll its corporate clients in a program which it called "Total Forms Control