American Business Since 1920 - How It Worked

Tells the story of how America's biggest companies began, operated, and prospered post-World War I
 
This book takes the vantage point of people working within companies as they responded to constant change created by consumers and technology. It focuses on the entrepreneur, the firm, and the industry, by showing--from the inside--how businesses operated after 1920, while offering a good deal of Modern American social and cultural history. The case studies and contextual chapters provide an in-depth understanding of the evolution of American management over nearly 100 years.
 
American Business Since 1920: How It Worked presents historical struggles with decision making and the trend towards relative decentralization through stories of extraordinarily capable entrepreneurs and the organizations they led. It covers: Henry Ford and his competitor Alfred Sloan at General Motors during the 1920s; Neil McElroy at Procter & Gamble in the 1930s; Ferdinand Eberstadt at the government's Controlled Materials Plan during World War II; David Sarnoff at RCA in the 1950s and 1960s; and Ray Kroc and his McDonald's franchises in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first; and more. It also delves into such modern success stories as Amazon.com, eBay, and Google.
* Provides deep analysis of some of the most successful companies of the 20th century
* Contains topical chapters covering titans of the 2000s
* Part of Wiley-Blackwell's highly praised American History Series
 
American Business Since 1920: How It Worked is designed for use in both basic and advanced courses in American history, at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

List of contents

Introduction 1
 
Past and Present 1
 
The Story Told Here 2
 
Trends 3
 
A Matter of Size 6
 
The Key Internal Problem 7
 
Broader Contexts 8
 
American Business and the World 11
 
The American Business Achievement 12
 
Chapter One: Modern Management in the 1920s: GM Defeats Ford 15
 
Cars, Trucks, and Freedom 15
 
Henry Ford, Mass Production, and Centralized Management 17
 
Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. and Decentralized Management 20
 
General Motors Versus the Ford Motor Company: The Triumph of Decentralized Management 22
 
Lessons Learned 26
 
Chapter Two: Overview: Business Welfare Capitalism, the Financial System, and the Great Depression 29
 
Responding to the Dark Side - Business Welfare Capitalism in the 1920s 29
 
Functions of Finance 31
 
Historical Context of American Finance to 1920 33
 
Wall Street and the Stock Market in the 1920s 34
 
The Great Depression 36
 
Successful Firms During the Great Depression 40
 
Chapter Three: Brand Management at Procter & Gamble 43
 
Procter & Gamble: Multiple Products and Marketing 43
 
Firm Culture 45
 
Building the Market 47
 
Neil McElroy and Brands 49
 
Doc Smelser and the Market Research Department 51
 
Lessons of Brands 53
 
Changes at P&G in the Early Twenty?]first Century 55
 
People as Brands 56
 
Chapter Four: The New Deal and World War II: Regulation and Mobilization, 1933-1945 59
 
Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal 60
 
The Extension and Decentralization of Regulation 63
 
The World at War 66
 
The Marvel of American War Production 68
 
The Problem of Mobilization 69
 
The Solution: Decentralization through the Controlled Materials Plan 71
 
World War II as a Transformative Event 75
 
Aviation Matures: Boeing 81
 
Postscript: Scandals 85
 
Photo Group 1 87
 
Chapter Five: Overview: Postwar Prosperity and Social Revolution, 1945-1970s 95
 
The Cold War and Business 95
 
Economic Trends 97
 
The Place of Business in Society 100
 
Boomers, Social Movements, and the Government 102
 
Environmentalism 104
 
Chapter Six: Overview: The Empowerment of Women and Minorities in Business 107
 
Women 108
 
Women in the Workforce 111
 
Women in Top Management 112
 
African Americans 117
 
African Americans in Top Management 122
 
Hispanics 125
 
Hispanics in Top Management 129
 
Foreign?]born CEOs of American Firms 133
 
Photo Group 2 135
 
Chapter Seven: Science and R&D: From TV to Biotechnology 145
 
R&D During the Cold War 145
 
David Sarnoff and RCA 146
 
Sarnoff and Television 152
 
Lessons from RCA's Mismanagement 158
 
The Perils of High?]Tech Markets 160
 
Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotechnology 162
 
Chapter Eight: Franchising and McDonald's 173
 
The Economic and Social Context of Franchising 174
 
The McDonald Brothers 178
 
Ray Kroc 180
 
Financial Wizardry at McDonald's 184
 
How McDonald's Worked 187
 
Internationalization 190
 
Marketing, Labor, Nutrition, and the Environment: The Positives and Negatives of Franchising 191
 
Past and Future 197
 
Chapter Nine: The IT Revolution and Silicon Valley: Relentless Change 199
 
Early Days 200
 
IBM 202
 
Silicon Valley and a New Business Culture 206
 
The Internet and the World Wide

About the author

Thomas K. McCraw (d. 2012) was former Professor and Isidor Straus Professor of Business History for the Harvard Business School, where he was instrumental in making Business History an important aspect of the MBA program. McCraw received a Pulitzer Prize in History in 1985 for his book, Prophets of Regulation (1984). He also served as editor of the Business History Review, as associate editor of The Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century, and as president and trustee of the Business History Conference. He was a member of the Board of Syndics of Harvard University Press, the Council of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the advisory board of Nomura School of Advanced Management (Tokyo), and the editorial boards of Reviews in American History and Harvard Business Review.

William R. Childs was former History Professor at Ohio State University. He retired from teaching in 2014. Tom McCraw was his advisor at The University of Texas at Austin in the 1970s. After McCraw left for the Harvard Business School in 1978, he remained on Childs' dissertation committee and hired him as a research assistant for his book Prophets of Regulation (1984). In addition to his two books and numerous articles and book reviews, Childs was editor of Essays in Economic and Business History (1995-1998) and has served on the Board of Editors for the Business History Review and Enterprise & Society.

Summary

Tells the story of how America's biggest companies began, operated, and prospered post-World War I

This book takes the vantage point of people working within companies as they responded to constant change created by consumers and technology. It focuses on the entrepreneur, the firm, and the industry, by showing--from the inside--how businesses operated after 1920, while offering a good deal of Modern American social and cultural history. The case studies and contextual chapters provide an in-depth understanding of the evolution of American management over nearly 100 years.

American Business Since 1920: How It Worked presents historical struggles with decision making and the trend towards relative decentralization through stories of extraordinarily capable entrepreneurs and the organizations they led. It covers: Henry Ford and his competitor Alfred Sloan at General Motors during the 1920s; Neil McElroy at Procter & Gamble in the 1930s; Ferdinand Eberstadt at the government's Controlled Materials Plan during World War II; David Sarnoff at RCA in the 1950s and 1960s; and Ray Kroc and his McDonald's franchises in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first; and more. It also delves into such modern success stories as Amazon.com, eBay, and Google.
* Provides deep analysis of some of the most successful companies of the 20th century
* Contains topical chapters covering titans of the 2000s
* Part of Wiley-Blackwell's highly praised American History Series

American Business Since 1920: How It Worked is designed for use in both basic and advanced courses in American history, at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Report

In this third edition of Thomas C. McCraw's expansive work, William R. Childs has taken on the challenge of extending its reach into the first years of the 21st Century. The volatile events and issues of these years have made the task a daunting one, but Childs has risen to the occasion. Seamlessly folding new information into old, he has addressed the financial crisis of 2008, the accelerated growth of income inequality, the contentious debates surrounding globalization and financialization, the evolving roles of women and minorities in business, and innumerable other subjects of equal urgency. - Mary A. Yeager, PhD, Professor at UCLA

Product details

• Authors: William R Childs, William R. Childs, Childs William R., Thomas McCraw, Thomas K McCraw, Thomas K. Mccraw, Thomas K. (Harvard University) Childs Mccraw, Thomas K. Childs Mccraw, McCraw Thomas K.
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.01.2018
• EAN: 9781119097297
• ISBN: 978-1-119-09729-7
• No. of pages: 407
• Series: The American History Series; American History; The American History Series
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Geschichte, Wirtschaft, History, Business & management, Geschichte der USA, US History, Wirtschaft u. Management, USA /Geschichte, Wirtschaft u. Gesellschaft, Business & Society, Geschichte u. Zeitgeschichte des 20./21. Jahrhunderts, Twentieth Century & Contemporary History, USA /Wirtschaft, Volkswirtschaft