American Business Abroad: Ford on Six Continents

by Mira Wilkins, Frank Ernest Hill

Overview

American Business Abroad: Ford on Six Continents documents the first sixty years of Ford Motor Company's international expansion. Ford Motor Company introduced Americans to the first affordable car. Based on Ford's extraordinary company archives, this book traces the company's rise as a multinational enterprise. Following the export of the sixth car produced by the company, Ford opened its first plant abroad in its second year of business and quickly expanded around the world, building a business that by the mid 1920s spanned six continents. It faced wars, nationalism, numerous government restrictions and all the perils of operating across borders. First published in 1964, this book has lasting value in reminding readers of the long and uneven path of globalization. This new edition includes a new introduction by the author examining the impact and legacy of the study. It remains a major contribution to global economic history. In addition, Ford's history offers useful lessons today for both participants in the global economy and students of international business.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107400238
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/20/2011
Edition description:	Updated edition
Pages:	582
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Mira Wilkins is Professor of Economics at Florida International University. She has also taught at Columbia University, Union College and Smith College. She is the author of many books and articles, including The History of Foreign Investment in the United States, 1914–1945 (2005), which was a Choice magazine Outstanding Academic Title and the co-winner of the Hagley Book Prize for the Best Book in Business History. Her latest book (co-authored with William J. Hausman and Peter Hertner) is Global Electrification: Multinational Enterprise and International Finance in the History of Light and Power, 1878–2007 (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Frank Ernest Hill (1888–1969) was a freelance writer, author and editor. He taught English at the University of Illinois, Stanford University and Columbia University and served as editor-in-chief of Longmans, Green and Co. for six years. He published The Winged Horse (1927) and a translation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1931) and, with Allan Nevins, he participated in the latter's study of Rockefeller and co-authored a major three-volume work on Ford Motor Company's history.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. First venture; 2. Probing for markets; 3. Model T: triumph and fable; 4. The alchemy of war; 5. Steps in expansion; 6. The sun never sets; 7. Prosperity and frustration; 8. The missionary spirit; 9. The best-laid plans; 10. Marriage of convenience; 11. Time of desperation; 12. A world disturbed; 13. Extreme of nationalism; 14. The British empire; 15. On both sides of World War II; 16. The crippled phoenix; 17. The new company; 18. Manufacturing for world markets: from Dagenham to Geelong; 19. New times, new faces, new policies; Appendices.