The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business

by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.

Overview

The role of large-scale business enterprise—big business and its managers—during the formative years of modern capitalism (from the 1850s until the 1920s) is delineated in this pathmarking book. Alfred Chandler, Jr., the distinguished business historian, sets forth the reasons for the dominance of big business in American transportation, communications, and the central sectors of production and distribution.

The managerial revolution, presented here with force and conviction, is the story of how the visible hand of management replaced what Adam Smith called the “invisible hand” of market forces. Chandler shows that the fundamental shift toward managers running large enterprises exerted a far greater influence in determining size and concentration in American industry than other factors so often cited as critical: the quality of entrepreneurship, the availability of capital, or public policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674417694
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1993
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	624
Sales rank:	853,871
File size:	5 MB

Table of Contents

Contents Introduction: The Visible Hand Part I: The Traditional Processes of Production and Distribution 1. The Traditional Enterprise in Commerce 2. The Traditional Enterprise in Production Part II: The Revolution in Transportation and Communication 3. The Railroads: The First Modern Business Enterprises, 1850's-1860's 4. Railroad Cooperation and Competition, 1870's-1880's 5. System-Building, 1880's-1900's 6. Completing the Infrastructure Part III: The Revolution in Distribution and Production 7. Mass Distribution 8. Mass Production Part IV: The Integration of Mass Production with Mass Distribution 9. The Coming of the Modern Industrial Corporation 10. Integration by the way of Merger 11. Integration Completed Part V: The Management and Growth of Modern Industrial Enterprise 12. Middle Management: Function and Structure 13. Top Management: Function and Structure 14. The Maturing of Modern Business Enterprise Conclusion: The Managerial Revolution in American Business Appendixes Notes Index