The Corporation and the Twentieth Century: The History of American Business Enterprise

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A definitive reframing of the economic, institutional, and intellectual history of the managerial era.

The twentieth century was the managerial century in the United States. An organisational transformation, from entrepreneurial to managerial capitalism, brought forth what became a dominant narrative: that administrative coordination by trained professional managers is essential to the efficient running of organisations both public and private. And yet if managerialism was the apotheosis of administrative efficiency, why did both its practice and the accompanying narrative lie in ruins by the end of the century In The Corporation and the Twentieth Century, Richard Langlois offers an alternative version: a comprehensive and nuanced reframing and reassessment of the economic, institutional, and intellectual history of the managerial era.

Langlois argues that managerialism rose to prominence not because of its inherent superiority but because of its contingent value in a young and rapidly developing American economy. The structures of managerialism solidified their dominance only because the century's great catastrophes of war, depression, and war again superseded markets, scrambled relative prices, and weakened market-supporting institutions. By the end of the twentieth century, Langlois writes, these market-supporting institutions had reemerged to shift advantage toward entrepreneurial and market-driven modes of organisation.

This magisterial new account of the rise and fall of managerialism holds significant implications for contemporary debates about industrial and antitrust policies and the role of the corporation in the twenty-first century.

Reviews

"A Foreign Affairs Best of Books"
"Finalist for the Hayek Book Prize, Manhattan Institute"
"Finalist for the George R. Terry Book Award, Academy of Management"
"A monumental history of American business during the eventful decades when managers ruled."---Daniel Akst, Wall Street Journal
"Sharp analysis. . . . Chock -full of sophisticated economic theory rendered in lucid prose, this adds up to a bracing evaluation of a consequential and once dominant commercial entity." * Publishers Weekly *
"Illuminating. . . . Entertaining as well as scholarly, and it sheds interesting light on many of the personalities who have shaped or reshaped the American corporation. It is also a valuable corrective to some widely held misconceptions about American capitalism."---Sir Geoffrey Owen, Financial Times
"[An] outstanding endeavour. . . . A milestone for students of business as well as economic history, without forgetting the insightful comments on the history of economic theory. Consequently, it is a fundamental work for students at any level and for those at any age interested in enlarging their knowledge of economic history."---Stefano Solari, History of Economic Thought and Policy
"A richly detailed and engaging narrative of twentieth century American business."---Andrew Smith, Business History

Author Bio

Richard N. Langlois is professor of economics at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of Firms, Markets, and Economic Change: A Dynamic Theory of Business Institutions (with Paul L. Robertson); The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism: Schumpeter, Chandler, and the New Economy, which won the Schumpeter Prize of the International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society; and other books.