The dean of business historians continues his masterful chronicle of the transforming revolutions of the twentieth century begun in Inventing the Electronic Century.
Alfred Chandler argues that only with consistent attention to research and development and an emphasis on long-term corporate strategies could firms remain successful over time. He details these processes for nearly every major chemical and pharmaceutical firm, demonstrating why some companies forged ahead while others failed.
By the end of World War II, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries were transformed by the commercializing of new learning, the petrochemical and the antibiotic revolutions. But by the 1970s, chemical science was no longer providing the new learning necessary to commercialize more products, although new directions flourished in the pharmaceutical industries. In the 1980s, major drug companies, including Eli Lilly, Merck, and Schering Plough, commercialized the first biotechnology products, and as the twenty-first century began, the infrastructure of this biotechnology revolution was comparable to that of the second industrial revolution just before World War I and the information revolution of the 1960s. Shaping the Industrial Century is a major contribution to our understanding of the most dynamic industries of the modern era.
By:
Alfred D. Chandler Jr.
Imprint: Harvard Uni.Press Academi
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: No. 46
Dimensions:
Height: 235mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 431g
ISBN: 9780674032217
ISBN 10: 0674032217
Series: Harvard Studies in Business History
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 15 April 2009
Audience:
Adult education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Acknowledgments Part I. Overview 1. Differences, Concepts, Themes, and Approach 2. Evolving Paths of Learning Part II. The Chemical Industry 3. The Major American Companies 4. The Focused American Companies 5. The European Competitors 6. The American Competitors Part III. The Pharmaceutical Industry 7. The American Companies: The Prescription Path 8. The American Companies: The Over-the-Counter Path 9. The American and European Competitors 10. Commercializing Biotechnology Part IV. Paths of Learning 11. The Three Revolutions: Industrial, Information, and Biotechnology Notes Index
Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., was Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at Harvard Business School and the author of several books, including The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business (Harvard).
Reviews for Shaping the Industrial Century: The Remarkable Story of the Evolution of the Modern Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries
Chandler does a remarkable job of covering the development of two industries that changed the world in the twentieth century. - John Emsley, Times Higher Education Supplement A dynamic demonstration of how strategy takes precedence over structure in determining the ongoing success or failure of an industry that has reached its mature phase. - John K. Smith, Jr., Business History Review
