Abstract

Chandler traces the origins and development of modern business organization in the United States, focusing on the intense rationalization during the industrial revolution. The study stretches from the “traditional enterprise” of the 1790s to the conglomerates of the 1960s, although most attention is devoted to the formation and development, between 1840 and 1920, of the “modern multiunit enterprise.” The rise of this type of organization is central to the emergence of oligopolistic, managerial capitalism. Allegedly, this “revolution” in organization was stimulated by the increased efficiency of production and distribution, which made the market's “invisible hand” ineffective as a regulatory force.