„The historical theory of big business”. Three Works by A. D. Chandler Jr. Cover Image

„A nagyvállalkozás történeti elmélete” A. D. Chandler Jr. három munkája
„The historical theory of big business”. Three Works by A. D. Chandler Jr.

Author(s): Károly Halmos
Subject(s): History
Published by: KORALL Társadalomtörténeti Egyesület
Keywords: economic history; history of firms; large enterprise; company; USA; Hungary; Chandler; railway; joint-stock company; Visible Hand; family firm; financial capitalism; managerial enterprise; manager; capitalism; scale; scope; strategy; structure

Summary/Abstract: Alfred DuPont Chandler Jr.’s Strategy and Structure was well received in Hungary in the early 1970’s, however, not for the merits the author would have attributed to his work. It is high time the main thoughts of the famous business historian were recapitulated for the Hungarian audience. After shortly tracing Chandler’s way from his biographical study on H. V. Poor to his probably most famous book published in the early sixties, the specialities of the North American economic development are summarized. This rough overview provides the background for explaining the main theses of the Visible Hand. A far-reaching argument of Chandler is that of the profound, large scale changes in input and output prices and the implied changes of processing technologies. Last but not least, the deeper processes that enabled the development in business administration outlined by Chandler have their impact on the ecological history and future of mankind, too. The paper is an implicit argument for the need of revitalization of the old historiographical genre, the so called natural history.

  • Issue Year: 2003
  • Issue No: 14
  • Page Range: 117-134
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Hungarian