Big Business and the State: Historical Transitions and Corporate Transformation, 1880S-1990s

by Prechel, Harland N.

• ISBN13: 9780791445945
• ISBN10: 0791445941
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

In Big Business and the State Harland Prechel develops a conceptual framework that contrasts with prevailing definitions of the corporation. His analysis shows that corporate property rights and the legal basis of ownership are crucial to understanding corporate behavior. The book examines how historical transitions affected the three most significant corporate transformations in the last 110 years (1880s-1900s, 1920s-1930s, 1980s-1990s). During each period, in response to economic crisis, big business engaged in political behavior to pressure state managers to realign the institutional arrangements in which corporations were embedded.

Author Biography

Harland Prechel is Associate Professor of Sociology at Texas A&M University, and the author of Corporate and Class Restructuring.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	ix
List of Figures	xi
List of Abbreviations	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Capital Dependence, Historical Transitions, and Corporate Transformations	1	(20)
PART II: CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION IN THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES	21	(68)
The Federalist State and the Emergence of the Modern Corporation	25	(17)
Restructuring the Business Enterprise to Obtain Market Control, 1890--1905	42	(18)
Political Capitalism: The Rise and Demise of the Industrial Holding Company	60	(29)
PART II: TRANSFORMATION OF THE MANAGERIAL PROCESS	89	(56)
From Product Cost Controls to Financial Controls	93	(21)
The Management of Managers at American Steel, 1920--1970s	114	(31)
PART III: HISTORICAL TRANSITIONS IN CORPORATIONS' INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS, 1940s-1990s	145	(136)
More Political Capitalism: Changing Economic Conditions and Corporate Political Behavior, 1940--1985	149	(26)
Transformation of the Managerial Process, 1980s	175	(32)
Changing Institutional Arrangements and Transformation to the Multilayered Subsidiary Form	207	(25)
Transformation to the Multilayered Subsidiary Form among the Largest Industrial Parent Companies	232	(18)
Conclusion: Historical Transitions and Corporate Transformations	250	(31)
Appendix	281	(2)
Notes	283	(10)
References	293	(16)
Index	309