The Age of Giant Corporations: A Microeconomic History of American Business, 1914-1992, A Third Edition (Contributions in Economics and Economic History) [Paperback]

Robert Sobel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0275944700 | ISBN-13: 978-0275944704 | Publication Date: March 30, 1993 | Edition: 3 Sub

A popular text and valuable resource since the first edition was published in 1972, Robert Sobel's The Age of Giant Corporations is now available in a third edition, bringing the history up to the present. This book describes the industries and corporations that have played major roles in the nation's economic growth since the outbreak of World War I. It concentrates on management, technology, marketing and finance, and is concerned with the interrelations and intertwining of political and industrial power. The current edition includes a new chapter covering the impact of junk bonds and corporate governance in the 1980s and early 1990s, an age of restructuring and re-creation in giant corporations. Taking a chronological approach, the volume opens with a chapter on American business during World War I. The author then covers the 1920s in two chapters, one on the glamour industries of the era and one discussing power, consolidation, and mass distribution. Turning to the Depression era in Chapters 4, 5, and 6, he then considers the failure of finance capitalism, business during the New Deal, and growth elements during the Depression. Chapter 7 considers government-business relations in World War II, and Chapter 8 discussed monopsony and conglomerates in postwar America. Turning to the 1960s and 1970s, the next two chapters are devoted to big business and then to decline, revival, and renewal. The final chapter covers the era of the junk bond and its aftermath. The Age of Giant Corporations will continue to be a valuable book for students and scholars of U.S. economic history.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

A popular and valuable text, The Age of Giant Corporations is now available in a third edition, bringing the history up to date and including a new chapter on the era of junk bonds and its aftermath.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

ROBERT SOBEL, is Lawrence Stessin Professor of Business History at New College, Hofstra University. His most recent books include, The Life and Times of Dillon Read (1991), Trammell Crow: Master Builder (1989), and Dangerous Dreamers: The Path to the Destruction of Michael Milken (1993).

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Paperback; 3 Sub edition (March 30, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275944700
• ISBN-13: 978-0275944704
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "It Was The Larger Companies That Did The Best", June 21, 2010

By 

Daily Reckoning (Baltimore, MD, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Age of Giant Corporations: A Microeconomic History of American Business, 1914-1992, A Third Edition (Contributions in Economics and Economic History) (Paperback)

"Although most Americans think of the 1930s as a decade of economic stagnation, the period was far from being one of unalloyed decline."
- Robert Sobel, The Age of Giant Corporations

Robert Sobel's book is our chief guide for the second leg of the Great Depression Survival Guide. It reinforces some very important points. But Sobel adds new wrinkles to the discussion. As his book's title lets on, it was the larger companies that did the best.

The survivors often had large-scale operations and were leaders in their industries. Smaller companies had a harder time dealing with the Great Depression, as Sobel shows in his book. But the sales and profits of the largest companies increased during the 1930s.

Sobel finds other examples in other industries, everything from American Can in the tin industry to the New York Yankees in baseball. "Good leadership and finances could expand and dominate in the 1930s," Sloan concludes. Hence, we reaffirm once again the value of a good operator, a point I stress in these pages.

Industries that were hard to get into did best. Another other important point here is that Sobel finds industries with high capital costs that kept competitors out did better than those with low barriers to entry.

Review by a writer for Agora Financial, publisher of economic and financial analysis including Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today's Global Depression, The New Empire of Debt: The Rise and Fall of an Epic Financial Bubble, and I.O.U.S.A.: One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.