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43 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most interesting book on America and how it works I've read, May 10, 1998
Chandler give a fascinating review of America's physical history, with emphasis on the development of the coal, railroad, steel, and telegraph industries in making the transportation and communication revolutions possible. The birth of this infrastructure made the rise of mass production and mass marketing possible. The most interesting changes which resulted were in the evolution of the managerial structure and science which became necessary, and which in turn made the transformation of our world possible. "Big business" became not only possible, but essential. That this was an evil system driven by greed is a myth. The book gives detailed descriptions of the birth and growth of many large companies including the big railroads, US Steel, Standard Oil, Singer, MacCormack, DuPont, etc. It is a fascinating narrative.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent History, Weak on Theory, May 31, 2008
The Visible Hand is so widely used that I had it as assigned reading in three separate graduate classes, in both Economics and History classes. The fact that economists and historians find this book so useful speaks to its best attributes. The Visible Hand examines business history from an economic perspective. Many historians have so little understanding of economics that they cannot sort out the economic angles of history. Chandler focuses on the right issues (accounting methods, finance, entrepreneurship, public policy, technology) and applies enough common sense economics to do some good analysis.
The main problem with The Visible Hand is that its theoretical analysis is limited to the more obvious common sense insights of economics. Chandler aims at contrasting the Invisible Hand of markets with the idea of conscious planning in organization. While there is much merit in this approach, there is more to the analysis of markets and organizations that you find in this book. Economists have discovered many subtle differences and similarities between markets and organizations, more than you find in The Visible Hand. Consequently, the quality of its analysis varies.
I agree with the emphasis that Chandler places on accounting methods. However, Chandler sees finance capitalism as phase, which gave way to managerial capitalism. I disagree with Chandler on so called managerial capitalism. He underestimates the importance of financial factors both between and within `managed' organizations, and misconstrues the nature of private sector bureaucracies. There are important differences between private and public bureaucracies of which Chandler seems unaware. Furthermore, Chandler does not fully appreciate the role of public policy in shaping modern American corporate organization.
While I find its theoretical analysis weak, I do not doubt the value of this book as a resource on American business history. This is a work of great breadth and, at times, meticulous detail. There is also some good analysis here. The Visible Hand is not for everyone. However, Business Historians, Economic Historians, and IO Economists should read this, even if it is not assigned in graduate school. I rate it at five stars as a history, three stars for theory, for an average of four.
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35 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good information, but not too "edge of your seat" reading, December 8, 2001
This is basically the business history of the United States (in fact, I read this book for a class entitled that). It traces the story of how the visible hand of management in business replaced what Adam Smith called the invisible hand of market forces. The content is very in depth and only the most serious economic historian would find this a good book to read. The book is divided into the following sections: --The traditional processes of production and distribution (plantations, textile mills, factories, etc.) --The revolution in transportation and communication --The revolution in distribution and production --The integration of mass production with mass distribution --The management and growth of the modern industrial enterprise It should be noted that Alfred Chandler, Jr. won the Pulitzer and Bancroft awards for this book.
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