Consumer electronics and computers redefined life and work in the twentieth century. In Inventing the Electronic Century, Pulitzer Prize-winning business historian Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., traces their origins and worldwide development. This masterful analysis is essential reading for every manager and student of technology.

Consumer electronics and computers redefined life and work in the twentieth century. In Inventing the Electronic Century, Pulitzer Prize–winning business historian Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., traces their origins and worldwide development. From electronics prime mover RCA in the 1920s to Sony and Matsushita’s dramatic rise in the 1970s; from IBM’s dominance in computer technology in the 1950s to Microsoft’s stunning example of the creation of competitive advantage, this masterful analysis is essential reading for every manager and student of technology.

The dean of business historians continues his masterful chronicle of the transforming revolutions of the twentieth century begun in Inventing the Electronic Century. Alfred Chandler argues that only with consistent attention to research and development and an emphasis on long-term corporate strategies could firms remain successful over time. He details these processes for nearly every major chemical and pharmaceutical firm, demonstrating why some companies forged ahead while others failed. By the end of World War II, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries were transformed by the commercializing of new learning, the petrochemical and the antibiotic revolutions. But by the 1970s, chemical science was no longer providing the new learning necessary to commercialize more products, although new directions flourished in the pharmaceutical industries. In the 1980s, major drug companies, including Eli Lilly, Merck, and Schering Plough, commercialized the first biotechnology products, and as the twenty-first century began, the infrastructure of this biotechnology revolution was comparable to that of the second industrial revolution just before World War I and the information revolution of the 1960s. Shaping the Industrial Century is a major contribution to our understanding of the most dynamic industries of the modern era.

This book is about how electronics, computing, and telecommunications have profoundly changed our lives – the way we work, live, and play. It covers a myriad of topics from the invention of the fundamental devices, and integrated circuits, through radio and television, to computers, mobile telephones and GPS. Today our lives are ruled by electronics as they control the home and computers dominate the workspace. We walk around with mobile phones and communicate by email. Electronics didn’t exist until into the twentieth century. The industrial revolution is the term usually applied to the coming of steam, railways and the factory system. In the twentieth century, it is electronics that has changed the way we gather our information, entertain ourselves, communicate and work. This book demonstrates that this is, in fact, another revolution.

The role of large-scale business enterprise—big business and its managers—during the formative years of modern capitalism (from the 1850s until the 1920s) is delineated in this pathmarking book. Alfred Chandler, Jr., the distinguished business historian, sets forth the reasons for the dominance of big business in American transportation, communications, and the central sectors of production and distribution.

No industries had greater impact on everyday life & work in the second half of the 20th century than consumer electronics & computers. This book records the origins & evolution of these transforming industries. Shows where, when, how, & by whom technical knowledge was initially commercialized. Describes how RCA shaped the consumer electronics industry from its beginnings in the 1920s to the 1960s. Explains how catastrophic mgmt. decisions that brought about the collapse of RCA opened the door to Sony & Matsushita & ultimately to Japan¿s worldwide conquest of consumer electronics markets. Documents how IBM dominated the computer industry from the 1950s to the 1990s & how the Japanese became its major competitors. Illustrations.