Rapidly developing technological innovation and mass production have become such hallmarks of our industrialized world that we may fail to consider the events and individuals that laid the groundwork for our many conveniences today. Beginning in Europe in the mid-18th century, the Industrial Revolution continued growing and spreading as innovators around the world began modifying old machinery and methods for production or creating new ones. This lively volume profiles a number of the minds behind some of history’s greatest industrial advances, including Robert Fulton, Margaret Knight, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford.

"While much has been written about the industrial revolution," writes Lawrence Peskin, "we rarely read about industrial revolutionaries." This absence, he explains, reflects the preoccupation of both classical and Marxist economics with impersonal forces rather than with individuals. In Manufacturing Revolution Peskin deviates from both dominant paradigms by closely examining the words and deeds of individual Americans who made things in their own shops, who met in small groups to promote industrialization, and who, on the local level, strove for economic independence. In speeches, petitions, books, newspaper articles, club meetings, and coffee–house conversations, they fervently discussed the need for large-scale American manufacturing a half-century before the Boston Associates built their first factory. Peskin shows how these economic pioneers launched a discourse that continued for decades, linking industrialization to the cause of independence and guiding the new nation along the path of economic ambition. Based upon extensive research in both manuscript and printed sources from the period between 1760 and 1830, this book will be of interest to historians of the early republic and economic historians as well as to students of technology, business, and industry.

Business model innovations are conceived and implemented by a special type of entrepreneur: business model pioneers. This book presents 14 compelling case studies of business model pioneers and their companies, who have successfully introduced new business ideas to the market. The examples range from industries such as retail, media and entertainment to services and industrial projects. For each example, the book provides information on the market environment at the time of launch and illustrates the driving forces behind these business models. Moreover, current market developments are highlighted and linked to the evolution of the business models. Lastly, the authors present the profile of a typical business model pioneer.

. . . this collection should be viewed as a pioneering effort. . . this book would most likely serve as a useful quick reference source for students of industrial economics. It can also serve as a valuable point of departure for those who wish to study intellectual developments in a major field in more detail. John Howard Brown, Journal of the History of Economic Thought This work will be indispensable for anyone who undertakes serious scholarly research in industrial organization. With its knowledgeable authors and editors, this book offers us valuable materials, about the work of writers long forgotten and others inadequately recognized, that can contribute much to understanding in the field. William J. Baumol, New York University and Princeton University, US This encyclopaedic work celebrates the scores of leading pioneers who created the modern economic field of industrial organization, at the heart of which lie competition and monopoly, the two great forces that drive modern markets. Their pioneering work has shaped the field s growing research as well as the past, present and future debates in Europe and America over several centuries. This landmark book includes authoritative entries on all the major figures in both Europe and North America. Pioneers of Industrial Organization also reveals how public policies such as antitrust and regulation and deregulation since the 1970s can promote, or impede economic results and progress. Readers will find the intellectual pioneers, the theories and policies, and the debates, in all their variety herein. Some pioneers have been free-market advocates, others have been more protective of popular values, but all have strained to make the economic engine promote more wealth, progress and fairness. This book presents the people, ideas and debates with careful neutrality, and also with clear, concise writing. For all those interested in modern economic progress and its problems, this book provides deep insight as well as great personal colour. It will be an essential source of reference for students, researchers and professors of economics, as well as those concerned with the historical foundations or the conceptual and thematic developments in industrial organization.

Joost and Pim, known as the Corporate Rebels, are on a mission to make work more fun. They quit frustrating corporate jobs to visit the world's most inspiring companies. Now, after visiting 100+ pioneering organisations and interviewing 1000+ academics, employees, and CEOs, they share eight lessons from the world's most progressive workplaces.

The Road to Manufacturing Success: Common Sense Throughput Solutions for Small Business is a firsthand look at the evolution of the manufacturing software industry by one of its leading pioneers. It describes the major breakthrough contributions made by leading pioneers such as Joe Orlicky, Oliver Wight, and George Plossl as well as the various pit