Endless Novelty : Specialty Production and American Industrialization, 1865-1925 (Paperback - Revised Ed.)--by Philip Scranton [2000 Edition] ISBN: 9780691070186

Flexibility, specialization, and niche marketing are buzzwords in the business literature these days, yet few realize that it was these elements that helped the United States first emerge as a global manufacturing leader between the Civil War and World War I. The huge mass production-based businesses—steel, oil, and autos—have long been given sole credit for this emergence. In Endless Novelty , Philip Scranton boldly recasts the history of this vital episode in the development of American business, known as the nation's second industrial revolution, by considering the crucial impact of trades featuring specialty, not standardized, production. Scranton takes us on a grand tour through American specialty firms and districts, where, for example, we meet printers and jewelry makers in New York and Providence, furniture builders in Grand Rapids, and tool specialists in Cincinnati. Throughout he highlights the benevolent as well as the strained relationships between workers and proprietors, the lively interactions among entrepreneurs and city leaders, and the personal achievements of industrial engineers like Frederic W. Taylor. Scranton shows that in sectors producing goods such as furniture, jewelry, machine tools, and electrical equipment, firms made goods to order or in batches, and industrial districts and networks flourished, creating millions of jobs. These enterprises relied on flexibility, skilled labor, close interactions with clients, suppliers, and rivals, and opportunistic pricing to generate profit streams. They built interfirm alliances to manage markets and fashioned specialized institutions—trade schools, industrial banks, labor bureaus, and sales consortia. In creating regional synergies and economies of scope and diversity, the approaches of these industrial firms represent the inverse of mass production. Challenging views of company organization that have come to dominate the business world in the United States, Endless Novelty will appeal to historians, business leaders, and to anyone curious about the structure of American industry. Flexibility, specialization, and niche marketing are buzzwords in the business literature these days, yet few realize that it was these elements that helped the United States first emerge as a global manufacturing leader between the Civil War and World War I. The huge mass production-based businesses -- steel, oil, and autos -- have long been given sole credit for this emergence. In Endless Novelty, Philip Scranton boldly recasts the history of this vital episode in the development of American business, known as the nation's Second Industrial Revolution, by considering the crucial impact of trades featuring specialty, not standardized, production. Scranton takes us on a grand tour through American specialty firms and districts, where, for example, we meet printers and jewelry makers in New York and Providence, furniture builders in Grand Rapids, and tool specialists in Cincinnati. Throughout he highlights the benevolent as well as the strained relationships between workers and proprietors, the lively interactions among entrepreneurs and city leaders, and the personal achievements of industrial engineers like Frederic W. Taylor. The result is an enriching overview of the dynamic history of American manufacturing Scranton takes us on a grand tour through American specialty firms and districts, where, for example, we meet printers and jewelry makers in New York and Providence, furniture builders in Grand Rapids, and tool specialists in Cincinnati. Throughout he highlights the benevolent as well as the strained relationships between workers and proprietors, the lively interactions among entrepreneurs and city leaders, and the personal achievements of industrial engineers like Frederic W. Taylor.Scranton shows that in sectors producing goods such as furniture, jewelry, machine tools, and electrical equipment, firms made goods to order or in batches, and industrial districts and networks flourished, creating millions of jobs. These enterprises relied on flexibility, skilled labor, close interactions with clients, suppliers, and rivals, and opportunistic pricing to generate profit streams. They built interfirm alliances to manage markets and fashioned specialized institutions -- trade schools, industrial banks, labor bureaus, and sales consortia. In creating regional synergies and economies of scope and diversity, the approaches of these industrial firms represent the inverse of mass production. Contents List of Tables Preface 1. Introduction Part I: Early Years 2. Specialty Manufacturing to 1876 3. Institutions and the Context for Specialty Production Part II: Centennial to Columbian: Specialty Producers, 1876-1893 4. The 1876 Exposition and Philadelphia Manufacturing 5. Providence and New York: Jewelry, Silverware, and Printing 6. Midwestern Specialists: Cincinnati Tools and Grand Rapids Furniture Part III: Depression and Advance, 1893-1912 7. Chicago and Grand Rapids: Palace Cars and Furniture 8. Fashioning the Machine Tool Hub: Cincinnati 9. Back East: The Electrical Equipment Industry 10. The Perils of Providence: Jewelry's Erratic Course 11. Workshop of the World: Philadelphia Part IV: Diverging Pathways, 1913-1925 12. War, Depression, and Specialty Production into the 1920s 13. Looking Ahead Notes Index IN THE fall of 1865, John Richards, a "foreman mechanic" for Cincinnati woodworking machinery builder J. A. Fay, traveled east to Providence on company business.