The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century : Why (Almost) Everything We Are Told About Business Is Wrong

In the world of Adam Smith and Karl Marx, wealthy capitalists built and controlled mills and factories. That link from personal wealth to tangible capital to hierarchical managerial and political authority continued in the automobile assembly lines and petrochemical plants of the twentieth century.But products and production have dematerialised. The goods and services provided by the leading companies of the twenty-first century appear on your screen, fit in your pocket, or occupy your head. Ownership of the means of production is a redundant concept. Workers are the means of production; increasingly, they take the plant home. Capital is a service bought from a specialist supplier with little influence over customer businesses. The professional managers who run modern corporations do not exert authority because they are wealthy; they are wealthy because they exert authority.John Kay's incisive overhaul of our ideas about business redefines our understanding of successful commercial activity and the corporation - and describes how we have come to 'love the product' as we 'hate the producer.' This is a brilliant and original work from one of the greatest working economists. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Introduction: Business in Society Part 1: The Background 1. Love the Product, Hate the Producer 2. A History of Pharmaceuticals: A Case for Treatment 3. Economic Motivation Part 2: A Brief History of Business 4. The Mechanical Firm 5. The Rise of Manufacturing 6. The Rise of the Corporation 7. Changing Fortunes 8. The Decline of Manufacturing Part 3: The Secret of Our Success 9. Better at Everything 10. Better at Business 11. Value 12. Stanley Matthews Changes Trains Part 4: The Age of Individualism 13. Money Can’t Buy You Love 14. Or Perhaps It Can: The Modern Theory of the Firm 15. The Myth of Ownership 16. Must Companies Maximise Profits? 17. Leaky Pipes and Overflowing Sewage 18. The Dumbest Idea in the World Part 5: How It All Worked Out 19. The Evolution of Finance 20. The Art of the Deal 21. Not a Pretty Picture 22. The Fall of the Icons 23. The Finance Curse Part 6: The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century 24. Combinations and Capabilities 25. A Letter from Arnold Weinstock 26. The MacNeil Returns to Barra 27. The Hollow Corporation Part 7: Capital in the Twenty-First Century 28. Capital as a Service 29. Capital and Wealth 30. Who Are the Capitalists Now? 31. In Search of Capital Part 8: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times 32. Ambiguity Is a Feature, Not a Bug 33. After Capitalism Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z