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Abstract:
The 19th- and 20th-century emergence of the managerial corporation as
the principal form of business organization in America and, now, the world
resulted from an interrelated process of technological change, administrative
innovation, and political action. This presentation reviews several important
but sometimes poorly remembered past advancements in management and politics
- the creation of a securities market in the early American republic,
the enactment of "free incorporation" laws in the mid 19th century,
and structural innovations within corporations from 1814 till now. These
past advancements were sometimes also disruptive. They are still at work
shaping today's business world and probably tomorrow's. No past historical
actor who participated in these changes could have foreseen or intended
their enormous consequences. The rise and triumph of the business corporation
was an "accident." That fact only emphasizes the importance
of vigilant attention to change in the present. Although the future is
unknowable in its entirety, some elements of the future are always contained
in the present. Therefore, this presentation suggests a way of thinking
about challenges on today's horizon, such as those associated with the
on-demand business, which may help managers be leaders rather than laggards
in future disruptions.
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