B. C. Forbes in "Men Who Are Making the West" rattles off the names of the following. It is a literal list of Whos Who of "Eastern" American Industrialists:
" . . . the telephone had its Vail, the cash register had its Patterson, the chain store its Woolworth, railroading its Hill and Harriman, the electric industry its Coffin, coke its Frick, banking its Morgan, the sewing machine business its Singer." I wonder how many of today's MBAs would recognize any of the ranchers, industrialists and bankers in this book by B. C. Forbes: "Men Who Are Making the West." I surely don't ask the question with any sense of superiority or intention of slighting a business education . . . because I only recognized one: Captain Robert Dollar. Although B. C. Forbes is a little over-laudatory in his approach, he also presents solid facts that these men understood their responsibilities to their four stakeholders: customers, employees, shareholders and their shared societies.
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Peter E. GreulichPete has been studying IBM and early American corporate history since his retirement in 2011. These are his thoughts and musings, and of those whose biographies he has read with links to articles and book reviews on this website. Categories
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