Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh
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Scientists, Business, and the State, 1890-1960
by Patrick J. McGrath
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
In the late nineteenth century, scientists began allying themselves with America's corporate, political, and military elites. They did so not just to improve their professional standing and win more money for research, says Patrick McGrath, but for political reasons as well. They wanted to use their new institutional connections to effect a transformation of American political culture. They succeeded, but not in ways that all scientists envisioned or agreed upon. McGrath describes how, between 1890 and 1960, scientific, business, and political leaders together forged a new definition of American democracy in which science and technology were presented to the public as crucial ingredients of the nation's progress, prosperity, and political stability. But as scientists became more prominent, they provoked conflicts among themselves as well as with their institutional patrons over exactly how their expertise should be used. McGrath examines the bitter battles that erupted over the role scientists should play during the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War arms race, and the security and loyalty investigations of the 1950's. He finds that, by the end of the 1950's, scientists were regarded by the political and military elite not as partners but as subordinate technicians who were expected to supply weapons on demand for the Cold War state.
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Capitalizing on Change
A Social History of American Business
by Stanley Buder
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
Americans love "this year's model," relying on the "new" to be always "improved." Enthusiasm for the new, says Stanley Buder, is essential to American business, where innovation and change stoke the engines of economic energy. To really understand the history of business in America, he argues, we must understand the intertwining dynamics of social and business values.In a history spanning over three hundred years, Buder examines the enveloping expansion of the market economy, the laggardly use of government to modify or control market forces, the rise of consumerism, the shifting role of small business, and much more. He concludes with the explosive development of business in the 1990s and its aftermath of crises and scandals. Along the way, he analyzes the ways American social values foster an entrepreneurial ethos and why the identification of change with progress provides a distinctive and provocative theme in American life. Buder studies American business as not only an engine of wealth accumulation but also an important generator and reflector of American values. Capitalizing on Change is the first full-length business history in recent years to make this relationship clear.
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A Prescription for Change
The Looming Crisis in Drug Development
by Michael Kinch
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
The introduction of new medicines has dramatically improved the quantity and quality of individual and public health while contributing trillions of dollars to the global economy. In spite of these past successes--and indeed because of them--our ability to deliver new medicines may be quickly coming to an end. Moving from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, A Prescription for Change reveals how changing business strategies combined with scientific hubris have altered the way new medicines are discovered, with dire implications for both health and the economy.
To explain how we have arrived at this pivotal moment, Michael Kinch recounts the history of pharmaceutical and biotechnological advances in the twentieth century. Kinch relates stories of the individuals and organizations that built the modern infrastructure that supports the development of innovative new medicines. He shows that an accelerating cycle of acquisition and downsizing is cannibalizing that infrastructure Kinch demonstrates the dismantling of the pharmaceutical and biotechnological research and development enterprises could also provide opportunities to innovate new models that sustain and expand the introduction of newer and better breakthrough medicines in the years to come.
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Beyond the Broker State
Federal Policies Toward Small Business, 1936-1961
by Jonathan J. Bean
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln both considered small business the backbone of American democracy and free enterprise. In Beyond the Broker State, Jonathan Bean considers the impact of this ideology on American politics from the Great Depression to the creation of the Small Business Administration during the Eisenhower administration. Bean's analysis of public policy toward small business during this period challenges the long-accepted definition of politics as the interplay of organized interest groups, mediated by a 'broker-state' government. Specifically, he highlights the unorganized nature of the small business community and the ideological appeal that small business held for key members of Congress. Bean focuses on anti-chain-store legislation beginning in the 1930s and on the establishment of federal small business agencies in the 1940s and 1950s. According to Bean, Congress, inspired by the rhetoric of crisis, often misinterpreted or misrepresented the threat posed to small business from large corporations, and as a result, protective legislation sometimes worked against the interests it was meant to serve. Despite this misguided aid, argues Bean, small business has proved to be a remarkably resilient, if still unorganized, force.
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America and the Japanese Miracle
The Cold War Context of Japan's Postwar Economic Revival, 1950-1960
by Aaron Forsberg
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
In this book, Aaron Forsberg presents an arresting account of Japan's postwar economic resurgence in a world polarized by the Cold War. His fresh interpretation highlights the many connections between Japan's economic revival and changes that occurred in the wider world during the 1950s. Drawing on a wealth of recently released American, British, and Japanese archival records, Forsberg demonstrates that American Cold War strategy and the U.S. commitment to liberal trade played a central role in promoting Japanese economic welfare and in forging the economic relationship between Japan and the United States. The price of economic opportunity and interdependence, however, was a strong undercurrent of mutual frustration, as patterns of conflict and compromise over trade, investment, and relations with China continued to characterize the postwar U.S.-Japanese relationship.Forsberg's emphasis on the dynamic interaction of Cold War strategy, the business environment, and Japanese development challenges "revisionist" interpretations of Japan's success. In exploring the complex origins of the U.S.-led international economy that has outlasted the Cold War, Forsberg refutes the claim that the U.S. government sacrificed American commercial interests in favor of its military partnership with Japan.
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Navigating Failure
Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America
by Edward J. Balleisen
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
The "self-made" man is a familiar figure in nineteenth-century American history. But the relentless expansion of market relations that facilitated such stories of commercial success also ensured that individual bankruptcy would become a prominent feature in the nation's economic landscape. In this ambitious foray into the shifting character of American capitalism, Edward Balleisen explores the economic roots and social meanings of bankruptcy, assessing the impact of widespread insolvency on the evolution of American law, business culture, and commercial society.Balleisen makes innovative use of the rich and previously overlooked court records generated by the 1841 Federal Bankruptcy Act, building his arguments on the commercial biographies of hundreds of failed business owners. He crafts a nuanced account of how responses to bankruptcy shaped two opposing elements of capitalist society in mid-nineteenth-century America--an entrepreneurial ethos grounded in risk taking and the ceaseless search for new markets, new products, and new ways of organizing economic activity, and an urban, middle-class sensibility increasingly averse to the dangers associated with independent proprietorship and increasingly predicated on salaried, white-collar employment.
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A History of Small Business in America
by Mansel G. Blackford
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
From the colonial era to the present day, small businesses have been an integral part of American life. First published in 1991 and now thoroughly revised and updated, A History of Small Business in America explores the central but ever-changing role played by small enterprises in the nation's economic, political, and cultural development.Examining small businesses in manufacturing, sales, services, and farming, Mansel Blackford argues that while small firms have always been important to the nation's development, their significance has varied considerably in different time periods and in different segments of our economy. Throughout, he relates small business development to changes in America's overall business and economic systems and offers comparisons between the growth of small business in the United States to its development in other countries. He places special emphasis on the importance of small business development for women and minorities. Unique in its breadth, this book provides the only comprehensive overview of these significant topics.
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DDT and the American Century
Global Health, Environmental Politics, and the Pesticide That Changed the World
by David Kinkela
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
Praised for its ability to kill insects effectively and cheaply and reviled as an ecological hazard, DDT continues to engender passion across the political spectrum as one of the world's most controversial chemical pesticides. In DDT and the American Century, David Kinkela chronicles the use of DDT around the world from 1941 to the present with a particular focus on the United States, which has played a critical role in encouraging the global use of the pesticide. Kinkela's study offers a unique approach to understanding both this contentious chemical and modern environmentalism in an international context.
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The Voice of Business
Feminist Narratology And British Women Writers
by Karen S. Miller
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
In 1933, John W. Hill opened the New York office of what wouldbecome the most important public relations agency in history:Hill & Knowlton, Inc. By 1959, the combined sales of itsclients--which included Procter & Gamble, Texaco, Gillette, andAvco Manufacturing as well as the steel, tobacco, and aviationindustries' trade associations--amounted to 10 percent of thegross national product. The Voice of Business chronicles Hill& Knowlton's influence on American public discourse in theyears following World War II. Guided by its founder's conservative ideals, Hill &Knowlton developed a twofold mission: to influence publicdiscussion about issues important to its clients and to educateAmericans about big business. Karen Miller shows how the agencytried to manipulate public opinion, political debate, and newsmedia content about such issues as postwar military aircraftprocurement, the deregulation of margarine production, PresidentTruman's seizure of steel mills in 1952, and the cigarette healthscare of 1953-54. Though its campaigns did not change manyopinions, she says, Hill & Knowlton affected the publicindirectly by reinforcing the ideas of its clients and otherconservatives.
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Mr. Kaiser Goes to Washington
The Rise Of A Government Entrepreneur
by Stephen B. Adams
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
In the 1940s, the name Henry J. Kaiser was magic. Based on the success of his shipyards, Kaiser was hailed by the national media as the force behind a 'can-do' production miracle and credited by the American public with doing more to help President Roosevelt win World War II than any other civilian. Kaiser also built an empire in construction, cement, magnesium, steel, and aluminum--all based on government contracts, government loans, and changes in government regulations. In this book, Stephen Adams offers Kaiser's story as the first detailed case study of 'government entrepreneurship.' Taking a fresh look at the birth of modern business-government relations, he explores the symbiotic connection forged between FDR and Kaiser. Adams shows that while Kaiser capitalized on opportunities provided by the growth of the federal government, FDR found in Kaiser an industrial partner whose enterprises embodied New Deal goals. The result of a confluence of administration policy and entrepreneurial zeal, Kaiser's dramatic rise illustrates the important role of governmental relations in American entrepreneurial success.Originally published in 1997.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
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Jimmy Carter's Economy
Policy In An Age Of Limits
by W. Carl Biven
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
The massive inflation and oil crisis of the 1970s damaged Jimmy Carter's presidency. In Jimmy Carter's Economy, Carl Biven traces how the Carter administration developed and implemented economic policy amid multiple crises and explores how a combination of factors beyond the administration's control came to dictate a new paradigm of Democratic Party politics. Jimmy Carter inherited a deeply troubled economy. Inflation had been on the rise since the Johnson years, and the oil crisis Carter faced was the second oil price shock of the decade. In addition, a decline in worker productivity and a rise in competition from Germany and Japan compounded the nation's economic problems. The resulting anti-inflation policy that was forced on Carter included controlling public spending, limiting the expansion of the welfare state, and postponing popular tax cuts. Moreover, according to Biven, Carter argued that the ambitious policies of the Great Society were no longer possible in an age of limits and that the Democratic Party must by economic necessity become more centrist.
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The Corporation as Family
The Gendering of Corporate Welfare, 1890-1930
by Nikki Mandell
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
The beginning of the twentieth century witnessed a remarkable growth of corporate welfare programs in American industry. By the mid-1920s, 80 percent of the nation's largest companies--firms including DuPont, International Harvester, and Metropolitan Life Insurance--engaged in some form of welfare work. Programs were implemented to achieve goals that ranged from improving basic workplace conditions, to providing educational, recreational, and social opportunities for workers and their families, to establishing savings and insurance plans. Employing the critical lens of gender analysis, Nikki Mandell offers an innovative perspective on the development of corporate welfare. She argues that its advocates sought to build a new relationship between labor and management by recasting the modern corporation as a Victorian family. Employers assumed the authoritative position of fathers, assigned their employees the subordinate role of children, and hired male and female welfare managers to act as "corporate mothers" charged with creating a harmonious household. But internal conflict and external pressures weakened the corporate welfare system, and it eventually gave way to a system of personnel management and employee representation. With the abandonment of the familial model, the form of corporate welfare changed; but, as Mandell demonstrates, its content left an enduring legacy for modern industrial relations.
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Missionary Capitalist
Nelson Rockefeller in Venezuela
by Darlene Rivas
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
The first work to draw on Nelson A. Rockefeller's newly available personal papers as well as research in Latin American archives, Missionary Capitalist details Rockefeller's efforts to promote economic development in Latin America, particularly Venezuela, from the late 1930s through the 1950s. Rockefeller's involvement in the region began in 1936 with his investment in Creole Petroleum, the Venezuelan subsidiary of Standard Oil. Almost immediately, he began trying to influence North Americans' individual, corporate, and government relationships with Latin Americans. Through his work developing technical assistance programs for the Roosevelt administration during World War II, his business ventures (primarily agricultural production and food retailing), and his postwar founding of the nonprofit American International Association, Rockefeller hoped to demonstrate how U.S. capitalists could nurture entrepreneurial spirit and work successfully with government agencies in Latin America to encourage economic development and improve U.S.-Latin American relations. Ultimately, however, he overestimated the ability of the United States, through public or private endeavors, to promote Latin American economic, political, and social change. This objective account paints a portrait of Rockefeller not as the rapacious, exploitative figure of stereotype, but as a man fueled by idealism and humanitarian concern as well as ambition.
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How Local Politics Shape Federal Policy
Business, Power, And The Environment In Twentieth-Century Los Angeles
by Sarah S. Elkind
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
Focusing on five Los Angeles environmental policy debates between 1920 and 1950, Sarah Elkind investigates how practices in American municipal government gave business groups political legitimacy at the local level as well as unanticipated influence over federal politics.Los Angeles's struggles with oil drilling, air pollution, flooding, and water and power supplies expose the clout business has had over government. Revealing the huge disparities between big business groups and individual community members in power, influence, and the ability to participate in policy debates, Elkind shows that business groups secured their political power by providing Los Angeles authorities with much-needed services, including studying emerging problems and framing public debates. As a result, government officials came to view business interests as the public interest. When federal agencies looked to local powerbrokers for project ideas and political support, local business interests influenced federal policy, too. Los Angeles, with its many environmental problems and its dependence upon the federal government, provides a distillation of national urban trends, Elkind argues, and is thus an ideal jumping-off point for understanding environmental politics and the power of business in the middle of the twentieth century.
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Capital Intentions
Female Proprietors in San Francisco, 1850-1920
by Edith Sparks
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
Late nineteenth-century San Francisco was an ethnically diverse but male-dominated society bustling from a rowdy gold rush, earthquakes, and explosive economic growth. Within this booming marketplace, some women stepped beyond their roles as wives, caregivers, and homemakers to start businesses that combined family concerns with money-making activities. Edith Sparks traces the experiences of these women entrepreneurs, exploring who they were, why they started businesses, how they attracted customers and managed finances, and how they dealt with failure.Using a unique sample of bankruptcy records, credit reports, advertisements, city directories, census reports, and other sources, Sparks argues that women were competitive, economic actors, strategizing how best to capitalize on their skills in the marketplace. Their boardinghouses, restaurants, saloons, beauty shops, laundries, and clothing stores dotted the city's landscape. By the early twentieth century, however, technological advances, new preferences for name-brand goods, and competition from large-scale retailers constricted opportunities for women entrepreneurs at the same time that new opportunities for women with families drew them into other occupations. Sparks's analysis demonstrates that these businesswomen were intimately tied to the fortunes of the city over its first seventy years.
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Research to Revenue
A Practical Guide to University Start-Ups
by Don Rose
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
University start-ups are unique in the world of business and entrepreneurship, translating research conducted at and owned by universities into market-ready products--a complex process that requires a combination of scientific, technical, legal, business, and financial skills to be successful. Start-ups have the potential to generate revenue for universities, enhance faculty recruitment and retention, create jobs, and create investment opportunities for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Research to Revenue presents the first-ever comprehensive guide to understanding, starting, and managing university startups. By systematically describing the process of translating academic research into commercial enterprises, Don Rose and Cam Patterson give a thorough, process-oriented, and practical set of guidelines that cover not only best practices but also common--and avoidable--mistakes. They detail the key factors and components that contribute to a successful start-up, explain what makes university start-ups unique, delineate the steps of building and managing them, and describe how to foster and maintain start-ups at a university. Written for faculty and staff working on campus, tech-transfer officers, university administrators, and venture capitalists unfamiliar with university structures, Research to Revenue ensures that any reader unfamiliar with technology commercialization and entrepreneurship will understand the fundamentals of the process, including intellectual property rights, fund-raising, and business models. This work is an invaluable resource for the successful formation and well-managed operation of university start-ups.
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Boss Lady
How Three Women Entrepreneurs Built Successful Big Businesses in the Mid-Twentieth Century
by Edith Sparks
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
Too often, depictions of women's rise in corporate America leave out the first generation of breakthrough women entrepreneurs. Here, Edith Sparks restores the careers of three pioneering businesswomen--Tillie Lewis (founder of Flotill Products), Olive Ann Beech (cofounder of Beech Aircraft), and Margaret Rudkin (founder of Pepperidge Farm)--who started their own manufacturing companies in the 1930's, sold them to major corporations in the 1960's and 1970's, and became members of their corporate boards. These leaders began their ascent to the highest echelons of the business world before women had widespread access to higher education and before there were federal programs to incentivize women entrepreneurs or laws to prohibit credit discrimination. In telling their stories, Sparks demonstrates how these women at once rejected cultural prescriptions and manipulated them to their advantage, leveraged familial connections, and seized government opportunities, all while advocating for themselves in business environments that were not designed for women, let alone for women leaders. By contextualizing the careers of these hugely successful yet largely forgotten entrepreneurs, Sparks adds a vital dimension to the history of twentieth-century corporate America and provides a powerful lesson on what it took for women to succeed in this male-dominated business world.
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Yankee Don't Go Home!
Mexican Nationalism, American Business Culture, and the Shaping of Modern Mexico, 1920-1950
by Julio Moreno
Part of the Luther H. Hodges Jr. and Luther H. Hodges Sr. on Business, Entrepreneursh series
In the aftermath of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, Mexican and U.S. political leaders, business executives, and ordinary citizens shaped modern Mexico by making industrial capitalism the key to upward mobility into the middle class, material prosperity, and a new form of democracy--consumer democracy. Julio Moreno describes how Mexico's industrial capitalism between 1920 and 1950 shaped the country's national identity, contributed to Mexico's emergence as a modern nation-state, and transformed U.S.-Mexican relations.
According to Moreno, government programs and incentives were central to legitimizing the postrevolutionary government as well as encouraging commercial growth. Moreover, Mexican nationalism and revolutionary rhetoric gave Mexicans the leverage to set the terms for U.S. businesses and diplomats anxious to court Mexico in the midst of the dual crises of the Great Depression and World War II. Diplomats like Nelson Rockefeller and corporations like Sears Roebuck achieved success by embracing Mexican culture in their marketing and diplomatic pitches, while those who disregarded Mexican traditions were slow to earn profits.
Moreno also reveals how the rapid growth of industrial capitalism, urban economic displacement, and unease caused by World War II and its aftermath unleashed feelings of spiritual and moral decay among Mexicans that led to an antimodernist backlash by the end of the 1940s.
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