The Foundations of Corporate Empire: Is History Repeating Itself?

by Karl. Moore and David Lewis

At the dawn of a new economic age the future belongs to a cast of giant transnational companies along with networked newer players. Is this a new economic phenomenon? Or the latest movement in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0273639641
• ISBN13: 9780273639640
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: FT Press
• Length: 319 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Superb Economic History Text

This book is a most excellent book on economic history, examining the different business organizations across cultures ranging from ancient Mesopotamia through classical Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages in the Middle East, China, and India, as well as Europe, and modern economic history. The use of interesting historical anecdotes from a variety of historical business as well as the savvy cross-cultural analysis makes this book an excellent source for historical wisdom about businesses, showing there are many ways in which cultures can successfully influence the structure and behavior of businesses. By eschewing a one-size-fits-all cultural analysis and by showing a great deal of sensitivity to a wide variety of business structures over thousands of years of human history, this book offers the wise reader a chance to view the modern business scene with a great deal of understanding. Some university needs to use this book as a textbook in an economic history class.

comments

Before reading Foundations of Corporate Empire I was not aware of the other book Birth of the Multinational: 2000 Years of Ancient Business History--From Ashur to Augustus, now I still think do I have to buy that one too? For me it is a fascinating book which is the outcome of a detailed investigation and work.By the way, I would be pleased if they put more stress on the Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire and also South East Asia, Inkas, Azteks etc.But I can recommend this book as a guideline of historical evolution of the modern business organizations and cultures.

Globe and Mail Book Review

From the Report on Business, Globe and Mail Newspaper, Canada's National NewspaperBy BRIAN MILNER Friday, December 28, 2001 - Print Edition, Page 91FOUNDATIONS OF CORPORATE EMPIRE: Is History Repeating Itself? by Karl Moore and David Lewis (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, $...) Foundations of Corporate Empire is a dreary title for a business book that turns out to be anything but. It is in fact a sweeping, yet remarkably readable, history of globalization that marshals impressive evidence to prove something we should have learned by now: There is simply nothing new under the sun, and anyone who thinks business just discovered the joys of free trade and global markets yesterday has a lot to learn.Doing the teaching here are two Canadian academics: Karl Moore, a professor of strategic management at McGill University, and David Lewis, a historian with a wide range of interests, including ancient Mesopotamia. That, in fact, is where the authors start, tracing the development of business cultures from the Bronze Age and the "first recorded multinational"--a family trading business in Assyria nearly 4,000 years ago--up to the internet age and America's globe-spanning technology giants.Unfortunately, this book was finished before the tech bubble burst, making some of its conclusions as obsolete as those Assyrian traders. But this does nothing to detract from its main points--that today's economic and corporate structures are the product of generations of evolution and that each nation favours the model best suited to its own culture, institutions and history."Many of today's economic structures existed in prototype form several thousand years ago," the authors note early on, and then set out to prove it. They make connections between the business leaders of Mesopotamia and modern German corporations, between classical Athens and Britain at its height, between ancient and modern China, and between the mighty Roman and even mightier American empires. Some of the links are obvious, such as the mass production and technological developments stemming from the military requirements of both ancient Rome and the United States. Others seem more of a stretch.What is particularly refreshing is that this is no apologia for the current wave of globalization or its apparent American character. The authors make a convincing case that merely because the American model has been overwhelmingly dominant, it does not mean every country will inevitably have to fall into line. Any attempt to impose the American way "in its entirety...is bound not only to fail but also to generate a very unpleasant backlash."

History class shed in a whole new light

A novel and intriguing look at the history of modern civilization and the corporate underpinnings that have pervaded throughout. Somewhat general but nonetheless both accurate and interesting. Original and entertaining. Great Book