Synopses & Reviews
Over the past century, Alcoa has developed from a small entrepreneurial venture to a giant corporation; from a one-dimensional, owner-managed firm to a complex managerial bureaucracy; from a domestic company to a multinational enterprise. In the process, Alcoa survived a difficult transition from its long-held position as a monopolist (of aluminum production) to its current status as a firm operating in highly competitive international markets. This book presents Alcoa's history, from its beginnings as a speculative venture seeking to exploit an untested technology, through its rise to become the most successful monopoly in American history. By World War II, no other American corporation had developed its industry's markets more dramatically and then dominated them more completely. The book analyzes the undoing of Alcoa's monopoly by war and antitrust, as well as how Alcoa adapted to evolving forms of competition.
Synopsis
This is a history of the aluminium giant Alcoa, from its beginnings through its development into one of the most successful monopolies in American history, to its postwar adaptation to evolving forms of oligopolistic and global competition.
Synopsis
When Charles Martin Hall patented aluminium-refining process in 1886, there were still technological problems to be solved, capital and a labour force were needed and markets had to be developed for what was then a novelty product. George David Smith examines how Alcoa met these problems, with special attention to innovation, from Alcoaâs beginnings through its development into one of the most successful monopolies in American history. He then analyzes the undoing of Alcoaâs monopoly by war and antitrust, and its adaptation to oliogopolistic and global competition.
Table of Contents
List of charts; List of tables; List of photographs; Editorâs preface; Authorâs preface; Note on the corporate name; 1. Invention and entrepreneurship: the electrolytic process and the establishment of The Pittsburgh Reduction Company; 2. Alcoa in context: the rise of the complex corporation; 3. Building a big business: markets, strategy, and structure through the First World War; 4. Alcoa comes of age: organization, innovation, and labor from the Roaring 20s through the Great Depression; 5. Undoing the monopoly: the Second World War and Learned Hand; 6. Alcoaâs âsplendid retreatâ: the rise of the aluminium oligopoly, 1947 1957; 7. Magee, Close, and Harper: covering the world in aluminium, 1958 1970; 8. Responses to a changing world; Appendices; Notes; Index.