Winner of the 2005 Business History Review Newcomen Award for best book in business history, The Struggle for Control of the Modern Corporation provides a fascinating historical overview of decision-making and political struggle within one of America's largest and most important corporations. Drawing on primary historical material, Robert Freeland examines the changes in General Motors' organization between the years 1924 and 1970. He takes issue with the well-known argument of business historian Alfred Chandler and economist Oliver Wiliamson, who contend that GM's multidivisional corporate structure emerged and survived because it was more efficient than alternative forms of organization. This book illustrates that for most of its history, GM intentionally violated the fundamental axioms of efficient organization put forth by these analysts. It did so in order to create cooperation and managerial consent to corporate policies. Freeland uses the GM case to re-examine existing theories of corporate governance, arguing that the decentralized organizational structure advocated by efficiency theorists may actually undermine cooperation, and thus foster organizational decline.
The Struggle for Control of the Modern Corporation : Organizational Change at General Motors, 1924́1970
Online-Ausg.
2005
Online-Ressource (1 online resource (384 p.))
digital, PDF file(s).
Title from publishers bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Feb 2013)
Book
Electronic Resource
English
DDC: | 338.7/6292/0973 / 338.762920973 | |
BKL: | 55.21 Kraftfahrzeuge | |
RVK: | QR 524 |
Statistical Tolerancing Applications at General Motors Corporation
SAE Technical Papers | 1988
|Laser material processing in General Motors Corporation
Automotive engineering | 1992
|Computational Structural Dynamics at General Motors Corporation
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2000
|Statistical tolerancing applications at General Motors Corporation
Automotive engineering | 1988
|Automotive proving grounds of the General Motors Corporation
Engineering Index Backfile | 1926
|