In 1899, Allie Rowbottom's great-great-great-uncle bought the patent to Jell-O from its inventor for $450. The sale would turn out to be one of the most profitable business deals in American history and the generations that followed enjoyed immense privilege - but they were also haunted by suicides, cancer, alcoholism and mysterious ailments. More than 100 years after that deal was struck, Allie's mother Mary was diagnosed with the same incurable cancer, a disease that had also claimed her own mother's life. Determined to combat what she had come to consider the "Jell-O curse" and her looming mortality, Mary began obsessively researching her family's past, determined to understand the origins of her illness and the impact on her life of Jell-O and the traditional American values the company championed. Before she died in 2015, Mary began to send Allie boxes of her research and notes, in the hope that her daughter might write what she could not. JELL-O GIRLS is the liberation of that story. A gripping examination of the dark side of an iconic American product and a moving portrait of the women who lived in the shadow of its fractured fortune, JELL-O GIRLS is a family history, a feminist history and a story of motherhood, love and loss. In crystalline prose Rowbottom considers the roots of trauma not only in her own family but in the American psyche as well, ultimately weaving a story that is deeply personal, as well as deeply connected to the collective female experience.

In Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, veteran technology journalist Ashlee Vance provides the first inside look into the extraordinary life and times of Silicon Valley's most audacious entrepreneur.

Written with exclusive access to Musk, his family and friends, the book traces the entrepreneur's journey from a rough upbringing in South Africa to the pinnacle of the global business world. Vance spent over 50 hours in conversation with Musk and interviewed close to 300 people to tell the tumultuous stories of Musk's world-changing companies: PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX and SolarCity, and to characterize a man who has renewed American industry and sparked new levels of innovation while making plenty of enemies along the way.

Vance uses Musk's story to explore one of the pressing questions of our time: can the nation of inventors and creators which led the modern world for a century still compete in an age of fierce global competition? He argues that Musk--one of the most unusual and striking figures in American business history--is a contemporary amalgam of legendary inventors and industrialists like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs. More than any other entrepreneur today, Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as the visionaries of the golden age of science-fiction fantasy.

At the time of its collapse in 2001, Enron was one of the largest companies in the world, boasting revenue of over $100 billion. During the 1990s economic boom, the Houston, Texas-based energy company had diversified into commodities and derivatives trading and many other ventures-some more legal than others. In the lead-up to Enron's demise, it was revealed that the company's financial success was sustained by a creatively planned and well-orchestrated accounting fraud. The story of Enron and its disastrous aftermath has since become a symbol of corporate excess and negligence, framed as an exceptional event in the annals of American business. With Risk and Ruin, Gavin Benke places Enron's fall within the larger history and culture of late twentieth-century American capitalism. In many ways, Benke argues, Enron was emblematic of the transitions that characterized the era. Like Enron, the American economy had shifted from old industry to the so-called knowledge economy, from goods to finance, and from national to global modes of production. Benke dives deep into the Enron archives, analyzing company newsletters, board meeting minutes, and courtroom transcriptions to chart several interconnected themes across Enron's history: the changing fortunes of Houston; the shifting attitudes toward business strategy, deregulation, and the function of the market among policy makers and business leaders; and the cultural context that accompanied and encouraged these broader political and economic changes. Considered against this backdrop, Enron takes on new significance as a potent reminder of the unaddressed issues still facing national and global economies. Published in cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University.

A remarkable fifteen Nordic family businesses are among the 500 biggest companies in the world and the Nordic countries have more dynasties than most others per capita and in GDP terms. The willingness, often reluctant, of both the political system and labour movement to accept asset accumulation has helped these Nordic businesses survive. The top 1% of Swedes own close to 25% of the country's wealth, as opposed to 16.5% of Spaniards, where dynasties are also abundant. The pattern has held a firm grip on the Nordic countries since the Industrial Revolution and emergence of free enterprise. The trend is particularly pronounced in comparison with the Anglo-Saxon countries - somewhat less so relative to places like Italy, Japan, Germany and South-Asian countries. This book describes the factors and dynamics behind the ability of Nordic businesses to grow and thrive from one generation to the next in the process of becoming dynasties. Far from being commercial enterprises, they are a venue for power, philanthropy, passion, conflict, freedom and captivity. Like many other dynasties, the Nordic ones are a witch's brew of Machiavelli's Prince, Marx's belief in the potential of the meritocracy and Smith's baker who works to sustain his family. Topped by a spoonful of Weber's Protestant Ethic. This book will be key readings for students and scholars of entrepreneurship, corporate governance, business history, Scandinavian history, family business and enterprises and the related disciplines.

Established by New York stockbroker Juan Trippe in 1927, the story of Pan Am is the story of US-led globalisation and imperial expansion in the twentieth century, with the airline achieving the vast majority of 'firsts' in aviation history, pioneering transoceanic travel and new technologies, and all but creating the glitz, style and ambience eulogised in Frank Sinatra's 'Come Fly with Me'. Bryce Evans investigates an aspect of the airline service that was central to the company's success, its food; a gourmet glamour underpinned by both serious science and attention to the detail of fine dining culture. Modelled on the elite dining experience of the great ocean liners, the first transatlantic and transpacific flights featured formal thirteen course dinners served in art deco cabins and served by waiters in white waist-length jackets and garrison hats. As flight times got faster and altitudes higher, Pan Am pioneered the design of hot food galleys and commissioned research into how altitude and pressure affected taste buds, amending menus accordingly. A tale of collaboration with chefs from the best Parisian restaurants and the wining and dining of politicians and film stars, the book also documents what food service was like for flight attendants, exploring how the golden age of airline dining was underpinned by a racist and sexist culture. Written accessibly and with an eye for the glamour and razzamatazz of public aviation history, Bryce Evans' research into Pan Am airways will be valuable for scholars of food studies and aviation, consumer, tourism, transport and 20th century American history.

HOW ONE MAN FOUGHT AGAINST LARGE-SCALE FINANCIAL CORRUPTION ...AND WON

When Carlos Legaspy, Mexican-American owner of a rising broker-dealer, uncovered the inner workings of a nine- figure Ponzi scheme, he thought he was doing the right thing by sounding the alarm. Instead, the fraud's perpetrators shifted blame onto him, touching o a two-year saga of betrayal, fraud, and high-stakes financial drama that would extend over international borders and impact some of Wall Street's biggest players--and bring Legaspy's own business and reputation to the brink of destruction.

Going for Broke chronicles Legaspy's rise from the grandson of a junkyard owner in Mexico to the head of a successful broker-dealer to becoming an overnight pariah facing $40 million in legal claims for malfeasance he did not commit. To clear his name, Legaspy wages a multifront war against conniving attorneys, scheming financial advisors, aggressive regulators, and deep-pocketed banks in a race to save his company before the scandal leaves him bankrupt and his company in ruins. Legaspy's tale reminds us that, even in a cutthroat industry where "guilty until proven innocent" takes the place of due process and allies are few and far between, you're not down for the count as long as you can get back up and throw one more punch.

From a long-time Alibaba executive and friend of Jack Ma, this is first book to articulate how Alibaba's unique culture and "tai chi" management principles are providing a business and economic development model for the rest of the world.If you took the economic might of Amazon, and added the penetration of Facebook, the ubiquity of Google, and the cultural significance of YouTube, you might have something starting to resemble Alibaba. Commonly mischaracterized as a kind of Chinese eBay for businesses, Alibaba and its interlinked network of products and services have exploded into global markets, disrupting conventional businesses and creating previously unimaginable opportunities for millions of small businesses worldwide. This book reveals the Tao of Alibaba-the company's "secret sauce"-a consciously cultivated ethos and spirit that has enabled Alibaba to weather tough times (including its recent setbacks with the Chinese government) and persist toward a common mission. It is a blueprint of the company's management philosophy, crystalized into the most important elements that have driven its success, and it provides a road map for how to incorporate these principles into any organization's operations. Wong distills his 20 years of experience inside the company to show readers how to align their organization's capabilities with performance-maximizing tools in order to achieve success. But most importantly, the Tao of Alibaba teaches the pursuit of greater purpose and meaning, steering entrepreneurs to view their ventures as a vehicle for having profound and lasting impacts on their communities. Ultimately, the lessons shared in The Tao of Alibaba will serve as timeless tools for any entrepreneur seeking to configure their organization toward purpose and impact.

Proven principles for sustainable success, with new leadership insight PEAK is the popular, transformative guide to doing business better, written by a seasoned entrepreneur/CEO who has disrupted his favorite industry not once, but twice. Author Chip Conley, founder and former CEO of one of the world's largest boutique hotel companies, turned to psychologist Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs at a time when his company was in dire need. And years later, when the young founders of Airbnb asked him to help turn their start-up home sharing company into a world-class hospitality giant, Conley once again used the principles he'd developed in PEAK. In the decade since this book's first edition, Conley's PEAK strategy has been developed on six continents in organizations in virtually every industry. The author's foundational premise is that great leaders become amateur psychologists by understanding the unique needs of three key relationships--with employees, customers, and investors--and this message has resonated with every kind of leader and company including some of the world's best-known, from Apple to Facebook. Avid users of PEAK have found that the principles create greater loyalty and differentiation with their key stakeholders. This new second edition includes in-depth examples of real-world PEAK companies, including the author's own at Airbnb, and exclusive PEAK leadership practices that will take you--and your company's performance--to new heights. Whether you're at a startup or a Fortune 500 company, at a for-profit, nonprofit, or governmental organization, this book can help you and your people reach potential you never realized you had. Understand how Maslow's hierarchy makes for winning business practices Learn how PEAK drove some of today's top businesses to success Help employees reach their full potential--and beyond Transform the customer experience and keep investors happy The PEAK framework succeeds because it elevates the business from the inside out. These same principles apply in the boardroom, the breakroom, and your living room at home, and have proven to be the foundation of healthy, fulfilled lives. Even if you think you're doing great, you could always be doing better--and PEAK gives you a roadmap to the next level.

Investing-the commitment of resources to achieve a return-affects individuals, families, companies, and nations, and has done so throughout history. Yet until the sixteenth century, investing was a privilege of only the elite classes. The story behind the democratization of investing is bound up with some of history's most epic events. It is also a tale rich with lessons for professional and everyday investors who hope to make wiser choices. This entertaining history doubles as a sophisticated account of the opportunities and challenges facing the modern investor. It follows the rise of funded retirement; the evolution of investment vehicles and techniques; investment misdeeds and regulatory reform; government economic policy; the development of investment theory; and the emergence of new investment structures. Norton Reamer and Jesse Downing map these trends and profile the battle between low cost index and exchange-traded funds, on the one hand, and the higher-fee hedge funds and private equity, on the other. By helping us understand this history and its legacy of risk, Reamer and Downing hope to better educate readers about the individual and societal impact of investing and ultimately level the playing field.

As consumers, our access to-and appetite for-information about what and how we buy continues to grow. Powered by social media, increasingly we look at the companies behind the products and are disappointed when their actions do not meet our expectations. With engaged citizens acting as 24/7 auditors of corporate behavior, one formerly trusted company after another has had their business disrupted with astonishing velocity in the wake of what, in the past, might have been written off as a bad media cycle. Gone are the days when a company could hide behind "socially responsible" branding or when marketing controlled the corporate narrative. That control has shifted to engaged stakeholders in the new social landscape, requiring a more radical change to company practices. James Rubin and Barie Carmichael provide a strategic roadmap for businesses to navigate the new era, rebuild trust, and find their voice. Reset traces the global decline of trust in business at the same time that the public's expectations for business's role in society is increasing. Today, businesses must bridge this widening gap at a time when online stakeholders are committed to holding business accountable for its behavior, with unprecedented internal and external scrutiny. This requires strategic solutions anchored in a critical outside-in understanding of the stakeholder footprint of the business model. Reset offers case studies of reputations lost and found, suggesting fundamental strategies to mitigate risk and build the corporate brand. In this new era of instant transparency, corporate behavior has become the proof of corporate character for recruiting and retaining both customers and the next generation of talent. Offering essential advice for managing brand, reputation, and risk, this book is a guide to navigating the pitfalls and taking advantage of the opportunities of the reset.

The 1980s was the era when affordable computers came to UK homes. They were known as microcomputers as their 'brain' was a microprocessor chip. Before then, computers were either found in the IT centres of big companies, taking up a whole room, or were large desktop machines with a price tag that put them out of reach for most people. But in February 1980, a company called Sinclair Computers launched their first home computer costing less than GBP100 - the ZX80. It began a very exciting time for all those with an interest in technology, and the UK home computer market was born. The first Sinclair ZX80s were soon joined by a host of competition in the early years of the 1980s as machines were released from companies such as Acorn, Dragon, Tangerine and Commodore. They all wanted a share of a market that would soon be worth millions of pounds. This book explores the history of these companies and the entrepreneurs behind them such as Sir Clive Sinclair of Sinclair Computers and Chris Curry of Acorn Computers. The innovative machines they produced inspired a generation.

Imagine if you could be a fly on the wall as a family enterprise becomes one of the most successful companies in the world. The Target Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that enabled the big box store to become the retail giant it is today. In an industry that has seen constant disruption over the last two decades, Target has experienced tremendous growth. Establishing a strong eCommerce business and cultivating a sought-after in-store experience has kept this iconic brand at the top of the retail game. From same-day fulfillment to brand partnerships, Target has successfully fought the domination of online marketplaces by thinking outside the big box. The growth, prosperity, and expansion strategies that can be gleaned from the history of the Target Corporation amounts to a masterclass in business. Yet, the Target story has never been adequately presented. Until now. Through the story of Target, you'll learn: How to remain nimble in times of tremendous change. How to reinvent a six-decade-old iconic brand. How to know when to build it yourself or bring in the experts. When to change the entire way you do business. And much, much more.

This book focuses on the business story of Walt Disney and the company he built. Combining a unique blend of entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation, and a relentless drive to bring out the best in his teams, Walt Disney created one of the most successful ventures in business history. Outlining the specific processes of the company, Goldsby and Mathews provide the reader with the tools they need to embrace their own entrepreneurial leadership style, to lead effectively, to be more innovative, and to build a successful organization. Through the lens of Disney, the reader learns the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership. Beginning with a general introduction to the concepts relevant to the entrepreneurial organization today, the book examines how Disney built his empire and how the company remains an industry leader. The book also provides the opportunity to take the Entrepreneurial Leadership Instrument, which measures one's style in leading entrepreneurial ventures. The book is divided into two parts: * Part I provides an overview of Disney's entrepreneurial journey, including the topics of vision, risk-taking, financing, and human resource management; * Part II examines the company's transition from a family business into a global operation, including topics such as succession planning and strategy. Part II also explores Disney Parks and Resorts, the part of the company that interacts directly with customers, including topics such as culture, employee engagement, customer service, and customer experience. Entrepreneurship the Disney Way brings entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership to life through the compelling story of one of the most recognizable businessmen and companies of our time. The authors' interviews with high-level executives provides the reader with a rare inside look into the way his company functions. Disney fans, executives, and students of entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership will find it a delightful and informing read.

By tracing the history of Yudahua from the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, this study analyzes a successful inland business model among textile companies in modern China. The steady growth of this enterprise relied primarily on its strategy to focus on low-end markets to locate new mills in underdeveloped interior regions. This strategy further allowed the enterprise to pioneer industrialization in its host localities, demonstrating a major social and economic impact on the local societies. At the same time, Yudahua's unique team leadership pattern-five leading families shared its ownership and management-made the business an atypical family firm and allowed relatively easy institutional departure from Chinese social networks and adoption of Western corporate hierarchy. Therefore, by the late 1940s, Yudahua had gradually developed into a fairly integrated business group with a unified management structure and routinized connections between its member mills, which differed noticeably from the loose alliances normally found in other early twentieth-century Chinese business conglomerates.

First appearing in 1972, National Express coaches have become a familiar site on the UK's roads, and are very much a part of popular culture, celebrated in songs and on television. With many former National Express vehicles finding their way to preservation, this book explores the history of this very British brand and celebrates the history and heritage of a British institution. The book covers the operations of the business, the evolution of the National Express brand and the development of the fleet up to the latest Caetano Levante, a vehicle designed to meet the operator's very specific requirements for accessibility. Featuring driver stories and passenger memories, together with detailed images, photographs and designs, this book celebrates 50 years of coaching history.

Traidcraft was a true pioneer of the Fair Trade movement and has played a major role in changing the landscape of ethical shopping. This book charts the history of Traidcraft from its birth in 1979 up until its 40th anniversary in 2019. The story is told through the eyes of one of its longest serving members, Joe Osman, who joined Traidcraft in its early days. The book features stories and anecdotes covering his extensive experience of travelling and putting fair trade into practice. Traidcraft was always an initiative rooted in the Christian faith and those origins are explored, as are the challenges of putting faith into action through a different way of doing business. Including contributions from many ex-members of staff, including its founder, as well as external collaborators and producers, this is a fascinating history of a truly revolutionary company.

What gave rise to our modern conceptions of professional status, and how did particular professions gain their privileged status? Magali Sarfatti Larson shows how our present conception and acceptance of profession was shaped in the liberal phase of capitalism.

Larson argues that professionalization was both a response to the extension of market relations and a movement for the conquest of collective social status by sectors of the bourgeoisie. By comparing the development of various professions in England and the United States during the first part of the nineteenth century, the author gives concrete historical illustration to the multiple relations professions form within their society.

Larson examines the new conditions of professionalization in the phase of corporate capitalism, drawing on a number of historical and sociological sources. While professions began as a mode of autonomous work organization, many credentialed occupations aspire to professionalize in order to shelter the labor markets in which they work. Larson argues that the idea of profession can function as a form of ideological control and concludes that today professionalism works against many of the values that had been historically vested in it. This classic book, complete with a new introduction that brings the work into the twenty-first century, is timely and should be read by all interested in the history and development of organizational life.

Steuervermeidungsstrategien globaler Internet-Konzerne sind Gegenstand kontroverser politischer Debatten und stellen Deutschland und die Europaische Union vor beachtliche Herausforderungen. Globale Internet-Konzerne zahlen trotz ihrer hohen Umsatze vergleichsweise geringe Ertragsteuern, weil die geltenden steuer- und abkommensrechtlichen Vorgaben nicht auf grenzuberschreitende digitale Geschaftsmodelle zugeschnitten sind. Die vorliegende Publikation befasst sich mit den Besteuerungsdefiziten der Digitalen Wirtschaft. Die Autorin setzt sich kritisch mit ausgewahlten Reformvorschlagen auseinander, die durch die OECD, die Kommission und den deutschen Gesetzgeber in der jungeren Vergangenheit entwickelt und diskutiert wurden, darunter insbesondere mit dem Konzept der virtuellen Betriebsstatte.

An ambitious and shocking expose of America's hidden empire in Liberia, run by the storied Firestone corporation, and its long shadow In the early 1920s, Americans owned 80 percent of the world's automobiles and consumed 75 percent of the world's rubber. But only one percent of the world's rubber grew under the U.S. flag, creating a bottleneck that hampered the nation's explosive economic expansion. To solve its conundrum, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company turned to a tiny West African nation, Liberia, founded in 1847 as a free Black republic. Empire of Rubber tells a sweeping story of capitalism, racial exploitation, and environmental devastation, as Firestone transformed Liberia into America's rubber empire. Historian and filmmaker Gregg Mitman scoured remote archives to unearth a history of promises unfulfilled for the vast numbers of Liberians who toiled on rubber plantations built on taken land. Mitman reveals a history of racial segregation and medical experimentation that reflected Jim Crow America-on African soil. As Firestone reaped fortunes, wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a few elites, fostering widespread inequalities that fed unrest, rebellions and, eventually, civil war. A riveting narrative of ecology and disease, of commerce and science, and of racial politics and political maneuvering, Empire of Rubber uncovers the hidden story of a corporate empire whose tentacles reach into the present.