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Books > History > History of specific subjects > History of specific institutions
Millions have sat under the "big top," watching as trapeze artists glide and clowns entertain, but few know the captivating stories behind the men who shaped the circus. Battle for the Big Top is the untold story of the battles of the three circus kings--James Bailey, P.T. Barnum, and John Ringling-all vying for control of the vastly profitable and widely influential American Circus. New York Times bestselling author Les Standiford recreates a remarkable era when a community-without regard for gender, creed, or nationality--would be captivated by the spectacle created by three diversely talented individuals who transcended the ordinary. Ultimately, the rivalry of these three men resulted in the creation of an institution that would surpass all intentions and, for 147 years, hold a nation spellbound. Filled with details of their ever-evolving showmanship, business strategies, and personal magnetism, this Ragtime-like narrative will delight and enchant circus-lovers everywhere.
Since 1818, Brooks Brothers, America s oldest clothing brand, has grown into a global sartorial institution that has influenced American style through its iconic fashions, which conjure intimate memories of pivotal life events from your first navy blazer as a child to stepping into a bespoke suit on your wedding day. On the eve of its two-hundredth anniversary, Brooks Brothers remains synonymous with timeless style, the finest quality, and innovative designs that resonate with both old and new generations. This richly illustrated book is replete with photographs of the signature heritage pieces, from the Original Polo button-down oxford, grey flannel suit, and Rep ties to the camel overcoat, and features an unparalleled roster of high-profile political and cultural icons who have worn and made these pieces their own: from Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy to Madonna, Lady Gaga, Grace Kelly, Katharine Hepburn, Miles Davis, and Andy Warhol, as well as TV and film stars in Glee, Gossip Girl, Mad Men, and Baz Luhrmann s The Great Gatsby. The text comprises interviews and personal anecdotes from the retailer s loyal clientele fashion designers, writers, and celebrities each sharing treasured memories and connections to Brooks Brothers. This dazzling volume invites readers to delve into the world of Brooks Brothers, providing insight into the people, places, and historical moments that have shaped and provoked the innovative yet timeless American institution, and is a must for those interested in fashion and American style.
Strategy is becoming more 'open' - more transparent and more inclusive. Opening Strategy tells the story of how corporate strategists and strategy consultants have worked since the middle of the last century to open up the strategy process. First strategic planning, then strategic management, and now 'open strategy' have all brought more people into the strategy process and provided more strategic information, for the benefit of both business and society at large. Informed by interviews with corporate strategists and consultants at leading firms such as General Electric and McKinsey & Co, and drawing on the historical archives of strategy's pioneers, this book provides vivid insights into the trials and tribulations of practice change in the strategy profession. Above all, it stresses the hard work of the little recognized and sometimes eccentric individuals who have been leaders in practice change. By building on a wide range of illustrations, covering both successes and failures, the book draws out general lessons for practice innovation in strategy. Those studying the topic will be able to set standard strategy techniques in historical and social context and develop new areas for investigation, while practising executives and consultants should gain a sense of how to innovate in strategy - and how not to.
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.
White Star Line was originally founded in Liverpool in 1845 for travel to Australia but was eventually purchased by Thomas Ismay and transformed into the successful Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. Cleverly merging with Harland & Wolff, the line focussed on luxury over speed, developing many of the world's favourite vessels. Finally merging with its great rival Cunard in the 1930s depression, the companies continued to operate separately while flying one another's flags. This evocative book explores the colourful history of White Star Line, from personal postcards with messages from passengers, crew and troops, to the careers of her vessels in peacetime and at war, all from Patrick Mylon's impressive collection. It includes ships with alternative identities, unusual stories like the planned escape of Dr Crippen, and showcases a wide variety of interior views, adverts and 'proof', silk and Company Issue cards, conveying the glamour, drama and history of this world-renowned line.
Education is considered key for societies to achieve greater social cohesion and equality. Yet, schools, as the main providers of formal education, have increasingly come into question concerning their role in manifesting and perpetuating social categorisations, inequalities and discrimination instead of decreasing existing fragmentations and challenging power relations and hierarchies. As a diverse society, Kenya is faced with power struggles and rivalries between different groups - for instance, along ethnic lines, often constructed deep in colonial history. This affects teaching and learning in school and the result is that Kenya is faced with vast disparities in terms of educational access and success - rendering some social groups marginalised and others favoured. Positioning Diversity at Kenyan Schools explores the ways in which teachers in Kenyan primary and secondary schools experience and deal with social categorisations and diversity in terms of ethnicity, gender, wealth, culture, religion, etc. in their professional practice and in the current education system. Using critical pedagogy and diversity theory as a lens for positioning diversity in Kenyan schools, the questions that this book sets out to answer are: In what ways do the teachers' and schools' practices lead to transformation in terms of more social equality and less discrimination? In what ways do the practices manifest existing group categorisations, hierarchies and discrimination? How can schools and teaching practices in postcolonial Kenya become more inclusive and foster social cohesion and equality?
Some of the worst corporate meltdowns over the past sixty years can be traced to passive directors who favored operational shortcuts over quality growth strategies. Thinking primarily about placating institutional investors, selective stockholders, proxy advisors, and corporate management, these inattentive and deferential board members have relied on short-term share price increases to sustain their companies long term. Driven by a desire for prosperity, not posterity, these actions can doom any company. In The Activist Director, attorney Ira M. Millstein looks back at fifty years of counseling companies, nonprofits, and governments to actively govern their corporations and constituencies. From the threat of bankruptcy and the ConEd blackout of 1970s New York City, to the meltdown of Drexel Burnham Lambert in the late 1980s, to the turnaround of General Motors in the mid-1990s, Millstein takes readers into the boardrooms of several of the greatest catastrophes and success stories of America's best-known corporations. His solution lies at the top: a new breed of activist directors who partner with management and reject short-term outlooks, plan a future based on growth and innovation, and take responsibility for corporate organization, strategy, and efficiency. What questions should we ask of potential board members and how do we know they'll be active? Millstein offers pragmatic suggestions for recruiting activist directors to the boardroom to secure the future of the corporation.
'A fascinating page-turner... An indispensable guide to modern innovation and entrepreneurship.' Walter Isaacson, no. 1 bestselling author of Steve Jobs Perfect for readers of Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance and Zero to One by Peter Theil Out of PayPal's ranks have come household names like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin and Reid Hoffman. Since leaving Paypal, they have formed, funded, and advised the leading companies of our era, including Tesla, Facebook, YouTube, SpaceX, Yelp, Palantir, and LinkedIn, among many others. Yet for all their influence, the incredible story of where they started has gone largely untold. In The Founders, award-winning author Jimmy Soni narrates how a once-in-a-generation collaboration turned a scrappy start-up into one of the most successful businesses of all time. Facing bruising competition, internal strife, the emergence of widespread online fraud, and the devastating dot-com bust of the 2000s, their success was anything but certain. But they would go on to change our world forever. Informed by hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to thousands of pages of internal material, The Founders explores how the seeds of so much of what drives the internet today were planted two decades ago.
As Alexis Ohanian learned when he helped to co-found the immensely
popular reddit.com, the internet is the most powerful and
democratic tool for disseminating information in human history. And
when that power is harnessed to create new communities,
technologies, businesses or charities, the results can be
absolutely stunning.
The remarkable story of one man's journey to leadership of the world's largest energy company, The Caravan Goes On is the first published inside account of the workings of the corporation by a CEO and represents a significant addition to the literature on the turbulent development of the world's oil industry. Frank Jungers, former President, Chairman and CEO of the petroleum giant Aramco, tells the inside story of his three decades in Saudi Arabia (1947-1978) with the world's largest oil producing company. A North Dakota farm boy Jungers rose to the top of one of the most important hydrocarbon enterprises ever, a company that eventually found itself responsible for nearly one-quarter of the world's oil resources. He writes of his face-to-face encounters with King Faisal and other Saudi leaders, and his role in steering the company through major international crises that included the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the dramatic oil price increases of the 1970s, the Arab oil embargo and the OPEC hostage incident of 1975. Central to Jungers' story is his role in helping to develop Aramco's Saudi workforce in preparation for the eventual transfer of company ownership from four American oil majors to the Government of Saudi Arabia. He explains the unique nature of the ownership transfer, which was remarkably different from the bitter nationalization process seen in Iraq, Libya, Iran and Venezuela. Jungers describes how Aramco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in an important sense grew up together, and he highlights the crucial role played by Aramco in the development of the young nation's infrastructure and economy. The Caravan Goes On describes the origins of the petroleum industry in Saudi Arabia, with the granting of a concession in 1933 to a subsidiary of Standard Oil of California, the first of Aramco's four oil-company parents. Jungers talks of his own origins as the son of farmer in North Dakota, the family's migration westward due to drought and depression, and his engineering studies at the University of Washington. Jungers began his career in Saudi Arabia working at Ras Tanura, site of Aramco's first oil refinery and oil tanker terminal. He describes how Aramco built its initial workforce, consisting of Americans, Italians, Saudis and other nationalities; he explains how it soon became clear that the future of the Saudi oil industry belonged not with foreign oil interest but to the people of Saudi Arabia; and he relates how he and others worked to give Saudis the training and incentives needed to take over and successfully operate what would become the world's premier oil producing and exporting company. At the same time, Aramco, with its technological expertise and its access to international specialists, began playing a central role in the development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company, with support and encouragement of the Saudi Kings, took a lead role in building healthcare, agriculture, the railroads, the electric grid and other sectors of the Saudi economy. The story of the "King Faisal Era" (including the monarch's role in the oil price issue, the Arab oil embargo and his closed-door meetings with the King and his key advisers, including Oil Minister Shaikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani) are vividly described, as well as the shock of King Faisal's tragic death and the tense moments of the OPEC hostage incident that began in Vienna and ended in North Africa. Jungers speaks of his involvement in launching Saudi Arabia's Master Gas System, now a central part of the national economy and his pivotal role in the consolidation of Saudi Arabia's electrical power grid in the Eastern Province. When he returned to Saudi Arabia in 2008 to attend the celebrations of the company's 75th anniversary he fully realized the success of the Aramco venture - how it had indeed prepared large numbers of Saudis for the responsibilities of leading their country's oil industry into a new and exciting economic era. This personal, colorful and up-close view is required reading for oil-industry watchers as well as those interested in big business, geopolitics, America's role in the Middle East and the extraordinary transformation and emergence of modern Saudi Arabia since oil was discovered in its Eastern Province.
Powerful and resonant, Foxconned is both the definitive autopsy of the Foxconn fiasco and a dire warning to communities and states nationwide. When Wisconsin governor Scott Walker stood shoulder to shoulder with President Trump and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan at the White House in July 2017, they painted a glorious picture of his state's future. Foxconn, the enormous China-based electronics firm, was promising to bring TV manufacturing back to the United States with a $10 billion investment and 13,000 well-paying jobs. They actually were making America great again, they crowed. Two years later, the project was in shambles. Ten thousand construction workers were supposed to have been building what Trump had promised would be "the eighth wonder of the world." Instead, land had been seized, homes had been destroyed, and hundreds of millions of municipal dollars had been committed for just a few hundred jobs-nowhere near enough for Foxconn to earn the incentives Walker had shoveled at them. In Foxconned, journalist Lawrence Tabak details the full story of this utter collapse, which was disturbingly inevitable. As Tabak shows, everything about Foxconn was a disaster. But worse, he reveals how the economic incentive infrastructure across the country is broken, leading to waste, cronyism, and the steady transfer of tax revenue to corporations. Tabak details every kind of financial chicanery, from eminent domain abuse to good old-fashioned looting-all to benefit a coterie of consultants, politicians, and contractors. With compassion and care, he also reports the distressing stories of the many individuals whose lives were upended by Foxconn.
Land Rover Freelander - The Complete Story recounts the history of the Land Rover Freelander, and its popular successor, the Freelander 2. This new book covers the original Freelander, from its design and development to its launch and reception in 1997. In 2006 , the innovative Freelander 2 was launched, with its pioneering technology in fuel efficiency. Also covered are the Freelander variants from across the world, and its use in UK law enforcement. This is an indispensable guide to the history of both generations of Freelander.
Research into the history of Christian missions in the context of colonialism has focused primarily on missions as institutions and on the ways in which people were integrated into the economic, political and ideological spheres of imperial powers. Reduced to an experience occurring within a person, faith was deemed unapproachable by scientific methods. This has, in effect, constituted a silence regarding the everyday experience of religiosity amongst those drawn to Christianity. Ethnography of Faith is a detailed study of the ways in which people engage with and experience the religious in order to recognise and understand this suppressed voice of religiosity. In her analysis of the Luther-an church in the Soutpansberg of early twentieth century South Africa, Caroline Jeannerat listens closely to how people describe their own faith and that of others in the archive: in accounts of work done, in texts written for mission publications, in songs composed for church services, in letters and newspaper articles and in oral memories. A careful reading of this archive – for breaks, for misunderstandings and oppositions, for sentiments of agreement, praise, compatibility and claims of shared experiences – identifies negotiations of meaning which give indications of conceptualisations of faith that stand in distinction to those of the missionaries and their expectations.
A juicy true story about sex, drugs, money, power, high heels, and
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Despite broad anecdotal evidence, little is known about the antecedents and outcomes of stakeholder trust when dealing with a family business. The topic has received little systematic attention, which is surprising given its importance as a potential competitive advantage for family businesses and the influence of family businesses in many markets around the world. In his dissertation, Hannes Hauswald tries to address this gap. In the course of three essays, he explores what drives stakeholder trust when dealing with family businesses. Furthermore, he sheds light on the outcomes of stakeholder trust for family businesses and relevant contingency factors.
What can you learn from the most successful companies in the world? The Sephora Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that turned the makeup retailer into a paradise for makeup enthusiasts everywhere. Sephora is a playground for women, chock full of lipstick, eyeshadows, foundations, blushes, and so much more, just waiting to be experienced. It's where teens learn to apply foundation and adults learn how to create the perfect smoky eye. It's the cosmetic birthplace for the iconic Kardashian contour. And it's a dominant brand, taking home a large portion of the $48.3 billion-dollar makeup industry. The Sephora Story teaches readers how Sephora was born in Paris in 1970 and has exploded since it opened its first North American store in 1997. Now, with at least one store in almost every mall, you may find yourself fighting to navigate the store. But it's just makeup, right? Wrong. It's an experience, and this book will teach entrepreneurs, innovators, marketers, and executives everything they need to know about creating an iconic experience for their customers. Through Sephora's story, you will learn: How to lead the evolution of a decades old brand and how to relaunch it in a new market. How to create a customer experience that revolutionizes an industry. How to bring together multiple brands under one roof without compromising their identities. And how to reach a younger audience and ignite a passion for your product.
The Weyerhaeuser name looms large in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, and Arkansas, attached to paper mills, cabinet factories, and vast tracts of land, both forested and cut over. Frederick Weyerhaeuser, the man who started the lumber empire, significantly shaped the American economy and landscape from Wisconsin westward in the nineteenth century. A complex and private man, Weyerhaeuser emigrated from Germany in 1852 at the tender age of eighteen. In just a few years, he would be a prominent lumberman, organising partnerships among competing companies, rationalising the business, and then making the largest timberland purchase in the history of the United States. Author Judith Koll Healey narrates the life of this extraordinary man through newly available resources: his extensive correspondence and journal entries as well as the letters and diaries of family members, friends, and business associates from around the country. She frames Weyerhaeusers many commercial opportunities and business decisions within both the familys internal dynamics and world events: war and unrest, economic upswings and downturns, and western expansion and eastern urbanisation. Throughout, Healey offers a thoughtful perspective on his achievements as well as the limitations of his vision for the expansion of the American West.
From Victoria Glendinning, winner of the Duff Cooper Prize, the James Tait Black Prize and (twice) the Whitbread Prize for Biography. 'It's Succession in tailcoats and spats ... This is a vivid and eye-opening group biography, backgrounded by the rise of supermarket moguls from humble beginnings' Sunday Times Who was John Lewis? What story lies behind the retail empire that bears his name? Behind the glass windows and displays of soft furnishing, this book reveals the family that founded the shops in all their eccentricities, and whose relationships became blighted by conflicts of epic proportions as their wealth bloomed. Born into poverty, John Lewis was orphaned at the age of seven when his father died in a Somerset workhouse. Dreaming of a better life, the young man travelled to London at the start of what would become a retail revolution. From early years as a draper's apprentice, we see how Lewis's first pokey little business opened on Oxford Street in 1864, and expanded as an emerging middle class embraced the department stores as a recreational experience. Prize-winning biographer Victoria Glendinning has had full access to the company and family archives to write this eye-opening story. She captures the toxic relationships that unfolded between Lewis and his two sons, Spedan and Oswald, as they collided over the future of their retail empire - their worst moments including emotional blackmail, face-slapping and a kidnapping - and much litigation between father and both sons. Yet the family never broke up and Spedan's vision of a Partnership model to act as an ethical corrective and foster a community of happier, more productive workers was eventually realised and survives to this day. With riveting personal detail, this brilliant group biography captures a rags-to-riches story and a tempestuous family saga, all unfolding against the dramatic social and political worlds of nineteenth-century London. The book concludes with an assessment of the position John Lewis holds in British sensibilities, and whether John Lewis and institutions like it have a place in our future.
Chosen as one of the Daily Mail's Memoirs of the Year Tim Waterstone is one of Britain's most successful businessmen, having built the Waterstone's empire that started with one small bookshop in 1982. In this charming and evocative memoir, he recalls the childhood experiences that led him to become an entrepreneur and outlines the business philosophy that allowed Waterstone's to dominate the bookselling business throughout the country. Tim explores his formative years in a small town in rural England at the end of the Second World War, and the troubled relationship he had with his father, before moving on to the epiphany he had while studying at Cambridge, which set him on the road to Waterstone's and gave birth to the creative strategy that made him a high street name.
Das Recht der stillen Gesellschaft eroeffnet einen weiten Gestaltungsspielraum. Dieses Werk stellt umfassend die besonderen rechtlichen Anforderungen dar, die fur die stille Beteiligung an einer Aktiengesellschaft gelten. Ausgehend von den Motiven fur die Rechtsformwahl werden die Moeglichkeiten und Grenzen der Vertragsgestaltung dargestellt. Die Darstellung fuhrt von der Begrundung der Beteiligung bis zu ihrer Beendung und berucksichtigt das Personengesellschaftsrecht, das Recht der Fremdfinanzierung der Aktiengesellschaft, das Konzernrecht und das Umwandlungsrecht.
Uber is one of the most innovative companies of our time. This book provides a detailed analysis of the company and its success and goes beyond the headlines about safety and culture. Americans are so accustomed to using Uber today that the name of the innovative ride-sharing company has almost become a verb, as in "to Uber" somewhere, and yet Uber has been around only since 2010. In less than a decade, Uber has disrupted the ride-hailing industry, from making it easier and more affordable to become an Uber driver than a cab driver to rating riders as well as drivers. As an early pioneer in using technology to create a new business model and new efficiencies, Uber is considered one of the most important case studies in the sharing economy. However, little in-depth information exists on this innovative company. This book traces Uber's origin and evolution in the face of competitive pressures, discusses the company leadership and corporate culture, addresses such controversies as rider and driver safety and sexual harassment of female employees, and explores how the company is addressing these challenges. Students of business, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in the development and exponential growth of the sharing economy will benefit from reading this book. Provides key insights into the inner workings of the sharing economy Delivers a comprehensive overview of Uber's technological innovations, global expansion, and business model Explores the leadership challenges faced by founder Travis Kalanick Reveals how the company has addressed reports of a sexist corporate culture
Tells the story of how America's biggest companies began, operated, and prospered post-World War I This book takes the vantage point of people working within companies as they responded to constant change created by consumers and technology. It focuses on the entrepreneur, the firm, and the industry, by showing--from the inside--how businesses operated after 1920, while offering a good deal of Modern American social and cultural history. The case studies and contextual chapters provide an in-depth understanding of the evolution of American management over nearly 100 years. American Business Since 1920: How It Worked presents historical struggles with decision making and the trend towards relative decentralization through stories of extraordinarily capable entrepreneurs and the organizations they led. It covers: Henry Ford and his competitor Alfred Sloan at General Motors during the 1920s; Neil McElroy at Procter & Gamble in the 1930s; Ferdinand Eberstadt at the government's Controlled Materials Plan during World War II; David Sarnoff at RCA in the 1950s and 1960s; and Ray Kroc and his McDonald's franchises in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first; and more. It also delves into such modern success stories as Amazon.com, eBay, and Google. Provides deep analysis of some of the most successful companies of the 20th century Contains topical chapters covering titans of the 2000s Part of Wiley-Blackwell's highly praised American History Series American Business Since 1920: How It Worked is designed for use in both basic and advanced courses in American history, at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
An in-depth history of how finance remade everyday life in Thatcher's Britain. Are We Rich Yet? tells the story of the financialization of British society. During the 1980s and 1990s, financial markets became part of daily life for many Britons as the practice of investing moved away from the offices of the City of London, onto Britain's high streets, and into people's homes. The Conservative Party claimed this shift as evidence that capital ownership was in the process of being democratized. In practice, investing became more institutionalized than ever in late-twentieth-century Britain: inclusion frequently meant tying one's fortunes to the credit, insurance, pension, and mortgage industries to maintain independence from state-run support systems. In tracing the rise of a consumer-oriented mass investment culture, historian Amy Edwards explains how the "financial" became such a central part of British society, not only economically and politically, but socially and culturally, too. She shifts our focus away from the corridors of Whitehall and towards a cast of characters that included brokers, bankers and traders, newspaper editors, goods manufacturers, marketing departments, production companies, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary men and women. Between them, they shaped the terrain upon which political and economic reform occurred. Grappling with the interactions between structural transformation and the rhythms of everyday life, Are We Rich Yet? thus understands the rise of neoliberalism as something other than the inevitable outcome of a carefully orchestrated right-wing political revolution. |
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Religion in History and in Modern Life
A. M. Fairbairn
Hardcover
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