Steel Industry
In the early part of this century was a time when industry was booming with growth around the installation of major railroads. With this growth came the transatlantic cable, the telegraph, and a whole lot of steel. Steel would be needed in the construction of these new transportation systems and communications were now possible between businesses and industries. (Wren, 2005)
This paper will first discuss the development of the steel industry. Next, it will examine steel, and in the impact it had on the transportation industry. Finally, it will discuss systematic management practices of this time and how they gave birth to the scientific approach that is still in use today.
Steel
The steel industry was needed for almost everything. Alfred D Chandler Jr. could see the potential market value early on.
According to Wren:
Chandler traced the history of various firms and delineated four phases in the history of the large U.S. enterprise:
1. The initial expansion and accumulation of resources
2. The rationalization of the use of resources
3. The expansion into new markets and lines to help assure the full use of resources;
4. The development of a new structure that rationalized the renewal of growth.
For many companies, the phases started and ended at different times, depending on the state of technology and the firm’s ability to react and capitalize on market opportunities. Chandler further noted two facets of industrial growth:
1. Horizontal growth from 1879 to 1893- which occurred when producers of similar fields combined through mergers, pools, or trusts to gain economies of scale, and
2. Vertical growth from 1898 to 1904- which occurred when firms moved backward or forward in ter...
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Throughout the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the United States economy changed dramatically as the country transformed from a rural agricultural nation to an urban industrial gian, becoming the leading manufacturing country in the world. The vast expansion of the railroads in the late 1800s’ changed the early American economy by tying the country together into one national market. The railroads provided tremendous economic growth because it provided a massive market for transporting goods such as steel, lumber, and oil. Although the first railroads were extremely successful, the attempt to finance new railroads originally failed. Perhaps the greatest physical feat late 19th century America was the creation of the transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific Company, starting in San Francisco, and the new competitor, Union Pacific, starting in Omaha. The two companies slaved away crossing mountains, digging tunnels, and laying track the entire way. Both railroads met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869, and drove one last golden spike into the completed railway. Of course the expansion of railroads wasn’t the only change being made. Another change in the economy was immigration.
...fare took place as unions attempted to organize the automobile and steel industries. Despite the antagonism of big business, organized labor continued to grow.
... middle of paper ... ... When business expanded, it meant more wealth for the business owner.
There is no refuting that the railroad companies transformed business operations and encouraged industrial expansion. The raw materials required for construction of the transcontinental railroad directly resulted in the expansion of the steel, lumber and stone industries. (Gillon p.652) The railroad stimulated growth in manufacturing and agriculture providing an efficient manner to ship raw materials and products throughout the country. Which in turn, increased consumerism and introduced t...
"Railroads were the first big business, the first magnet for the great financial markets, and the first industry to develop a large-scale management bureaucracy. The railroads opened the western half of the nation to economic development, connected raw materials to factories and retailers, and in so doing created an interconnected national market. At the same time the railroads were themselves gigantic consumers of iron, steel, lumber, and other capital goods". (Tindall, Shi)
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...l presented polluting influences, so new innovation must be imagined to dispose of them. Wrought iron was not effectively produced from mineral fuel pig iron until the center of the eighteenth century.
The Bethlehem Steel was the was second largest steel company in the United States during its booming years. They made steel that built the Golden State bridge, skyscrapers in New York and tanks and war equipment for WW2. It seemed like the Bethlehem steel would never close, but like every good thing it had to come to an end. One major reason the steel was shut down was because they didn’t advance their equipment and unlike the Bethlehem Steel, foreign steel companies upgraded their equipment with mini mills which allowed them to produce steel cheaper and at a quicker rate. The Bethlehem Steel should have changed certains things, but since they had to close there is one thing I’d preserve about the the Bethlehem steel is their large blast furnaces.
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The Industrial Revolution refers to the greatly increased output of machine-made goods that began in England in the mid 1700s. Before the Industrial Revolution, people made items by hand. Soon machines did the jobs that people didn’t want to do. This is a more efficient way of making goods. During the industrial revolution, political, economic, and social forces led to a period of upheaval for the French during the eighteenth century.
Sandvik’s expansion was facilitated through a strategy of unrelated diversification predicated upon innovation. Technologies, such as cemented carbide fueled, product development and gave rise to new business areas. Such advances, coupled with a strong emphasis on internationalization, drove growth for a long time. However, growth slowed during the 1970s and into the 1980s. Much of the growth achieved during this period was a result of acquisitions.
Robbins, S.P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.