Book description
It may be hard to believe in an era of Walmart, Citizens United, and the Koch brothers, but corporations are on the decline. The number of American companies listed on the stock market dropped by half between 1996 and 2012. In recent years we've seen some of the most storied corporations go bankrupt (General Motors, Chrysler, Eastman Kodak) or disappear entirely (Bethlehem Steel, Lehman Brothers, Borders).Gerald Davis argues this is a root cause of the income inequality and social instability we face today. Corporations were once an integral part of building the middle class. He points out that in their heyday they offered millions of people lifetime employment, a stable career path, health insurance, and retirement pensions. They were like small private welfare states.
The businesses that are replacing them will not fill the same role. For one thing, they employ far fewer people—the combined global workforces of Facebook, Yelp, Zynga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Tableau, Zulily, and Box are smaller than the number of people who lost their jobs when Circuit City was liquidated in 2009. And in the “sharing economy,” companies have no obligation to most of the people who work for them—at the end of 2014 Uber had over 160,000 “driver-partners” in the United States but recognized only about 2,000 people as actual employees.
Davis tracks the rise of the large American corporation and the economic, social, and technological developments that have led to its decline. The future could see either increasing economic polarization, as careers turn into jobs and jobs turn into tasks, or a more democratic economy built from the grass roots. It's up to us.
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- CONTENTS
- Preface
- Introduction: Tectonic shifts and the new economic landscape
- PART I THE CORPORATE CENTURY IN AMERICA
- PART II WHY THE AMERICAN CORPORATION IS DISAPPEARING
- PART III CONSEQUENCES OF CORPORATE COLLAPSE
- PART IV NOW WHAT?
- Resources
- Notes
- Index
- About the Author
Product information
- Title: The Vanishing American Corporation
- Author(s):
- Release date: May 2016
- Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
- ISBN: 9781626562813
You might also like
book
The Way of the Wall Street Warrior
A Wall Street Insider's Guide to getting ahead in any highly competitive industry "Dave learned how …
book
The Upside of Uncertainty
A science-backed guide for navigating and thriving through uncertainty—based on interviews and insights from world-renowned leaders, …
book
The Art of Business Valuation
Starting from the practical viewpoint of, “I would rather be approximately right than perfectly wrong” this …
book
The Business Book
You can achieve your business dream. Beat the odds as you learn from the best - …