1st Edition

The Logic of British and American Industry

By P. Sargant Florence Copyright 2003
    394 Pages
    by Routledge

    394 Pages
    by Routledge

    Summarizing the facts about the prevailing sizes of industrial firms or plants and the patterns of industrial location in Britain and America, this book also interprets the facts in basic terms such as technical requirements and consumer habits.

    Examining investment and human resource management, the contrasts and (unexpected) similarities in the industrial structure and government of the two countries are analysed.
    The book includes new research into the real seat of power in the British joint stock company and compares the results with the realities of the American corporation.

    Preface 1. The Structural Approach 1. The Question 'Who?' As A Reliable Starting Point 2. The Technical Background 3. The Social Structure of Industry 4. The Size Distribution of Plants And Firms 5. Patterns of Industrial Location 6. Forms and Extent of Integration 2. Logic and Fact of Industrial Structure 1. The Meaning, Mechanism and Measures of Efficiency 2. Efficiency of the Large Firm of Varying Pattern, The Survival of the Small Firm 3. Conditions of Efficiency of Large and Small Plants 4. The Inefficiency and Efficiency of Integration 5. The Logic of Localization and Dispersion 6. Agreement and Divergence of Logic & Fact, Manufacturing & Other Industries 3. The Relations of Industry and Consumer 1. Planned and Free Consumption, The Costs of Distribution 2. The Logic and Illogic of Free Consumption 3. The Vagaries of Free Production, Design and Distribution For Free Consumption 4. Forecasting and Market Research 5. Competition and Combination, Sales Pressure and Advertising 6. Monopolistic Structure and Theory 7. Detecting Monopoly 4. Relations Within The Modern Firm, Management and Top Government 1. The Trend of Investment and Employment, Overhead Costs 2. Evolution of Specialized Management 3. Logic of Hierarchical Delegation 4. Logic of Functional Delegation 5. Logic of Line-And-Staff Delegation 6. The Core of Top Government 7. The Question Who Governs At The Core, And Why: The Next Three Chapters 5. Government of Free Enterprise Capitalism 1. Growth of the Corporation and Joint Stock Company 2. The Shareholders' Actual Part In Government. Law and Reality 3. Government By Bloc-Holder 4. Government By Director or Executive 5. Interests, Personalities and Company Policies 6. Nationalization, Co-Operation And State Control 1. Why Alternatives To Capitalist Government of Industry? 2. Britain's Mixed Economy 3. The Government of Nationalized Industries 4. Government By Consumers' Co-Operation 5. The Tests of Meeting Needs, Consumers' Sovereignty and Economic Democracy 6. Comparative Efficiency, Stability and Progress 7. Summary: Overall State Planning and Control 7. The Stimulus To Labour, Investment And Enterprise 1. Labour Relations In The Larger Plant and Firm 2. The Stimulus to Invest: The Outsider Investor 3. The Stimulus to Large-Scale Enterprise 4. Types of Leader in Large-Scale Business Government 5. The Short and Long-Run Supply Price of Leadership 6. Recruitment and Education For Industrial Government 8. Summary & Conclusions 1. Summary of Findings 2. Summary of Research Methods 3. Some Practical Conclusions

    Biography

    P. Sargant Florence