Structure & Function of the U.S. Business Corporation

The way business corporations have developed in America is a reflection of the way America has developed. In the nineteenth century, unlimited growth always seemed possible, and this attitude continued into this century. It has recently been amended as limits have been perceived and as new competition has developed, but the American business corporation for most of its history has seen itself as continuing the tradition of Manifest Destiny that pushed the boundaries of the country all the way to the Western shore. Chandler (1990) notes how central the development of business has been to the overall development of all industrial societies when he writes: "In each country industrial activities played the central role in transforming an agrarian commercial economy into a modern industrial economy" (p. 3). He sees this as operating in terms of manufacturing ent

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then with technological improvements in the manufacturing process, making possible the production of more goods at a lower cost. Chandler also finds that in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the American business enterprise began to develop a multifunction structure, with new administrative needs as well as new opportunities. Chandler also finds that the development of such organizations derived from strategies of growth. A single company might expand and integrate by creating its own marketing organization. Another way was for a number of manufacturing companies to join together in a horizontal combination and then to consolidate their manufacturing activities while moving into marketing or purchasing as well. Another type of strategy came about as industries, usually those producing the more staple commodities by an older and less complex technology, would expand output leading to overproduction and then to combination: "Both strategies were responses to the opportunities and pressures developing out of a rapidly growing international market" (p. 25). Indeed, this really provides the general rationale for changes that took place in the business enterprise in America over the two centuries of its history - such ch
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1943
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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