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The cover of The Visible Hand

The Visible Hand

Alfred D. Chandler Jr.

How did salaried managers and big corporations take over the job of coordinating the economy from the invisible hand of the market?

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At a glance

Author
Alfred D. Chandler Jr.

Why read it

  • You will see why large companies exist at all: they appear when managers can coordinate flows better than markets can
  • You will learn how railroads and the telegraph made modern management necessary
  • You will understand how a new kind of worker, the salaried manager, rose to shape the economy

Who it is for

  • Managers curious where their job came from
  • Business students tracing how corporations took shape
  • Founders deciding when to add layers of management

Contents

  1. Tables
  2. Figures
  3. Introduction: The Visible Hand
  4. PART one
  5. The Traditional Processes of Production and Distribution
  6. CHAPTER 1
  7. The Traditional Enterprise in Commerce
  8. CHAPTER 2
  9. The Traditional Enterprise in Production
  10. PART two
  11. The Revolution in Transportation and Communication
  12. CHAPTER 3
  13. The Railroads: The First Modern Business Enterprises, 1850s–1860s
  14. CHAPTER 4
  15. Railroad Cooperation and Competition, 1870s–1880s
  16. CHAPTER 5
  17. System-Building, 1880s–1900s
  18. CHAPTER 6
  19. Completing the Infrastructure
  20. PART three
  21. The Revolution in Distribution and Production
  22. CHAPTER 7
  23. Mass Distribution
  24. CHAPTER 8
  25. Mass Production
  26. PART four
  27. The Integration of Mass Production with Mass Distribution
  28. CHAPTER 9
  29. The Coming of the Modern Industrial Corporation
  30. CHAPTER 10
  31. Integration by Way of Merger
  32. CHAPTER 11
  33. Integration Completed
  34. PART five
  35. The Management and Growth of Modern Industrial Enterprise
  36. CHAPTER 12
  37. Middle Management: Function and Structure
  38. CHAPTER 13
  39. Top Management: Function and Structure
  40. CHAPTER 14
  41. The Maturing of Modern Business Enterprise
  42. Conclusion: The Managerial Revolution in American Business
  43. Appendixes, Notes, and Index

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