Battle of the Giant Watchmakers
You can listen to the 20 minute audio version of this article here. Originally published on September 25, 2020. Every industry tells a story of competition: the rise and fall of companies. Technological industries often see more “changing of the guard” than more...
George Eastman: The Greatest Technology Entrepreneur in U.S. History?
You can listen to the 41 minute audio version of this post here. Originally published January 2018. The technologies of today are built upon those of the past, and the superstars of our era would be nothing without the great leaders of the past. We often discuss our...
Tech Wars: RCA and the Television Industry
Originally published Feb 5, 2021. From the telegraph to the modern age, high technology has seen continuous innovation, followed by the rise of numerous competitors, then consolidation into fewer companies, and finally decline. Here is one of our favorite...
Father of Modern Sales: The Remarkable Mr. Patterson
Originally published July 9, 2021. In our article on the three greatest companies in American history, we listed both General Motors and IBM. Neither of those companies would have been the great successes they were without the contributions of proteges of John...
Office Machines, Forerunners of the Computer
Originally published January 7, 2021 Welcome to 2021! In 2020, our first full calendar year of operation, these American Business History newsletters have been read over 90,000 times. The number of pages viewed on our website rose from 1,500 per month at...
Two Billion Passengers a Day: The Otis Story
On this 4th of July, it is appropriate to honor the long history of one of America’s great companies. Elisha Otis perfected the first commercially successful elevators, both for freight and passengers, before the Civil War. The organization he founded, the...
Forgotten Business Giant: Charles M. Schwab
We are all familiar with the visionary entrepreneur Charles R. Schwab who pioneered the discount stock brokerage industry in the 1970s. But almost no one remembers the unrelated Charles M. Schwab, one of the most important business leaders in American history....
The Unsung 20th Century Technology That Disrupted an Industry
Business history is full of stories of “disruptors” and “disruption,” especially with regard to new technologies (as well as new ways of retailing, lodging, dining, transportation, journalism, and other fields). Many books have been written on innovation, how it...
Understanding How Tech Companies Work
Tech companies from Apple to Dell, from Adobe to Oracle, work each day to outsmart their competitors, to develop innovative products and services, and to best market and sell their products and services. No technology company in history has been more successful in...
George Westinghouse: Servant Leader, Inventor, Captain of Industry
This article first appeared on February 27, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. His father owned a machine shop, but young George Westinghouse had no interest in doing what he was told. Obsessed with his own inventions and ideas, George...Support Us
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