INVENTING THE ELECTRONIC CENTURY by Alfred Dupont Chandler ( 9780743215671 )

Item Details

Title:

INVENTING THE ELECTRONIC CENTURY
THE EPIC STORY OF THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE INDUSTRIES

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Format:

Other book format

List price:	£25.00
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ISBN 10:

0743215672

ISBN 13:

9780743215671

Publisher:

SIMON & SCHUSTER

Pub. date:

30 October, 2001

Pages:

336

Description:

Tracing the history of the consumer electronics and computer businesses from a global perspective, the author of Scale and Scope explores the evolution of the Information Age, discussing the IBM's role in the development of technology, Japan's conquest of the global electronics market, and more. 25

Synopsis:

No industries had greater impact on everyday life and work in the second half of the twentieth century than consumer electronics and computers. Yet the epic story of the founding of the Information Age remains almost completely unknown. Now Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alfred D. Chandler Jr. systematically records for the first time from a global perspective the origins and evolution of these transforming industries. In this marvelous chronicle of the trailblazing high-technology companies and products that laid the foundation for the Electronic Century, Chandler shows with unerring command of fact and data precisely where, when, how, and by whom technical knowledge was initially commercialized. In richly textured magisterial prose, Chandler describes how Radio Corporation of America shaped the consumer electronics industry from its beginnings in the 1920s to the 1960s. He explains how catastrophic management decisions that brought about the collapse of RCA opened the door to Sony and Matsushita and ultimately to Japan's worldwide conquest of consumer electronics markets. At the same time, Chandler shows that the computer industry has been a strikingly American triumph. Readers will discover a wealth of penetrating insights in Chandler's riveting account of the rise of the mainframe, the minicomputer, and the microprocessor. What is more, Chandler documents the surprising and little-known fact that first mover IBM dominated the computer industry from the 1950s to the 1990s and that the Japanese, first by making IBM plug-compatibles and later with their large systems and servers, became its major competitors.Only by following the history of firms that commercialized thesenew technologies and knowing the details of competitive success and failure can managers truly understand their industries. "Inventing the Electronic Century" is timely and essential reading for every manager and student of high technology.

Illustrations:

illustrations

Publication:

Imprint:

The Free Press

Returns:

Non-returnable

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