Ezra's Bookshelf

The Company

by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge · 232 pages · ~4 hrs

EconomicsBusiness & ManagementHistory

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John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge's The Company provides a lively history of the corporation, arguing that this organizational form, often overlooked, has been one of the most significant innovations in human history. The authors, both journalists at The Economist, trace the company from Renaissance Italian partnerships through the great trading companies of the seventeenth century to the multinational conglomerates of today. They show how the joint-stock company, with its combination of limited liability and tradeable shares, enabled the pooling of capital for enterprises too large for any individual to finance. The book examines the East India Companies, the railroad corporations, the trusts of the Gilded Age, and the multinational firms that dominate the contemporary economy. Micklethwait and Wooldridge are sympathetic to corporations' achievements while acknowledging their abuses; they write with the Economist's characteristic blend of skepticism and market liberalism. The book is concise and readable, covering centuries of business history without becoming dense. The authors conclude by considering the corporation's future in an era of globalization and technological change. Essential reading for anyone interested in business history, capitalism, or understanding why the organizational forms we take for granted came to be.

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