The Rise of Big Business, 1860–1920

Glenn Porter traces how America transformed from a collection of small-scale, local enterprises into an industrial powerhouse dominated by large corporations between 1860 and 1920. The period witnessed unprecedented consolidation driven by technological advances like railroads and telegraphs, new organizational structures including the multidivisional corporation, and innovative financing mechanisms that enabled massive capital accumulation. Porter argues this wasn't merely about scale—it represented a fundamental shift in how business was conceived, organized, and managed. The emergence of vertical integration, where companies controlled entire supply chains from raw materials to distribution, became the dominant strategy for achieving competitive advantage. Key figures like Andrew Carnegie in steel and John D. Rockefeller in oil demonstrated how systematic cost reduction, technological innovation, and strategic acquisitions could create near-monopolistic positions. Porter's framework of 'administrative coordination' shows how professional managers replaced market mechanisms for coordinating economic activity within firms. The book illustrates how the modern corporation evolved from simple partnerships into complex hierarchical organizations with specialized departments for production, marketing, and finance. This transformation created both unprecedented wealth and new social tensions, as small businesses struggled against industrial giants and workers organized to counter corporate power. Porter demonstrates that understanding this pivotal era remains essential for grasping how modern capitalism functions, particularly the ongoing tension between market competition and corporate consolidation.

This thread continues the same argument: Glenn Porter traces how America transformed from a collection of small-scale, local enterprises into an industrial powerhouse dominated by large corporations between 1860 and 1920. The period witnesse…

This thread continues the same argument: Glenn Porter traces how America transformed from a collection of small-scale, local enterprises into an industrial powerhouse dominated by large corporations between 1860 and 1920. The period witnesse…

This thread continues the same argument: Glenn Porter traces how America transformed from a collection of small-scale, local enterprises into an industrial powerhouse dominated by large corporations between 1860 and 1920. The period witnesse…

The fundamental and explosive changes in the U.S. economy and its business system from 1860 to 1920 continue to fascinate and engage historians, economists, and sociologists. While many disagreements persist about the motivations of the actors, most scholars roughly agree on the central shifts in technologies and markets that called forth big business. Recent scholarship, however, has revealed important new insights into the changing cultural values and sensibilities of Americans who lived during the time, on women in business, on the ties between the emerging corporations and other American institutions, on the nature of competition among giant firms, and on the dawn of modern advertising and consumerism. This vast accumulation of notable new work on the social concept and consequences of economic change in that era has prompted Glenn Porter to recast numerous portions of The Rise of Big Business, one of Harlan Davidson’s most successful titles ever, in this, the third edition. Those familiar with this classic text will appreciate the expanded coverage of topics beyond the fray of regulation and the political dimensions of the emergence of concentrated enterprise, namely the influ…

The Rise of Big Business, 1860–1920 by Glenn Porter belongs on the short shelf of books that change how you notice decisions in the wild. Whether you agree with every claim or not, the frame it offers is portable: you can apply it in meetings, investing, hiring, and personal trade-offs without carrying the whole volume.

Many readers return to this book because it names patterns that felt familiar but unnamed. Naming is leverage: once you can point to a mechanism, you can design around it. One through-line is “Administrative coordination replaced market mechanisms as large corporations internalized previously external transactions, creating the modern managed enterprise with professional hierarchies.” and its implications for judgment under uncertainty.

If you are reading for execution, translate each chapter into a testable habit: one prompt before a big decision, one review question after a project, one constraint you will respect next quarter. Theory becomes useful when it shows up in calendars, not only in margins.

Finally, pair this book with opposing voices. The strongest readers stress-test the thesis against cases where the advice fails, note the boundary conditions, and keep a short list of when not to use this lens. That discipline is how summaries become judgment.

Long-form books reward spaced attention: read a chapter, sleep, then write a half-page memo titled “What would I do differently on Monday?” If you cannot answer with specifics, the idea has not yet landed.

Use The Rise of Big Business, 1860–1920 as a conversation starter with peers who have different incentives. The disagreements often reveal which parts of the book are robust and which are fragile when power, risk, and time horizons change.