Written in non-technical terms, this book explains how the dynamics of big business have influenced national and international economies. A path-breaking study, it provides the first systematic treatment of big business in advanced, emerging, and centrally-planned economies from the late nineteenth century, when big businesses first appeared in American and West European manufacturing, to the present. Large industrial enterprises play a vital role in developing new technologies and commercializing new products in all of the major countries. How such firms emerged and evolved in different economic, political, and social settings constitutes a significant part of twentieth-century world history. This historical review of big business is particularly valuable today, when the viability of large enterprises is being challenged by small firms, networks, and alliances. These essays, written by internationally-known historians and economists, help one understand the essential role and functions of big business.

‘… offers and intriguing perspective on the development and impact of big business on the modern world’.

Source: Law Society Journal

‘This is an extremely important book that … can be highly recommended as an admirable text for students in courses on business history, and as a guide to the state of play in a number of important debates for the scholar.’

Source: Australian Economic History Review

‘Big Business and the Wealth of Nations is an important book that should be prescribed reading in economic geography courses.’

Source: Progress in Human Geography