Shaping the Industrial Century

“Chandler has written an account of the industry’s turbulent century that is analytical and lucid… Chandler does a remarkable job of covering the development of two industries that changed the world in the 20th century. Over the years, I have read several books that depict the colourful story of individual chemical companies, but here is one that paints them all on the same canvas.”—John Emsley, Times Higher Education Supplement

“Shaping the Industrial Century represents an important extension of the framework that Alfred Chandler has developed in several seminal books published during his long and productive career… Chandler has done more than provide a case study of the evolution of the modern chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Shaping the Industrial Century is a dynamic demonstration of how strategy takes precedence over structure in determining the ongoing success or failure of an industry that has reached its mature phase.”—John K. Smith, Jr., Business History Review

“One cannot read Shaping the Industrial Century without a sense that this is a work informed by decades of inquiry into business history and the rise and fall of companies and industries across the world. The author moves quite easily and confidently across a wide range of firms to summarize the key decisions that formed the fate of these businesses… Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.’s unique perspective helps to broaden the view of the history of the pharmaceutical industry, and thereby contributes notably to the history of pharmacy.”—John P. Swann, Pharmacy in History