The Modern Corporation — Annual Report

About this deck

Before there were corporations, there were chartered companies — sovereign-blessed monopolies pooling private capital for ventures too risky and too long-tailed for any one merchant to bankroll alone. Key sections include: THE MODERN CORPORATION /; Origins: a charter, a monopoly, a fleet.; Limited liability — the silent revolution.; The Gilded Age — vertical integration as art form.; The managerial revolution.; Mid-century: GM, IBM, GE — the M-form.; Shareholder primacy: profit becomes purpose.; Globalization: the just-in-time corporation.; Platforms: marginal cost ≈ 0, network effects ≈ ∞.; The stakeholder backlash..