# The Modern Corporation — Annual Report

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Category: Business
Slides: 13
Updated: 2026-05-15T22:19:35.146Z
Tags: catalog, business, corporations

## Summary

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..

## Slide Outline

1. THE MODERN CORPORATION /
2. Origins: a charter, a monopoly, a fleet.
3. Limited liability — the silent revolution.
4. The Gilded Age — vertical integration as art form.
5. The managerial revolution.
6. Mid-century: GM, IBM, GE — the M-form.
7. Shareholder primacy: profit becomes purpose.
8. Globalization: the just-in-time corporation.
9. Platforms: marginal cost ≈ 0, network effects ≈ ∞.
10. The stakeholder backlash.
11. The intangible-heavy firm.
12. Coordination engines, governance puzzles.
13. Closing & references.

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